This book explains that the relevance of repair is not that it happens, but the values attached to it as well as its aesthetic, material and moral implications. It engages with theoretical and empirical questions such as: What does it mean to claim that something is broken? What is the connection between tinkering and innovation? And how much tolerance for failure do our societies have? Exploring some of the ways in which repair practices and perceptions of brokenness vary culturally, the compilation argues that repair is an attempt to extend the life of things as well as an answer to failures, gaps, wrongdoings and leftovers. The set of contributions illustrates the strong affective power hidden in situations of disrepair and repair; broken objects often bring strong emotions into play, but also reactions of creative action.

Praise

What I like about this book is its richness in ideas, it opens up a wide range of issues and associations, it invites the reader to see surprising linkages and new aspects of the seemingly trivial everyday. There is a lot of inspiration here for a number of research fields.
Orvar Löfgren, University of Lund

This is a very original, interesting and critical piece of work. It manages to bring the political in touch with the existential in an enlightening and, at moments, moving way.
Paolo Favero, University of Antwerp

Francisco Martínez gehören zu der Generation ethnografisch forschender Kulturwissenschaftlerinnen, die sich von einem Kurzzeitvertrag zum nächsten hangeln und dabei den Wechsel von oft weit auseinanderliegenden Standorten in Kauf nehmen müssen. Das mindert nicht ihren Mut und ihre Energie, mit neuen Ideen für forschend zu erschliessende Felder und alternative, vermittelnde Textformate aufzuwarten.
Regina Bendix, Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde