Location-independence? Exploring the digital geographies of work, mobilities and place

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the phenomenon of location-independence and its implications for place, work and mobilities in the digital age. The dynamic mechanisms of location-independence are examined in connection with two interrelated-yet-distinct vantage points: digital nomads (a group of location-independent workers from predominantly affluent countries working in locations with lower living costs), and coworking spaces in Aotearoa New Zealand (shared workspaces that provide socio-material and technological infrastructure for mobile workers to work from). Critical social theories – feminist, postcolonial, new mobilities, and embodied geography perspectives – provide a framework for analysing the concept of location-independence and uneven relations of power and subjectivities such as gender, ethnicity, class, and age. These perspectives not only emphasise Indigenous geographies that give voice to non-dominant epistemologies of knowledge but also bring attention to the body and highlight how work, place, and mobility are experienced differently. The research employs feminist methodologies for conducting qualitative research, including 12 online interviews with digital nomads globally, and 11 in-person semi-structured interviews with managers of coworking spaces or of the coworking community within these spaces in Aotearoa New Zealand. Reflexive thematic analysis is applied to interview transcripts, texts and images from websites promoting digital nomad visa schemes that surround the concept of location-independence. This thesis demonstrates that location-independence is constituted through relational geographies of subjectivities, mobilities, materials, and organisations. The findings are organised around three themes: digital nomads; coworking spaces; and, COVID-19. Focusing on the first theme – digital nomads – provides an opportunity for foregrounding how location-independence can be partly understood as an imagined and desired geography. Digital nomads experience both flexibility and freedom afforded by location-independence, but also challenges related to social isolation, precarious work conditions, and balancing work and personal life. Focusing on the second theme – coworking spaces – allows for an understanding of how these places are curated to be inclusive yet are also subject to gendered, raced, and classed power relations. The third theme – COVID-19 – is used to examine the ways in which location-independence was disrupted and repaired. The disruption of many infrastructures that facilitate location-independence has not only accelerated the shift towards the normalisation of remote work, but also highlights the need for emergent infrastructures of repair, shedding light on the importance of place, mobilities, materiality, and embodiment in the constitution of location-independence digital geographies.