For many years, scholars have been interested in the shaping of collective memory of nation-states. However, the role of diasporas in the process – weaving together official, vivid, militant and historical memories – remains largely unexamined. In this perspective, the Rwandese diaspora in Brussels constitutes a very interesting case-study due to the fact that their members are closely inter-connected and because the memories of a particularly violent past are extremely salient and contested. The proposed paper aims at assessing the way individuals and organised groups of the Rwandese diaspora in Brussels shape the political narratives of the conflictual past. To achieve this goal, a field study in Brussels based on semi-direct interviews has been conducted. The study reveals the co-existence of conflicting representations of an extreme case of political violence; genocide. The former Metropole is host to a very complex network of polarised diasporic configurations and alliances integrating a multitude of actors ranging from victims to perpetrators, from bystanders to helpers, from ex-colonisers to pacifiers. When mobilising to shape the political narratives of the past, their attitudes can be marked by silence, transmission, denial or contestation. The paper will propose a new typology of (transnational) actors involved in the shaping of national collective memory and therefore enlarge the global models developed so far. Moreover, in this paper, we wish to address the question on how to deal with conflicting memories in a post-conflict setting in exile. What is often depicted as a ‘conflict of memories’ raises fundamental questions. Given that diasporas can potentially be very influent actors in post-conflict transitions, how do conflicting memories in exile shape conflict resolution/reconciliation processes in the country of origin in a post-genocide setting?
