Crowdwork, digital liminality and the enactment of culturally recognised alternatives to Western precarity: beyond epistemological terra nullius

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of key concepts/ideas in the indigenous theory of liminality

Concept/idea	Definition/explanation
Liminality	An intense period of development, change of meaning and purpose as individuals and collectives migrate from one status to another (Thomassen, 2015)
Liminal	An individual or a group who go through a transitional experience; the Ndembu of Zambia call them “mwadi”
Phases of liminality	Initiation, transition, reincorporation
State of liminality	While liminality consists of phases, it could become a state when the individual becomes frozen in any of its phases
Foregrounding agency	The theory foregrounds the agency of the liminals while accounting for the paradoxical relationship with structure and culture during the liminal experience
Communitas	Comradeship between liminals undertaking similar liminal experience; also known by the Ndembu of Zambia as “wubwambu” or “wulunda”, which means “feeding together”

Table 2. Summary of data collection phases

Phase	Period	Interviews	Other data collected
1	December 2017 to January 2018	6	Informal observations, social media observations, website reviews
2	June to August 2018	18	Social media observations, online discussion threads, digital platform observations, WhatsApp groups
3	October to November 2018	12	Social media observations, online discussion threads, document review, WhatsApp groups, platform observations
4	June 2019	8	Participant observations, informal discussions
Total		44

Figure 1. Profiles for the same worker on two different platforms.

Figure 2. A crowdworker’s spreadsheet for managing subcontracted tasks.

Table 3. Underlying assumptions of Western conceptualisation compared with research findings

Assumptions of Western conceptualisation of crowdwork	Findings
Static state	Process of development and transition
Digital entrenchment (workers trapped in one platform)	Workers have multiple platforms and multiple profiles on the same platform and across platforms
Individualistic	Collective
Fully digital work	Work is conducted digitally in physical offices
Algorithmic management and control	Bypassing the algorithm
Remote relationship with employers	Direct relationship with employers
Precarious condition of work in terms of regularity, task-based nature, insecurity	More stable through multiple platforms, multiple profiles, learning new skills, subcontracting and support communities
No pension	Ubuntu culture – “pension is taken care of”

Thomassen, B. (2015). Thinking with liminality. In A. Horvath, B. Thomassen, & F. Wydra (Eds.), Breaking boundaries: Varieties of liminality (pp. 39–58). Oxford.

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