Microcontinuum field theories extend classical field theories to microscopic spaces and short time scales. This volume is concerned with the kinematics of microcontinua. It begins with a discussion of strain, stress tensors, balance laws, and constitutive equations, and then discusses applications of the fundamental ideas to the theory of elasticity. The ideas developed here are important in modeling the fluid or elastic properties of porous media, polymers, liquid crystals, slurries, and composite materials.