Abstract
More than 25 years after the Rwandan genocide, conducting a historical investigation about the role of France in Rwanda in the 1990's remains a delicate undertaking. Restricted access to archives, political uses of memory, presence of negationism, the contemporary historian finds himself confronted with many challenges which put academic freedoms to the test. Based on a singular research experience, the article offers an analysis of the effects produced by public debates around the "French question" on the writing of history. It shows how the meddling of politics, the force of denial discourse and the existence of arbitrary limitations on historical practices demand unwavering vigilance from the community of historians.