Marcher pour gagner : Une candidate en campagne électorale dans un bourg anglais

Résumé Fr En

Poursuivant sa réflexion sur la mise en espace de la vie sociale et sur les rapports biographie/ethnographie, l’auteur étudie la campagne d’une candidate à un mandat local dans un bourg du Derbyshire. Le démarchage électoral confirme les contours du territoire. Il contribue à la scansion calendaire du temps collectif et au marquage mémoriel d’un espace partagé. Jouant sur les seuils privé/public, il participe du lien contractuel qui lie citoyens et élus.

Walking towards victoryIn April 2003, Josiane Massard-Vincent followed in the steps of a District Councillor running for re-election in a Derbyshire town. Campaigning comes out as a civic rite which in terms of local history and identity shares some traits with Beating the bounds. Looking at canvassing as a systematic quest for face-to-face encounters with citizens, the paper underscores both the physical and territorial dimensions of the process. While playing down her political expectations, the candidate draws on her status as “born-and-bred” and on her awareness of everyone’s concerns and needs so as to enhance the supposedly close relationship that residents have with the town. Going endlessly from door to door is an attempt at renewing an implicit contract with the locality via the electorate. Finally, by focusing on a public figure who is also a person, the paper is part of an investigation on portraits as ethnographic formats that J. M.-V. has been carrying out since 2005.