Fragmented memories and educational silences: teaching ‘Les Événements’ (1981–1989) in New Caledonia’s schools

Fragmented memories and educational silences: teaching ‘Les Événements’ (1981–1989) in New Caledonia’s schools

Clara Filippi (22 Jul 2026): Fragmented memories and educational silences:
teaching ‘Les Événements’ (1981–1989) in New Caledonia’s schools, Globalisation, Societies and Education, DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2026.2701995

Abstract 

This article investigates the historical silences surrounding the period known as the ‘Events’ (1981–1989) in New Caledonia’s school system. Based on an analysis of official curricula and history textbooks, and combining qualitative analysis with limited descriptive quantitative indicators, it explores how this difficult past is framed, distributed, and attenuated in educational materials. In New Caledonia, although no formal Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been established, several political and institutional mechanisms have nevertheless sought to support reconciliation and the recognition of colonial injustices. The article shows that the ‘Events’ are not absent from school knowledge, but weakly embedded, lexically softened, and often displaced within broader narratives of institutional evolution and reconciliation. It argues that these silences are produced not only through omission, but also through processes of selection, framing, and disciplinary displacement. It also suggests that the transmission of the ‘Events’ reflects unresolved political tensions and the ongoing struggle to reconcile historical truth, social cohesion, and the management of a contested colonial past.

Keywords: Collective memory, silences, textbooks, education, New Caledonia, political uses of the past