Open Access'IF YOU CAN WORK FROM ANYWHERE, WHY WORK ANYWHERE ELSE?': FLEXIBLE CITIZENSHIP, REGIMES OF MOBILITY, AND THE DISCOURSE OF DIGITAL NOMADISM
Author(s) -
Sarah E. Edwards
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
selected papers of internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2162-3317
DOI - 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.11906
Subject(s) - transnationalism , citizenship , sociology , work (physics) , independence (probability theory) , identity (music) , media studies , digital revolution , political science , politics , law , aesthetics , engineering , mechanical engineering , philosophy , statistics , mathematics
Digital nomadism is a term that has entered the cultural lexiconrelatively recently to describe a lifestyle unbound from the traditional structures andconstraints of office work (Makimoto and Manners, 1997; Cook, 2020; Thompson, 2018). Thisidentity is organized around the digital technologies and infrastructures that make “remotework” possible, allowing digital nomads to claim “location independence” and granting themthe freedom to travel while working (Nash et al., 2018). Largely employed as freelancers oras self-styled entrepreneurs, digital nomads assert their independence from the traditionalstrictures of work through the digital technologies they use at the same time that theyremain “plugged in” to the infrastructures, economies, and lifeworlds of Silicon Valley(McElroy, 2019, p. 216). As such, the digital nomad represents a key site to examineprivileged transnationalism and the enduring forms of coloniality that inform contemporary“regimes of mobility” (Hayes and Pérez-Gañán, 2017; Glick Schiller and Salazar, 2013, p.189). This paper considers how discourses of digital nomadism have been constructed,circulated, and leveraged by governments offering “digital nomad visas,” “remote workvisas,” or “freelancer visas” to examine how regimes of mobility have been imagined andenacted. Utilizing discourse analysis to examine popular press articles, Instagram postsfrom the official accounts of tourism boards, and governmental websites, I examine the waysdigital nomadism was constructed during the COVID-19 pandemic and consider how thislifestyle has been formalized and institutionalized. I argue that mobility itself has becomea central resource through which nations compete for global capital accumulation.