A space of one’s own: spatial and identity liminality in an online community of mothers

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the role of an online community in the life of 11 Taiwanese women living in the UK and considers the implications this empirical case has for theorising about motherhood and the spatial dimensions of online/on-site space. Findings from a nethnographic and ethnographic fieldwork show how online discussions reflect and amplify the liminal identities of the community’s members. In looking at doing mothering at a collective rather than at the individual level, this study highlights how collective practices of consumption perpetuate liminal identities, exacerbating consumers’ sense of being out of place. It shows how online space is at the same time the product of online and on-site liminal identities and liminal social interactions and the re-producer of such interactions.

KEYWORDS:

• Liminality
• mothering
• acculturation
• online community
• ethnography
• nethnography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Benedetta Cappellini

Benedetta Cappellini is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her research interests are in food consumption, material culture and family consumption. She has published in refereed journals including Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, Sociology, The Sociological Review, Consumption, Markets and Culture, Journal of Consumer Behaviour and Advances in Consumer Research.

Dorothy Ai-wan Yen

Dorothy Ai-wan Yen is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Brunel University. Her research interests include cross-cultural business relationships between East and West and consumers’ identity, acculturation and their consumption of food and brands when moving abroad. Her work has been published in journals such as Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of General Management and Total Quality Management.