A temporary liminal space counteracting the permanent 'in between' in working life

19 Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 9 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2019 A Temporary Liminal Space Counteracting the Permanent ‘in between’ in Working Life1 ❚❚ Hanne Vesala2 PhD student, University of Tampere, Faculty of Social Sciences, Finland ❚❚ Seppo Tuomivaara Specialist Researcher, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Unit of Digitalization, Finland ABSTRACT Ambiguous liminality used to exist ‘in between’, in a transition to a new social-structural order, but recently, it has gained a more permanent and normalized presence in working life, where existing boundaries are becoming blurred. However, liminality as a continuous state can be individually demanding. This paper elaborates upon a theoretical understanding of permanent and temporary liminality in working life and examines possible measures to tame excessive liminality. To illustrate the theoretical development, forms of permanent and temporary liminality in the lives of three professionals are analyzed. We found that dealing with multiple and complex work roles independently could be conducive to fracturing work routines, which we identify as habitualized, permanent liminality. Withdrawal to an alternative work environment – a rural Finnish archipelago – formed a liminal space in its original sense, a creative and reflective phase that illuminated work-related challenges. It is suggested that such spaces are designed to achieve simplicity. KEYWORDS bodily change / creativity / liminality / reflection / space Introduction With ‘anytime, anywhere’ work, outsourcing, enterprising, freelancing, and projectbased work gaining ground, work is increasingly surpassing organizational and work/life boundaries (Garsten 1999; Koslowski et al. 2017; Moen et al. 2013; Tempest & Starkey 2004). The notions of fluid, mobile, and resilient work suggest that it has somehow become inherently contradictory to associate work with bounded categories such as place, hours, and clearly predefined duties. As a result, it has been argued that liminality, an ambiguous state ‘betwixt and between’, has become a common condition and experience in contemporary work (Ibarra & Obodaru 2016; Johnsen & Sørensen 2015). Liminality is a concept that originated from studies on the ritual behavior of traditional small-scale communities. Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep (1960 [1909]) discovered that rites accompanying transition to a new social status included a phase 1 You can find this text and its DOI at https://tidsskrift.dk/njwls/index. 2 Corresponding author: Hanne Vesala, University of Tampere, Faculty of Social Sciences. E-mail: [email protected]. 20 A Temporary Liminal Space Counteracting Hanne Vesala and Seppo Tuomivaara characterized by the physical separation of the ritual subjects from the rest of the society, the destruction of their previous social status, and a dramatic, extraordinary, and playful recombination of cultural elements, the aim of which was to transmit the society’s deep knowledge about its values and cosmologies to the initiands (Turner 1974a, p. 239, 1974b). Van Gennep (1960 [1909]) defined this ambiguous, even dangerous phase as liminal, after the Latin term limen, denoting a threshold. In organization and working life studies, the concept of liminality has sparked increasing interest. Liminality has been examined in relation to ‘in-between’ organizational spaces (Iedema et al. 2010; Shortt 2015) and events (Concannon & Nordberg 2018; Johnson et al. 2010; Sturdy et al. 2006). Certain organizational positions have also been identified as liminal, such as temporary employees and consultants (Czarniawska & Mazza 2003; Garsten 1999; Tempest & Starkey 2004; Winkler & Mahmood 2015) as well as managers of interorganizational relationships (Ellis & Ybema 2010). However, it has been found that for such individuals, the liminal ‘in between’ may also become a continuous state of affairs (Czarniawska & Mazza 2003; Ellis & Ybema 2010; Garsten 1999). Likewise, it has also been shown that liminality has characterized organizational strategies (Lindsay 2010), cultures (Howard-Grenville et al. 2011), and management practices (Swan et al. 2016). These findings indicate that in some cases, the liminal ‘in-between’ condition has reached a state of relative permanence. These studies have characterized the liminal experience in working life as ambiguous yet potentially creative, but many have paid less attention to how liminality can foster change and transition. As the understanding of liminality has shifted from that of a ritual and extraordinary phase to an increasingly mundane and permanent phenomenon in the working life context, limitations in the original concept have begun to seem evident (Ibarra & Obodaru 2016; Johnsen & Sørensen 2015). Ibarra and Obodaru (2016) have argued that some professionals thrive in and even seek out liminal work experiences, such as knowledge workers in the new economy, high technology, and media. Simultaneously, however, responsibility for navigating liminal situations falls