La pluralité des expériences historiques dans le passé du Québec et du Canada points de vue des historiennes et historiens universitaires

Abstract

How does the Quebec historical community view the writing of a pluralist and plurivocal history of Quebec and Canada? To answer this question, this article presents the results of a qualitative survey of 22 Quebec historians. It entertains three objectives: to establish the limits of the concept of plurality of historical experiences in the "national" past; to identify the potential and challenges that this plurality poses to the writing of history; and to identify proposals for the formulation of synthetic representations of a past that reflect the multiplicity of historical experiences. The results show a historical community that, while sensitive to the issue of diversity, sets certain conditions for the integration of this perspective. Methodological parameters (rigour and access to sources) and epistemological parameters (sense of history and reference paradigms) are stated by participants as support for their critical posture. Two subgroups stand out within the community of Quebec historians. The first sub-group seems attached to the French-Canadian or Quebecois national narrative and to the traditional political framework or a modified version of it. For this subgroup, the ethnocultural diversity and experiences of indigenous people raise more significant concerns. The second sub-group is, on the contrary, inclined to break up national frameworks to better embrace the multiple trajectories of the population that make up Quebec and Canadian societies. It seems more open to interdisciplinary work and the use of alternative sources and methods (e.g. oral history). The debate between the two sub-groups is obviously not over. Its analysis enables a better appreciation of the challenges facing the contemporary writing of the history of Quebec and Canada.