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In this paper we propose the concept of 'vulnerabilising' to mark an explicit shift in the focus of analysis and intervention away from those individuals and groups labelled vulnerable, towards the processes that generate and reproduce vulnerability. To that end, we develop a framework that conceptualises how 'vulnerabilising assemblages' operate. We mobilise assemblage thinking and engage with theoretical debates on the nature of vulnerability as a universal, albeit unequal, human condition. Addressing inaccessible housing as a case study, we identify three mechanisms through which it vulnerabilises people with physical disabilities: through exposure to harm; through erosion of defenses against harm; and by legitimising or motivating harm. We propose that such mechanisms can be investigated in different contexts, and call on researchers, policymakers and grassroot activists to shift their attention from vulnerable bodies to vulnerabilising assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Studies of domestic temporalities have emphasised the timing of social activities and interactions in the home, including how family members negotiate their use of home spaces and technologies, the impact of flexible work practices on home, and the organisation of care and mothering activities. But home is also shaped by the rhythms and times of nonhumans that inhabit, travel through and are part of the house-as-home; it is further shaped by the environment outside home. Drawing inspiration from recent discussions of nature times the paper explores the more-than-human temporalities of domestic space. It charts the ageing and decay of house structures, the disruption caused by nocturnal animals, and the seasonal cycles of sunlight and plant growth that immediately surround the home, attending to the ways that these events shape everyday experiences of home and homemaking. These times and rhythms are examined through interviews undertaken with people living with uninvited brushtail possums in the ceilings of their homes, interviews and diaries completed by new dog owners, interviews with gardeners, and analysis of popular Australian homemaking magazines. These stories emphasise the dynamic and unfolding nature of the house-as-home as a hybrid timespace produced through an ongoing entwinement of human and nonhuman, living and non-living, culture and nature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]