more heavily on the individuals themselves and may involve a risk of losing sight of how boundaries could be meaningfully restored in work and private lives (Johnsen & Sørensen 2015). According to Thomassen (2014), a prolonged liminality without transition stands in contrast to the original logic of liminality. Yet, these kinds of situations are typical to modern society (Szakolczai 2000; Thomassen 2014). It is even possible to identify multiple levels of liminality, structural and of the more personal kind, affecting the individual simultaneously (Thomassen 2015; Winkler & Mahmood 2015). This article investigates the potential interplay of permanent and temporary liminality in contemporary working life by analyzing the experiences and reflections of three professionals during an experiment that involved a change of work environment to an unfamiliar rural Finnish archipelago for a short period of time. The article also examines whether some measures can be taken to tame and control liminality that has become burdensome. The article emphasizes spatiality and bodily experience as important dimensions of liminality, as they originally were (Thomassen 2014, p. 91), and draws theoretical insights from Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. Unlike some other working-life studies of liminality, this article maintains the original meaning of the concept of liminality as a transitional phase but leaves the context of the transition and its eventual outcome open, suggesting, like Ibarra and Obodaru (2016), that modern-day Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 9 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2019 21 transitional situations may be highly individual yet still connected to more general social conditions. In such cases, the phenomena and the transition they stimulate may be interpreted case-by-case using liminality as a heuristic device. We begin our analysis with a literature review that examines permanent and temporary liminality and explores the relation between liminality, space, and body. Next, we turn to an empirical analysis, which shows how the complete change in environment of three professionals produced a liminal experience comparable to the original idea of liminality as a phase of upheaval, creativity, and reflectivity. This liminal phase also illuminated the ambiguous characteristics of the professionals’ ordinary work conditions. In the discussion section, we question to what extent the ‘normal’ everyday work of our three informants, as it was viewed during the temporary archipelagic period, demonstrates ‘permanent liminality’ and how a temporary liminal phase helped counteract the tendencies of this permanent liminality. In our conclusion, we suggest that within a permanently liminal and complicated everyday reality, a transformative liminal space may paradoxically be found by embracing simplicity. This may require a physical change in one’s working conditions. Literature Liminality as the condition of modernity: From a temporary phase to a permanent state? Van Gennep’s (1960 [1909]) main aim was to show that rites of transition possessed a universal pattern, consisting of three phases: separation from the rest of the society, transition (liminality proper), and incorporation back to the normal social order. Victor Turner (1969, 1974a, 1974b) emphasized a close association of liminality with communitas, a creation of equal and family-like communal bonds with fellow initiands. Yet, liminal situation was also dangerous both for the initiands and the society because such an undefined state could cause anxiety and threaten the social order (Douglas 2003 [1966]). Turner extended the concept of liminality to account also for individual liminal experiences and liminal situations experienced outside of small-scale traditional societies, such as pilgrimages (Turner 1974a) and engagement with modern art and entertainment (1974b). He recognized plenty of creative potential in liminality, describing it as ‘a time of marvels’ when one could reflect upon and recreate one’s place in the world (Turner 1974a, pp. 238–242), this creativity being facilitated by the individualization of modern society (Turner 1974b). As liminality has been ‘set free’ of the ritual framework, it appears to be no longer merely a channel to deal with changes affecting a community but a resource for profitmaking and an experience sought for its entertainment value. This is particularly visible in the increased yearning for extreme experiences and immersion in virtual realities in contemporary life (Thomassen 2014). Creative play that subverts the normal rules used to belong to the liminal phase of a ritual (Szakolczai 2000, p. 213) but has become a popular organizational strategy in sectors ranging from creative and new media industries to public organizations (Pors & Andersen 2015; Sørensen & Spoelstra 2012; Walker 2011). Being an ‘outsider’ – a typical liminal character – used to be exceptional but is now a normalized organizational role, as in the case of consultants and temporary 22 A Temporary Liminal Space Counteracting Hanne Vesala and Seppo Tuomivaara workers (Czarniawska & Mazza 