{"product_id":"haircuts-by-children-and-other-evidence-for-a-new-social-contract-9781552453377","title":"Haircuts by Children, and Other Evidence for a New Social Contract","description":"\u003cp\u003eWe live in an \"adultitarian\" state, where the rules are based on very adult priorities and understandings of reality. Young people are disenfranchised and powerless; they understand they're subject to an authoritarian regime, whether they buy into it or not. But their unique perspectives also offer incredible potential for engagement and innovation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCultural planner and performance director Darren O'Donnell has been collaborating with children for years through his theatre company, Mammalian Diving Reflex; their most well-known piece, Haircuts by Children (exactly what it sounds like) has been performed internationally. O'Donnell suggests that that working with children in the cultural industries in a manner that maintains a large space for their participation can be understood as a pilot for a vision of a very different role for young people in the world - one that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child considers a \"new social contract.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHaircuts by Children\u003c\/i\u003e is a practical proposal for the inclusion of children in as many realms as possible, not only as an expression of their rights, but as a way to intervene in the world and to disrupt the stark economic inequalities perpetuated by the status quo. Deeply practical and wildly whimsical, \u003ci\u003eHaircuts by Children\u003c\/i\u003e might actually make total sense.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDarren O'Donnell \u003c\/b\u003eis an urban cultural planner, novelist, essayist, playwright, director, designer, performer, and the artistic director of the Mammalian Diving Reflex theater company. O'Donnell currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDarren O'Donnell is an urban cultural planner, novelist, essayist, playwright, director, designer, performer and the artistic director of the Mammalian Diving Reflex theatre company. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBased in Germany and Canada, Mammalian Diving Reflex is a research-art atelier conducting culturally explorative work since 1993. The artists of Mammalian are committed to social acupuncture--playful, provocative, site-specific, and social-specific participatory performances, events, moments, situations, stage-based work, gallery-based participatory installations, videos, art objects, and theoretical texts. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDarren's work has been presented and exhibited around in cities around the world. He holds a M.Sc. in urban planning from the University of Toronto and a BFA in theatre from the University of Alberta. O'Donnell currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Coach House Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50356220690706,"sku":"9781552453377","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_be36f108-d932-4965-8ae7-c99d78240161.jpg?v=1728307710","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/haircuts-by-children-and-other-evidence-for-a-new-social-contract-9781552453377","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}