On Gambiarras: Technical Improvisations à la Brazil

Imbalances of power and alternative modes of living abound in both the Global North and the Global South. Tactics and strategies are used by groups of all sorts to express their meaning-making processes and practices, which often happen through a wide variety of forms: for instance, by using digital devices to perform bricolages of materials and thus overcome the shortage of resources. In this chapter, we choose the example of a subtle recombination of materials and practices in which the digital is both at the center of the discussion and in the background, as a context within which practices develop....