diff --git a/src/6model/serialization.c b/src/6model/serialization.c
index 6fe74f1159..e1062d016f 100644
--- a/src/6model/serialization.c
+++ b/src/6model/serialization.c
@@ -508,9 +508,9 @@ static void write_array_str(MVMThreadContext *tc, MVMSerializationWriter *writer
 }
 
 /* Writes a hash where each key is a MVMString and each value a variant reference. */
-static MVMThreadContext *cmp_tc;
 static int cmp_strings(const void *s1, const void *s2) {
-    return MVM_string_compare(cmp_tc, *(MVMString **)s1, *(MVMString **)s2);
+    MVMThreadContext *tc = MVM_get_running_threads_context();
+    return MVM_string_compare(tc, *(MVMString **)s1, *(MVMString **)s2);
 }
 static void write_hash_str_var(MVMThreadContext *tc, MVMSerializationWriter *writer, MVMObject *hash) {
     MVMuint32 elems = (MVMuint32)MVM_repr_elems(tc, hash);
@@ -526,7 +526,6 @@ static void write_hash_str_var(MVMThreadContext *tc, MVMSerializationWriter *wri
         MVM_repr_shift_o(tc, iter);
         keys[i++] = MVM_iterkey_s(tc, (MVMIter *)iter);
     }
-    cmp_tc = tc;
     qsort(keys, elems, sizeof(MVMString*), cmp_strings);
     for (i = 0; i < elems; i++) {
         MVM_serialization_write_str(tc, writer, keys[i]);
diff --git a/src/core/threads.c b/src/core/threads.c
index 9079df8341..6f5ab13309 100644
--- a/src/core/threads.c
+++ b/src/core/threads.c
@@ -76,6 +76,13 @@ static void start_thread(void *data) {
     /* Stash thread ID. */
     tc->thread_obj->body.native_thread_id = MVM_platform_thread_id();
 
+#ifndef MVM_THREAD_LOCAL
+    /* Store this thread's thread context pointer, so that we can retrieve it
+     * in places where we can't pass it in to, such as the callback function
+     * used by qsort. */
+    uv_key_set(&MVM_running_threads_context_key, tc);
+#endif
+
     /* Create a spesh log for this thread, unless it's just going to run C
      * code (and thus it's a VM internal worker). */
     if (REPR(tc->thread_obj->body.invokee)->ID != MVM_REPR_ID_MVMCFunction)
diff --git a/src/moar.c b/src/moar.c
index 4c13851118..97cda277f3 100644
--- a/src/moar.c
+++ b/src/moar.c
@@ -87,6 +87,17 @@ MVM_STATIC_INLINE MVMuint64 ptr_hash_64_to_64(MVMuint64 u) {
     return (MVMuint64)u;
 }
 
+#ifndef MVM_THREAD_LOCAL
+uv_key_t MVM_running_threads_context_key;
+
+static void
+make_uv_key() {
+    int result = uv_key_create(&MVM_running_threads_context_key);
+    if (result)
+        MVM_panic(1, "uv_key_create failed with code %u", result);
+}
+#endif
+
 /* Create a new instance of the VM. */
 MVMInstance * MVM_vm_create_instance(void) {
     MVMInstance *instance;
@@ -98,6 +109,11 @@ MVMInstance * MVM_vm_create_instance(void) {
     char *dynvar_log;
     int init_stat;
 
+#ifndef MVM_THREAD_LOCAL
+    static uv_once_t key_once = UV_ONCE_INIT;
+    uv_once(&key_once, make_uv_key);
+#endif
+
     /* Set up instance data structure. */
     instance = MVM_calloc(1, sizeof(MVMInstance));
 
diff --git a/src/moar.h b/src/moar.h
index 73d045dbe9..8b41f9278f 100644
--- a/src/moar.h
+++ b/src/moar.h
@@ -292,3 +292,14 @@ AO_t AO_fetch_compare_and_swap_emulation(volatile AO_t *addr, AO_t old_val, AO_t
  * which the other atomic operation macros are used... */
 #define MVM_store(addr, new) AO_store_full((volatile AO_t *)(addr), (AO_t)(new))
 #define MVM_load(addr) AO_load_full((volatile AO_t *)(addr))
+
+#ifndef MVM_THREAD_LOCAL
+
+/* Fallback to an implememtation using UV's APIs (pretty much pthreads) */
+extern uv_key_t MVM_running_threads_context_key;
+
+MVM_STATIC_INLINE MVMThreadContext *MVM_get_running_threads_context(void) {
+    return uv_key_get(&MVM_running_threads_context_key);
+}
+
+#endif