The barter of wonders as «total Social Fact» though children and childhood

This paper explores how collective action can affect social change through «The Barter of Wonders» (BoW), an action research project carried out from December 2018 to December 2019 that shows everyday solidarities between children and between children and adults. We aim to verify if and in what way BoW can offer itself as a device capable of activating social capital. Our project is not simply done for children: it is designed with them. We carried out three focus groups aimed at three groups of children aged 4 to 11. My research embodies the quintuple helix innovation model: we have created a steering committee made up of the Laboratory of Communication and empowerment of places (University of Salento), Lions International, Municipality of Lecce, Superintendent Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of Lecce Brindisi and Taranto, Lecce Prison, who worked together to build a cyclical event that resembles a bazaar where children can exchange their wonders and learn together. The wonders to be exchanged are displayed on the sackcloths sewn by the inmates of the Lecce prison with pieces of recycled and donated fabric, symbols of the new life towards which BdM wants to direct our path. Each appointment is a great party where children, parents and grandparents spend their free time being together and living as «total social fact» (Mauss) where the exchange becomes a relationship. Reading in a modern way the concept of Mauss on gift as "total social fact", this research proposes, with Caillè, to look at the gift as an element through which men create society by forge. BoW looks at the gift as an element through which men create society by tightening bonds. The gift here is a social glue that creates relationships, establishes mutual obligations and builds connections.