2003; Garsten 1999; Tempest & Starkey 2004; Winkler & Mahmood 2015). Addressing this change, Ibarra and Obodaru (2016) have argued that, unlike its traditional counterpart, contemporary liminality is typically under-institutionalized, individualized, and open-ended – and thus fertile for ‘identity play’, the divergent exploration of possible work identities. On the other hand, studying the case of a consultant, Johnsen and Sørensen (2015) have found that the overagitated lifestyle of overworked professionals may lead to a situation where work absorbs life, and norms separating work and ‘life’ become altogether unintelligible, leading to permanent liminality. Liminality may also be addictive. Finding a way out from such a situation may be difficult if one experiences it as being constantly in a ‘fast-moving train’ (Johnsen & Sørensen 2015). A frustration caused by the simultaneous impossibility and unavoidability of finding a solution may feel like schitzophrenic aporia (Czarniawska & Mazza 2003) or limbo (Bamber et al. 2017). Facing this situation alone increases its difficulty (Johnsen & Sørensen 2015). In sum, systemic, permanent liminality may be not only empowering but also involve difficulties with finding back to structured ways of working and living, as if one remained stuck in the third phase of the rite of transition: incorporation (Szakolczai 2000, p. 214). Temporary liminal spaces in organizations: Liminality as a bodily experience There may yet be other, more fleeting kinds of liminality in organizations: moments that are situationally achieved, emergent, possibly orchestrated, or that simply happen as a result of individuals ‘dwelling’ in space (Bachelard 1994 [1958]; Lefebvre 1991; Shortt 2015). This kind of liminality has been identified in workshops (Johnson et al. 2010), strategy away-days (Concannon & Nordberg 2018), and work dinners (Sturdy et al. 2006), as well as in the everyday uses of leftover, abandoned space within organizational facilities (Iedema et al. 2010; Shortt 2015). Where accounts of systemic and structural liminality highlight the contradictory and often tension-ridden and demanding nature of the in-between position for the individuals concerned (Beech 2011; Czarniawska & Mazza 2003; Garsten 1999; Winkler & Mahmood 2015), findings of situational, momentary liminality, on the other hand, emphasize characteristics more clearly on the emancipatory side of liminality: the exchange of tacit knowledge, creative discussion, retreat from the constraints of normative roles, introspection, and reflection. They also involve a separation from and return to normative spaces and roles and the use of an alternative space in between – resembling traditional liminal rites. For example, Shortt (2015) found that in the temporary liminal spaces of leftover organizational facilities, employees felt in contact with their inner feelings, which were suppressed in normative work situations. Consequently, in those spaces, they could interact with colleagues more authentically and creatively. It must be added that individuals in a long-term liminal position may also experience their situation more intensively during particular events, but these are moments when they are suddenly reminded of the adversities of their ambiguous position (Winkler & Mahmood 2015). Our focus here, however, is on the liminal characteristics of certain momentary organizational spaces as compared to dominant organizational spaces. Yet, Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 9 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2019 23 Winkler and Mahmood’s (2015) insight that there may be an interplay between liminal moments and long-term liminal situations is important for the purposes of this article. Van Gennep began his classic book Rites of Passage with a chapter on territorial passage immediately after the initial classification of rites. He clearly meant this chapter as a framework for his subsequent examination of liminality, because space played an important role in organizing many liminal rites (Thomassen 2014, p. 91). We now examine further the significance of body and space in liminality in the context of contemporary working life by grounding our study to the bodily phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. According to Merleau-Ponty (2012 [1945]), our perceptive capabilities fundamentally begin with the body: how our body is situated in the world. In perception, we are immersed in the surrounding world and our perception is solicited by this world, we thus escape our conscious selves. This makes perception a holistic and bodily experience rather than a purely intellectual one, a stance that is advanced also by emerging strands of organization research such as spatial organization studies (e.g., Dale & Burrell 2008; Taylor & Spicer 2007) and the practice perspective (e.g., Gherardi 2006; Strati 2007). The primary role of body in perception invests it with practical, nontransparent knowledge about the world, a ‘body schema’ that is built upon the sedimentation of previous perceptions and comes forth situationally (Kozyreva 2018; Merleau-Ponty 2012 [1945]). Merleau-Ponty stated that