  A continuum mechanical framework for the description of the geometry and
kinematics of defects in material structure is proposed. The setting applies to
a body manifold of any dimension which is devoid of a Riemannian or a
parallelism structure. In addition, both continuous distributions of defects as
well as singular distributions are encompassed by the theory. In the general
case, the material structure is specified by a de Rham current $T$ and the
associated defects are given by its boundary. For a motion of defects
associated with a family of diffeomorphisms of a material body, it is shown
that the rate of change of the distribution of defects is given by the dual of
the Lie derivative operator.
