Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This paper investigates how highly-skilled migrants of Brussels, engaged in hybrid or remote work, negotiate a sense of belonging in a new country. I explore specifically whether working from consumption-driven "third places of work" can be seen as participation in a neighbourhood.

Paper long abstract

Brussels is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in Europe, with a large and versatile migrant community. According to latest statistics, around 70% of Belgians work from home one or two days a week. In this paper, I explore how, in such a cosmopolitan context defined by increased international mobility, people create a sense of belonging while they engage in digitally enabled remote work. 

This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted as part of ReWorkChange research project. Building on Henri Lefebvre’s concept of production of space (1974) and Doreen Massey’s understanding of space as a “product of interrelations” (2005: 9), I examine how contemporary remote workers in Brussels develop meaningful connections to urban spaces they inhabit. Drawing on the anthropological understanding of participation as “membership in social groups and ritual activities” (Goodwin and Goodwin, 2004: 222) or, simply, being part of something (Pina-Cabral, 2018), I investigate how the dynamics of participation become visible in an urban context where participation is mainly bound to capitalist frames of consumption, such as cafes, which people use for working remotely.

Focusing on highly-skilled migrants across a range of occupations (creatives, white collar employees, and freelance professionals) who work remotely from so called “third places of work” (cafes, co-working spaces, public libraries) this paper explores how they negotiate a sense of belonging in a new country.