ABSTRACT
This chapter includes a sampling of reparative philosophies and methods practiced around the world within different cultures, religions, and languages. Some in this inventory of key concepts of repair have been around for centuries, while others are much more recent. The Dine Bahane’ tells people that the Holy People taught the Navajo people how to weave textiles so that they could provide for themselves and stay warm. Rooted in strong traditions, Navajos make and use textiles as cloaks, dresses, and blankets. Darning is a stitched response to holes/breaks/wounds that develop in knitted fabrics; perhaps rubbed through by repetitive wear and tear or eaten away by moths. Gambiarra is the name given in Brazil to the practice of carrying out repairs and inventions using alternative materials, improvisation, and a sense of spontaneous and immediate creativity. Murammat is a term of Arabic origin utilized extensively also in other languages such as Persian and Urdu.
