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This paper considers the notion of "gambiarra", a feature of Brazilian and Latin American culture, as a literary element in two short stories of the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano. In this sense, some theoretical-critical approaches will be proposed for possible meanings to "gambiarra," not only as a materially objectified element, but also as a process, an action and a production method. I present as hypotheses some of the socio-historical determinations that enable "gambiarra" as a social phenomenon as well as its categorization as a concrete expression of a certain ontological human tendency. The analysis of the short stories, after brief considerations about the author and his work, seeks to understand how the articulation of the "gambiarra" manifests itself in the narratives, allowing also dialectical glimpses about its social dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]