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Photo from Carolina Gigleitner: (c) Gigleitner

In her dissertation at the University of Klagenfurt, Caroline Gigleitner, who also initiated a repair café herself, examined the question of how lifelong learning can contribute to a good, mindful, and sustainable life. To this end, she investigated repair cafés as centres of learning. In the interview, she discusses her findings.

Repair cafés are centres of learning – this is confirmed by various studies as well as your investigation. What exactly can visitors learn there?

They’re comprehensive centres of learning (including for the helpers, by the way)! After all, the motto of repair cafés is “Helping people to help themselves”. This is put into practice in different ways. Repairs are often done primarily by the helpers, because they can simply do it better and faster. While they work, they explain what they’re doing. Even if visitors only help out in small ways, they realise how difficult and tedious it can be just to get the housing of a device open. Once that’s done, they see everything that’s installed in there – which is usually much more than they expected. Sometimes, however, it goes very quickly and they’re surprised that it was just a small issue such as a hose that had come loose and simply had to be reattached. Visitors learn which tools can be used for which applications, ways to make things easier for oneself, and how to adapt when no tool is suitable. In this way, visitors also become aware that performing repairs is about more than keeping an object in working order. They recognise connections to manufacturing practices. They also start to identify criteria for ease of repair. In addition, they get lots of tips such as Internet links for repair platforms like iFixit or about how to successfully find replacement parts. The repair work itself requires a constant willingness to learn, because every repair has to be carried out differently. But learning doesn’t just take place during the repair itself. For example, visitors observe the other repairs while they are waiting. They see that they are not the only people who are interested in repairing things. They talk to other people who are there about all kinds of different things, often about topics that are related to repair and sustainability. Thus, they expand their knowledge in many different ways.

So, repair and sustainability are central learning topics at repair cafés?

Exactly. These factors were also evident in the motivation of the respondents to my study: There are the people who just really like repairing things and then the people who are primarily there because of the sustainability aspect. And this is exactly what creates such tremendous potential for mutual learning! While the one group learns new repair skills, the other becomes more aware of the global interconnections surrounding the topic of repair. One aspect that should not be overlooked is that a wide range of generations with their various knowledge tinker about together at repair cafés, learn a lot from one another, and are also more successful in finding solutions.

And to what extent is the knowledge that is learned transferred to people’s everyday lives?

I was actually quite amazed by the degree to which the knowledge that is learned is incorporated into people’s everyday lives and what a positive experience the visit is considered to be. For example, the visit motivates people to pay attention to repairability when buying new things. After going to the repair café, they are encouraged to continue repairing things at home – often with family or friends – and to take on new repair challenges. All the people who took part in the study talk about their visit in their private lives and in some cases in their professional lives, as well. The experiences are also shared via social media. They are then known for their expertise within their circle of friends, and people ask them for help with repairs.

So, some of the ideas from the repair cafés are also making it into everyday life. But to what extent are they actually “green competences” that visitors can strengthen at repair cafés?

In this context, I first have to define the terms “green” and “competences”. The founder of the repair cafés, Martine Postma, was certainly interested in the ecological and sustainability aspect. She wanted the repair cafés and their positive atmosphere to help keep everyday objects in use for as long as possible, avoid waste, and save resources. It’s all voluntary and largely self-determined. So, it depends on the people themselves how they apply themselves and what they take home with them – their newly functioning device or also new impressions and realisations for how to achieve greater sustainability? Many of the people who come to the repair café have several more of the defective objects they bring with them at home or they do not wait for the repair and have already purchased a new device. Grewe (2017) covered this excess very well in her studies. Therefore, repair cafés also support people in dealing with this decadence in society. As was expressed by many respondents, it will take additional decisions beyond repairing things that require people to show a great deal of courage and consciously do without certain things.

There are various definitions of the concept of competence. Let’s go with the concept of competence as defined by Erpenbeck, who describes it as the “self-organised, creative capacity to act” (2008, p. 40) and distinguishes between four key competences, such as being self-critical, actually implementing one’s own ideas, finding approaches for a solution, and getting others involved. All of this can be found in repair cafés – not necessarily all in a single person, but within the collective in any case.

That means that sustainable action can certainly be stimulated by repair cafés. Now let’s talk about a topic that was particularly noticeable in your dissertation: We associate the demand for greater sustainability with young people, not least because of the Fridays for Future movement. However, your study shows that teenagers and young adults are rarely found at repair cafés. Why is that in your opinion?

On one hand, it’s possible that young people would like to perform repairs themselves, but don’t know how. After all, these days many people no longer learn from their parents about treating their own things with care or the joy of using something for a long time. Adults are no longer role models in this regard. Broken things are simply replaced with new ones as quickly as possible. At the same time, a visit to a repair café is time-intensive, and teenagers prefer to spend their precious free time doing other things. Everyone who took part in the study learned about the importance of maintenance and repair during their childhood and adolescence. This creates a foundation of values and also explains why it is primarily people above the age of 40 who are active in many repair cafés. There was much more emphasis placed on this when they were growing up. That is to say, it makes it much easier when there is existing knowledge that can be built upon. The goal is to once again give children, teenagers, and also adults these experiences that are lacking today!

So, facilitating follow-up learning remains a challenge. How can people who are less concerned with repair and sustainability be reached? And how can it contribute to a collective paradigm shift?

I initially assumed that repair cafés have a broad impact and also reach people who were not previously interested in repairing things and using them for a long time. However, the empirical evidence did not confirm this assumption. Nevertheless, repair cafés are socially effective – and not just repair cafés but many of the other commons initiatives, as well. Because they make sustainable action visible, give it a value, and shed light on many new possibilities. In this context, I would point to Jackson (2014), who coined the term “broken world thinking”. He consciously focuses on used and defective things as opposed to new ones. Why? Because over the course of any object’s lifespan, it is used for the greatest amount of time, sometimes defective, and only very briefly new. This means that repair cafés contribute to a sociocultural re-establishment of repair due to the media attention and the public repair work. Policymakers must also advocate for repair in the interests of sustainability. At the EU level, the repair lobby is working to influence production and design and demand the right to repairability and repair options. There are also repair bonuses in many cities. But all of this takes time.

Speaking of which, thank you for your time and for the interview! Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Everyone who reads this interview can visit a repair café the next time they have a defective item and experience it themselves. I hope they enjoy it!

Links:

• Dissertation: Lebensbegleitendes Lernen für ein gutes, achtsames, nachhaltiges Leben
• iFixit: The Free Repair Manual

Additional information and sources:

• Erpenbeck, John (2008): Was "sind" Kompetenzen? (What “Are” Competences?) Steinbeis Universität. School of International Business and Entrepreneurship. Berlin, 25.11.2008.
• Grewe, Maria (2017): Teilen, Reparieren, Mülltauchen. Kulturelle Strategien im Umgang mit Knappheit und Überfluss. (Sharing, Repairing, and Dumpster Diving. Cultural Strategies for Dealing with Scarcity and Excess) Bielefeld: transcript (Kultur und soziale Praxis).
• Jackson, Steven J. (2014): Rethinking Repair. In: Gillespie, T./Boczkowki, P. J./Foot, K. A. (Hg.): Media technologies, S. 221–239.

Carolina Gigleitner, Mag.a Dr.in, studied education and sustainability sciences, freelance scientist, life and social consultant, farmer.
Contact: carolina.gigleitner@gmx.at

The interview was conducted by Lucia Paar/CONEDU