the ‘sense’ that the perception of our environment provides us has both an anthropological and a nonpersonal component. We have a ‘natural’, pre-personal attitude within our bodily, sensory functions that ensures there exists a certain organic unity or style in our experience beneath the ruptures of a personal and historical life (Merleau-Ponty 2012 [1945], p. 345, see also Heinämaa 2015). However, our ability to function in the world also builds upon a personal history and familiar habitual practices that connect to another side in us, that of a cultural being. This invests every perception with an existential dimension. Says Merleau-Ponty: For man, everything is constructed and everything is natural, in the sense that there is no single word or behavior that does not owe something to mere biological being – and, at the same time, there is no word or behavior that does not break free from animal life, that does not deflect vital behaviors from their direction [sens] through a sort of escape and a genius for ambiguity that might well serve to define man. Already the mere presence of a living being transforms the physical world, makes ‘food’ appear over here and a ‘hiding place’ over there, and gives to ‘stimuli’ a sense that they did not have. (Merleau-Ponty 2012 [1945], p. 195) Sensing is this living communication with the world that makes it present to us as the familiar place of our life. (Merleau-Ponty 2012 [1945], p. 53) From this perspective, workspace, as any space in which we dwell, is not merely about functionality but also the framework of our existential belonging. Workspace solicits a certain routine behavior through its artifacts, including rules, regulations, workplace architecture, and software (D’Adderio 2011). Although these artifacts posit constraints to individual freedom and creativity, which has been a concern to recent routine literature (Howard-Grenville et al. 2016), spatial routines also contribute to developing the 24 A Temporary Liminal Space Counteracting Hanne Vesala and Seppo Tuomivaara practical body schema (Merleau-Ponty 2012 [1945]), a familiar way of moving about in this world. The significance of this affective, bodily experience of space in the formation of the individual has been an important theme in the work of many social theorists, although it has not necessarily been examined in phenomenological detail. Foucault (1977) emphasized the role of spatial design, such as that modeled after the panopticon, in producing docile and obedient bodies. Lefebvre (1991) discussed how homogeneous, rationalized, and urban spatial planning curtail expressions of social and individual life. As we develop a habitualized way of moving around in our familiar spaces, we cease to perceive how this spatial activity as a system of exchanges comes in to being (Merleau-Ponty 1964a). According to Merleau-Ponty (1964a), this ‘becoming’ was something that modern painters like Cézanne and Matisse sought to capture by abandoning the then conventional and ideal forms of expression in an attempt to return to bodily perception, that is, to the vision as it comes into being in a bodily experience. Merleau-Ponty (1964a, p. 180) characterized this artistic vision as a ‘deflagration of being’. However, it was an estranged position: ‘Only one emotion is possible for this painter – the feeling of strangeness – and only one lyricism – that of the continual rebirth of existence’ (Merleau-Ponty 1964b, p. 18). We argue that this kind of perception is also characteristic of liminal experience, and it is by such estrangement from the ordinary norms that the existential and emotional signification tied to everyday spatial practices may be opened up and questioned. As the abovementioned studies of the liminality of work dinners, workshops, away-days, and uses of marginal spaces within work facilities indicate, a change of workspace may push normative, ordinary perception aside and enable a vision of new practices and significations. The question we examine next is how permanent liminality and momentary liminal spaces might interplay in the lives of individual professionals. We describe the move of three such individuals to work in an unconventional work environment, a natural rural archipelago, and examine how this move evoked reflection on work practices, career, and values. Data and methods The aim of this study was to further elaborate the constructs of permanent and temporary liminality in the context of contemporary working life. We illustrate this theoretical development using interviews with three Finnish individuals as case examples (Siggelkow 2007). These were professionals who detached themselves from urban environments and experimented with carrying out their work in an isolated and unfamiliar rural environment for a short period of time. This experimentation was done within a research project that examined flexible work in the rural archipelagos of the Baltic Sea region. The research project was carried out in cooperation of Finnish, Swedish, and Estonian research institutes, in partnership with local municipalities and entrepreneurs. The cases presented in this paper are from interview data collected in southwestern Finland and Åland. This archipelago area holds a special place both culturally and naturally in the Finnish context. Traditional life in the archipelago was hard, but one was elated by the forcefulness of its nature, both arid and fragile. Currently, this mainly rural area is a popular holiday destination. The beach, in between land and sea, has been found to signal liminality (Preston-Whyte 2004). The same can be considered of the archipelago. Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 9 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2019 25 The study participants conducted their work in the archipelago over the course of a week; they were offered free lodging and office space for this purpose. The purpose of the original research project was to analyze the experience and well-being effects of working remotely in an isolated rural environment and develop telework service concepts for rural areas. Study participants were recruited through an advertisement that proposed the opportunity to try flexible work in the archipelago area in exchange for participation in the study. Before the experiment, the participants were informed in detail about the purpose and design of the experiment and study. Participation was voluntary and could be terminated at any moment if willed. The participants could decide all their own activities during the experiment. Participation was possible for small groups of colleagues and lone individuals, depending on preference. Although this research setting could be considered atypical, flexible work arrangements are a common practice and increasingly mainstream in organizational thinking in Finland and other Nordic countries. According to a Finnish survey, every fifth employee in Finland conducts telework (Sutela & Lehto 2014). Daily working hours are less likely to be fixed among Finnish wage earners (44% of whom work fixed hours) than those in other EU countries (Eurofound 2015). Conducting work in multiple locations is most common in Finland (45%) among EU countries, with other Nordic countries reaching almost equal shares (Eurofound 2015). Given these statistics, expanding the normative idea of telework fits with general trends in Finnish working life. In addition, Finland has vast rural areas that are suffering from migration to urban areas, and the idea of rural telework as a way to re-enliven these areas reoccurs in political debate. Despite increasing migration to cities, many Finns do not want to sever their ties to the countryside entirely. In fact, Finland has one of the highest ratios of number of leisure apartments to per-capita population in the EU (Adamiak et al. 2015). There is research which indicates that these apartments are also used for teleworking (Komulainen 2007). The study participants were interviewed thematically in groups at the end of archipelagic work periods to encourage sense-making and discussion of the nascent phenomenon (Frey & Fontana 1991). The interviews dealt with the professional backgrounds and overall work situations of the participants prior to advancing to the experiment itself, how work was carried out during the experiment, and how the period was experienced as a whole. The participants were able to themselves introduce additional themes of importance relating to what they had discovered during the experiment. Walsh and Bartunek (2015) suggest cycles of inductive and deductive inquiry for studies of unexplored phenomena. An inductive and preliminary analysis of the data collected during the project revealed that the change of environment affected not only the practical ways in which participants carried out their work tasks but also their view on deeper topics: their professional development, dreams, pasts, and futures. As this new situation was characterized by openness and a sense of discovery, we adopted liminality as a key concept to make sense of this phenomenon. We used theoretical sampling (Eisenhardt & Graebner 2007) to examine more closely three participants, Eeva, Mia, and Lasse (pseudonyms), whose stories are presented in this paper. These stories illustrate temporary and permanent liminality with different emphases. Together, they enable us to sketch a pattern that shows how the change of work environment affected perception and reflection, which were simultaneously directed by personal histories, situations, and concerns. Depending on personal 26 A Temporary Liminal Space Counteracting Hanne Vesala and Seppo Tuomivaara background, the environment could trigger intense sensations and reflection. Eeva’s story is particularly rich in nuanced description of how she perceived the new environment and how it created for her an alternative world with dreamy undertones. Lasse’s focus was more on his concern for his overall work situation, which was characterized by dispersion. Yet, in Lasse’s interview, too, this reflection connects to his archipelago experience, where he found a contrast to his everyday routines. In Mia’s story, we find complicated and fractured everyday routines, as particularly in Lasse’s case, and a fascination with the current environment, as in Eeva’s case but with fewer