What is the poll, this reading practice that is gaining more followers among feminists?

Little known to the general public, the practice of surveying is nevertheless relatively simple. Born in popular circles at the end of the 19th century, it consists of the collective reading of the same work by a small group of people. Originally, the process to be followed is defined as follows: it is a question of dividing the chosen work into as many parts as there are people present, who will then each read the part assigned to them before proceeding to put together their impressions and thoughts.

Desacralize the book-object and open up culture to all classes

At the time, the goal was not to leave knowledge only in the hands of the ruling classes, but also to access knowledge at a lower cost, desecrating the book-object. Objectives that popular education associations still continue to pursue today, actively participating in the dissemination of land surveying as an educational and militant tool. “The relief is a precious tool because it is one of the few spaces built horizontally, begins Nicolas Da Silva Tomé, coordinator and trainer within the popular educational association Resources Alternatives. They there is not one person who transmits his knowledge and others who listen. Conversely, in an inquiry session, each participant is actually asked to describe what they understood from their passage and what their reading resonates based on their personal experiences.“, it abounds.

Books that are both intimate and political

A way of approaching reading that is attracting more and more feminist activists, including Clémence Schilder. A social worker, Clémence also has an Instagram account (@penserlemondee) where she shares her reading recommendations. ” I have long wanted to organize reading workshops to tackle books that are both intimate and political, but I wondered about accessibility.explains. I found that the book remained a strong social marker and that bothered me.”

When she discovers the practice of relief, she immediately likes it: “I was immediately drawn to having to cut the book. Symbolically, it is very powerful, says the young woman. I also like the fact that it reaches an audience that isn’t necessarily comfortable with reading, and then that it’s a practice born of the working class.”

Recently, Clémence has led two workshops: the first with a group of friends Getting out of heterosexuality by queer activist Juliet Drouar and the second after launching a call for participation in the survey on social networks Balance your body by Afro-feminist Bebe Melkor-Kadior. Each survey was conducted in small groups, with audiences of six to eight people. “It helps that it’s not much, especially for people like me who don’t feel comfortable in large groups”, she expands. And to add: “I also opted for single-sex sessions in order to create common references between people who already share common values ​​and experiences.”

From relief to the talking circle

Whether or not they take place between people of the same sex, the success of surveying sessions in feminist circles is anything but trivial, according to Elvire Duvelle-Charles: “ We are linked by questions and values ​​that cross us and around which we have to exchangetestifies the activist, journalist and filmmaker, head of the successful Instagram account @clitrevolution. And for that, books are a great starting point.

Every last Sunday of the month, the latter thus organizes an online survey session for a dozen of its members who follow and support it through the Patreon crowdfunding platform. For two hours, everyone gathers to read and talk about books like Dear asshole by Virginie Despentes Fatal beauty by Mona Cholet, all about love bell hooks or even Knockback by Susan Faludi, covering in several sessions given the size of the work. ” We take turns restoring the part we’ve read, but there are always gaps where we approach articles we’ve read, podcasts we’ve listened to, and then things we’ve experienced…“, sometimes making the border porous with a talking circle. ” With some, we’ve been trading for over a year, so we really see each other evolving. We can ask our questions with confidence, express our opinion or talk about our experiences without fear.

For “usual practice” tracking

What drives some people, such as Aurélie Olivier, to want to continue spreading the practice of surveying to as many people as possible. She director of the Littérature association, etc., she regularly conducts surveys on literary works written by women, in order to alleviate “the evident lack of female role models in literature“. For the last poll of the season, the appointment was made in Paris on November 19, to discover the work of Canadian author Nelly Arcan. On the Lyon side, the La Gryffe bookshop hosted a survey on collective work on 22 November We write to you from the revolution: Stories of women internationalists in Rojava. Not to mention the various militant groups, associations or even professors who organize surveys on their respective territories. And then, for the continuation, ” one might imagine that sensing would become a standard practice, smiles Elvire Duvelle-Charles. I deal with feminism, but we could work on many other topics, survey notebooks with friends and colleagues, as is sometimes done… Anything could be done.”