Dissonances mémorielles autour de la statue du général Jacques de Dixmude : une histoire de contestation patrimoniale entre guerre et colonisation (1930–2022)

Giuffredi, Francesca;Gijs, Anne-Sophie
(2027) Revue Belge d’Histoire Contemporaine — Vol. 2027, n° 1 (2027)

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Abstract
(en) Current controversies surrounding colonial monuments in Europe are often treated as isolated and sudden challenges to colonial memory in former colonizing countries. This article proposes instead to interpret them as indicators of the structural fragility of any national heritage. Material heritage offers a particularly valuable lens through which these dynamics can be observed, as its physical presence makes the evolution of representations of the past tangibly perceptible. Drawing on extensive and original archival documentation, the article traces the history of contestation surrounding the statue of General Jacques de Dixmude (1858 -1928), a French-speaking Belgian military “heroized” both for his role in the colonization of the Congo and for his involvement in World War I. Situated at the intersection of two founding narratives of Belgian national memory, the statue has, since the interwar period, generated persistent “memory dissonances” at local, regional, national, and international levels. Mobilizing the tools of Memory Studies and cultural history, the article explores processes of stratification, superimposition, and reconfiguration of collective memories at the intersection of multiple identity frameworks. In doing so, it contributes to de-essentializing the concepts of heritage, identity, and memory, well beyond the Belgian context alone.
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Giuffredi, F., & Gijs, A.-S. (2027). Dissonances mémorielles autour de la statue du général Jacques de Dixmude : une histoire de contestation patrimoniale entre guerre et colonisation (1930–2022). Revue Belge d’Histoire Contemporaine, 2027(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.201100565 (Original work published 2027)