existential undertones. We can assume that the professional backgrounds and personalities of the participants affected their orientation in the archipelago and how they expressed their experiences. Mia seemed to be more satisfied with her general work situation than Eeva and Lasse, who were each concerned in their own fashion about their work situations. The three stories shed light on the interplay between such individual background factors and the space affecting how work effort was reconstructed, experimented with, and reflected in this new space. Alvesson (2003) recommends viewing interviews as contextual accounts, a methodological perspective compatible with Merleau-Ponty’s bodily and situated theory of perception, presented earlier. The liminal context of these interviews can be traced with an air of straightforwardness and in the way the existential theme of good, personally rewarding, and meaningful work was opened up, not specifically enquired into by the interviewers. As this analysis relies on only three cases, we do not aim to make far-reaching empirical generalizations. Our main aims are to examine the interrelations between permanent and momentary liminality in professional lives and how momentary liminality can disrupt permanent liminality. Analysis Case 1: Eeva Eeva was a private entrepreneur in electrical installation, working also as a freelance journalist and writer whenever her primary job allowed. Her duties included a variety of tasks, ranging from actual installation to administrative duties, such as billing and bookkeeping. Her home was also her office. Eeva was experienced in her work, with several decades of work history as an electrician. She had also been a keen writer all her life. However, she currently struggled to find time for writing, as the breaks her main work allowed were not ideal for writing efficiently. For a year, Eeva had been planning to write a storybook with an illustrator friend, but it had been difficult to find time for this among her everyday routines. The archipelago experiment was an opportunity for the two to finally concentrate on their book project together. The duo chose not to make detailed plans beforehand regarding the work process in the archipelago. When in place, they became fascinated by the local environment and let this sensation influence their emergent work rhythm. This is how Eeva described the process of settling in the archipelago: Of course, we said that we would conduct our writing project here. But we couldn’t define more precise goals, because we did not know anything about the conditions and Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 9 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2019 27 the rhythm. (…) We have carried out real working days here, it has not been like mere relaxation, although this is such a lovely place, like, can you bear to sit still and write at all ... but it just somehow, let’s say it became rhythmed by itself, and it is pretty exciting to notice, like how, it just happened. Eeva described the formation of their daily rhythm as a ‘puzzle’. The duo would wake up in the morning, each according to their natural rhythm, start work, and then go for a walk together. After lunch, they again did an excursion and then worked during the afternoon. After dinner, the pair went outdoors but could again return to work until they felt it was time to go to sleep. This was the pair’s rhythm during the whole week. During the period, the duo managed to lay the groundwork for the book project, crafting its basic ideas and establishing their collaboration practices. The archipelago environment was a source of inspiration and relaxation for Eeva. She became fascinated by things both large and small, such as landscapes, overall spaciousness, and cats in the neighborhood. The excursions in the environment enabled her to transit ‘from one atmosphere to another’ and forget work matters, which was an unusual experience to her: Somehow it has been wonderful here. Of course it is due to being in a new environment, that once we have been working and then gone to walk, and then when we are walking, there are so many new and wondrous things, that you forget work (…) it has been like this, you go from one ambiance to another. Somehow you can focus on where you are and not where you were a moment ago ... that is what has happened here. Of course, it would probably be different, if you would go like every year, or many times a year, to the same place. So, it is probably also the novelty which has created this. For Eeva, the archipelago working period created an immense contrast to her daily routines. She pointed to a tendency to become completely absorbed in the work routines of her everyday life. As she worked alone, she could spend her whole days from dawn to dusk conducting work matters. However, her attention would often be dispersed to other things such as the Internet. This made Eeva’s work and life merge together, leading to something she described as ‘tunnel work’. Working with a colleague in the archipelago had enabled her to break this trajectory: Knowing myself, I can sit alone and work the whole time I am awake. First, I