Archives numériques et mémoire culturelle aux Caraïbes

The question of cultural memory is particularly complex in the case of the Caribbean due to its fragmented history, which has led to great cultural diversity. Created within and outside the Caribbean during the last twenty years, structured online archives have taken up the issue of dispersed memories by taking an inventory of a multiplicity of objects which testify to the diverse past of Caribbean societies. Taking Glissant’s concept of Relation as a starting point, I analyze in this article to what extent these archives contribute to the constitution of a cultural memory in terms of contents, structure as well as possibilities of participation, considering the complexity of historical and social threads woven together within and between the Caribbean territories. To address this question, I will draw on two online archives specializing in the Caribbean: The Caribbean Memory Project and the digital library MANIOC.