Understanding digital nomadism: a three-level framework for migration studies

Abstract

As pandemic lockdowns forced traditional office workers to work from home, a subset of these workers left their countries of employment to join a growing movement of location independent transnational digital workers. These digital nomads have captured the imagination of popular media, but academic literature on this topic is still developing. This paper offers a critical review of scholarship on digital nomadism thus far and introduces a sociological framework for situating digital nomadism within migration studies. Building on the analytical tools of lifestyle migration research, we discuss the relationship between digital nomadism and broader processes of neoliberalism and postcoloniality. The paper is based on desk research and a scoping review of existing studies from which it borrows empirical illustrations of digital nomadism. In conclusion, we point to the specific features of digital nomadism that make it distinct from lifestyle and other types of privileged migration and suggest a research agenda for the future.

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