Le Musée du bagne en Nouvelle-Calédonie et ses constructions identitaires
Le Musée du bagne en Nouvelle-Calédonie et ses constructions identitaires / The Penal Colony Museum in New Caledonia and its Identity Constructions
Résumé
In the South Pacific, New Caledonia and Australia were penal colonies during the 19 th century. Analysing the discourse surrouding two museums based on these convict periods (Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney and the project for a museum in Noumea), will shed light on the difficulties of facing this violent past. Even if these two countries and their histories are different, they have a common aim to accept this part of their genealogies. After having been taboo, having criminal ancestors is now a pride; exile is no more seen as an expulsion from the English or French motherland, but has become a pioneer adventure. Suppressing some aspects of this colonisation and downplaying the participation or the interactions of convicts or bagnards with other communities helps to build this memory. We must also keep in mind that museums have a political role. In New Caledonia, it is obvious that the self-determination process between 2014 and 2018 has influenced the project of the museum in Nouville: having a convict in the family will prove your belonging to the land and could justify voting rights for the 2018 referendum. These museums accordingly do not only deal with history, but influence the future. Résumé Au XIXème siècle, la Nouvelle-Calédonie et l'Australie étaient des colonies pénitentiaires dans le Pacifique Sud. L'analyse du discours muséal des deux musées (Hyde Park Barracks à 27 DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTEREST The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. FUNDING The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.