Things Take Care of Us. Ordinary Objects Assemblies and Arrangements that Maintain the Life

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.149

Keywords:

gender, care, technologies, households

Abstract

The presence of technologies in care invites a rethinking of the relationships established between caregivers and people who receive care. Through our project Technological Arrangements and Assemblages in Family Networks for Home Care (PRY115/22), funded by the Andalusian Studies Centre Foundation, we analyse the role that technologies play in care, particularly within the domestic sphere. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals with intensive daily care needs and their family members in order to investigate access to and everyday use of these tools from a qualitative perspective. The results reveal habitual use of a range of devices, marked by emotional ambivalences and the formation of singular bonds. The findings suggest that care is articulated through objects and technologies that facilitate ageing in place, configuring ‘more-than-human’ care networks.

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Author Biographies

María Teresa Martin Palomo, Universidad de Almería

Senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Almería and holds a doctorate from the Carlos III University of Madrid. Her doctoral thesis was awarded the 2015 Juan Linz Prize for the best doctoral thesis in political science and sociology (Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies, Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts). She is a member of the Institute for Feminist Research (UCM) and Research Group HUM 716 on Gender, Care and Technoscience (UAL). In addition, she has been a visiting researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris Center for Sociological and Political Research (CRESPPA-GTM), the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Regional Centre for Multidisciplinary Research (CRIM), the Gino Germani Research Institute (Argentina) and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) in Uruguay, among others. Her research focuses on gender, care and technologies, as well as the methodological and epistemological challenges these fields open up.

Raquel Latorre Martínez, Universidad de Almería

Degree in sociology from the University of Granada, a master’s degree in sexology from the University of Almería and a diploma in ‘Comprehensive Sex Education: Its Relevance in Educational Institutions’ from the National University of San Luis (Argentina). She is currently a predoctoral FPU fellow at the University of Almería. She has undertaken research stays in Buenos Aires, Argentina (CONICET); Paris, France (CRESPPA-GTM); Quebec, Canada; and Brussels, Belgium. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Migration and Intercultural Relations (CEMyRI) and the Research Team on Inclusion and Governance in Latin America (ÉRIGAL), as well as of Research Group HUM 716 on Gender, Care and Technoscience at the University of Almería. Her doctoral thesis focuses on care and sexuality in women with disabilities, examining the relationship between gender, ableism and non-normative bodies.

Estefanía Cirino, Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani

Doctorate in social sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), a specialisation in social determinants of mental health from the Ministry of Health and the UBA and a degree in sociology from the UBA. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the Argentine National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), based at the Gino Germani Research Institute (IIGG-UBA), a researcher at the Institute of Social Studies in Contexts of Inequality of the National University of José C Paz (IESCODE) in Argentina and coordinator of the Study Group on Ageing and Well-being (GEyB). Her research interests include public policy, care and ageing. She also teaches at several national universities on topics related to research methodology and the complexities of care.

María Pía Venturiello, Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani

Researcher at CONICET and the Gino Germani Research Institute (IIGG), both in Argentina. At the latter, she is a member of the Health and Population Department, where she specialises in social studies of disability. Her current work focuses on care policies, vulnerability and dependency. She is the author of books, book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals, and teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has participated in numerous research projects on care, older adults, health inequalities and disability.

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Published

2026-07-06

How to Cite

Martin Palomo, M. T., Latorre Martínez, R., Cirino, E., & Pía Venturiello, M. (2026). Things Take Care of Us. Ordinary Objects Assemblies and Arrangements that Maintain the Life. CENTRA Journal of Social Sciences, 5(2), 83–106. https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.149

Issue

Vol. 5 Núm. 2 (julio-diciembre, 2026)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 María Teresa Martin Palomo, Raquel Latorre Martínez, Estefanía Cirino, María Pía Venturiello

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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