do the assembling, then I do the billing, then bookkeeping, and then the next thing is like going to bed. I cannot interrupt it at all. Here I don’t have that, I don’t have a car, I can’t go on the Internet. Here some things are lacking which could be mind-distracting, and then there is another person with whom you can have a break every now and then, so it doesn’t become that kind of ‘tunnel work’. The archipelago also affected Eeva on a deeply personal level, evoking old memories. Doing creative work in an idyllic rural environment meant for her revisiting a childhood dream: Well, I will mostly remember pictures of the rocks and the sky, it is spacious here, and then of something like a completely new kind of life. Because this is a dream come true to me, 34 A Temporary Liminal Space Counteracting Hanne Vesala and Seppo Tuomivaara Second, our findings show that dealing with complex and multiple work roles independently may be conducive to the development of fractured and liminal work habits, which in turn may blur the sense of one’s work. As a consequence, permanent liminality can become a state of mind characterized by mental dispersion, visible particularly in Lasse’s and Eeva’s accounts. Yet, such a development is also conditioned by the longterm personal career trajectory and career prospects, not merely the objective work conditions. Third, work activity and sense-making in the temporary liminal space are influenced by the tensions of the individual professional and life situations. In MerleauPonty’s thinking (2012 [1945]), we carry previous experiences sedimented in the body schema, as in a latent disposition, and these sedimentations condition our coming perceptions. In the three cases, fragmented ways of working formed this sedimented background, to which the calm and simple work arrangements of the archipelago produced a strange and revealing contrast. There is an interplay between liminal events and one’s long-term liminal condition, as Winkler and Mahmood (2015) have suggested, and we have elaborated on this insight by showing how it can go two ways. This paper considers useful the initiatives to extend the traditional concept of liminality to encompass permanent liminality (Johnsen & Sørensen 2015) and underinstitutionalized liminality (Ibarra & Obodaru 2016). However, we simultaneously consider it important not to dismiss some of the concept’s original characteristics, which were essential in defining liminality. In our understanding, the traditional idea of liminality was essentially about meaning-making. The purpose of liminal rites was to dig into the (collective) unconscious through ritual performance to reinvigorate fundamental values, which could be swept aside by everyday toil, worries, and conflicts (Szakolczai 2000; Turner 1974b). The liminal space was a spiritual space designed to foster a sense of community and individual belonging. This kind of liminal space may still be important for inducing creativity in contemporary work, not only in the instrumental sense of improving work results but also in a deeper, perhaps ethical sense (Bigo 2018), in that it may enable more transparent relations with others and with oneself. Conclusion This article has examined the notion of permanent liminality (Johnsen & Sørensen 2015) along with the more traditional idea of transitional, temporary liminality (van Gennep 1960 [1909]) in contemporary working life. We have discussed how certain contemporary ways of working, such as independent, multirole, and virtual work, may be conducive to the development of fractured work routines, leading to permanent liminality as a habitualized mindset. This may eventually blur the experienced sense of one’s work activities. However, an alternative work environment may produce a temporary liminal space that can illuminate ambiguous aspects of everyday work practices and one’s career. We suggest that (transitional) liminal space could acquire a novel meaning in contemporary working life as a space of simplicity, in much the same vein as Bigo (2018, p. 127) suggested that silence could be viewed as a resource and creative power ‘in a contemporary world of quasi-incessant noise’. Simplicity could be achieved by substituting mediated communication practices with direct social contact and collaboration Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 9 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2019 35 in a shared concrete environment (see also Schutz 1967, pp. 163–172). In tandem with van Gennep (1960 [1909]), who realized the significance of the physical separation of liminal initiands, we want to highlight the bodily change in work conditions as a way to support the formation of this liminal space. Merleau-Ponty saw the sensing and moving bodily system, which typically remains marginal and silent within our overall existence, as the basis for all perception (Heinämaa 2015). By means of replacing everyday surroundings with a simplified and natural work environment in both social and physical sense, new perceptive registers may be activated and a transitional liminal experience triggered. 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