CONCLUSION: PATTERNS OF MOBILE WORK AND LIFE Julia C. Gluesing Wayne State University and Cultural Connections Tracy L. Meerwarth General Motors Corporation and Consolidated Bearings Company Brigitte Jordan Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) In this concluding chapter, we articulate four salient patterns that emerge from the contrib- utors’ eight narratives about mobile work and life: (1) the performance, presentation, and meaning of work, when activities are interwoven in personal, relational, and work spheres across contexts; (2) the multiplicity in identity and self-presentation; (3) the context and the decontextualization and recontextualization of meaning in changing spaces; and (4) the technological change and dexterity as well as the centrality of communication technologies in defining and redefining what it means to be a mobile worker. We explore each of these themes by referencing examples from the narratives to illustrate how mobile work is redefining the very meaning of work and its place in our lives. We conclude by suggesting directions for further research on mobility in the workplace. Keywords: performance, identity, context, technological change, mobile work EMERGING PATTERNS The eight articles in this volume offer new insights into the lived experiences of mobile and remote workers and the strategies these workers employ to manage their work and life responsibilities in the increasingly flexible global labor economy, largely enabled by new information and communication technologies. The patterns of mobility illustrated in this volume are transforming the meaning of work and how work is positioned with respect to the rest of life. Technology has brought about flexible work by way of a lengthening work day and a blurring of the boundaries between work and personal life for workers of all types in traditional and local workplace contexts. However, globalization and the rapid flow of goods, people, and information across geography, particularly the increased mobility in knowledge work, have added complexity by seemingly condensing time and shrinking space, deterritorializing work and life, and creating the mobile work lives described by the authors in this volume. As editors, we observe four salient themes that form the basis for conceptualizing the defining aspects of mobile work and lives. The themes are grounded in the patterned NAPA BULLETIN , pp. –. ISSN: -. C   by the American Anthropological Association. DOI:./j.-...x 148 napa Bulletin 30/Conclusion: Patterns of Mobile Work and Life