Dr Stella Morgana

Research Overview

Stella Morgana's current research proposes the first dedicated study of the gig economy in Iran, a tech bubble of online shopping, food delivery, taxi services, and care work, which is opening new spaces of employment and participation for young Iranians (half of the 80m population is under 30). It investigates how humans selling their labour through digital platforms relate to their means of production. Her research tackles how gig workers exercise their agency in a context where hybrid capitalism fuels labour alienation.

Three main questions guide her project: 1) How does the gig economy shape the relation humans versus machines, where class, gender and means of production intersect? 2) How do gig workers negotiate their spaces under the Islamic Republic? 3) Why have their roles transformed historically and politically beyond the economic dimension?

This focus on the evolving dynamics of political/economic participation from a bottom-up perspective opens new horizons for studying digital labour platforms in the Global South.

You can read more about my approach to research and knowledge production here: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/blog/posts/decolonisingknowledgeproductionandfieldresearchapersonalexperienceoniran/