Third Culture kid or global nomad?
“Our homes are not defined by geography or one particular location, but by memories, events, people, and places that span the globe.” ~Marilyn Gardner, "Communicating Across Boundaries" Blog
At a recent parent coffee, we talked about how our children become more flexible and more accepting of differences by growing up in an international setting. We also discussed the challenges they encounter, such as figuring out their sense of belonging, when living apart from their home country.
A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant amount of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture. The TCK builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the TCK’s life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to those of similar background. David Pollock, co-author of “Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds”
Since the TCK term was coined in the 1950s, professional expatriates from around the world have contributed to a growing body of discourse on the topic. There are books, clubs, websites, videos and even academic courses on a wide spectrum of TCK topics and issues. In the 1980s, the term Global Nomad was coined. More recently proposed terms include Trans-Culture Kid or Cross-Culture Kid.
But what are the three cultures of a TCK? The first culture is their legal or passport culture – often the place where their parents have citizenship. The second culture is the geographical place or places where they live during their developmental years. Whether it’s 1, 2 or 5 different locations, the compilation of these make up their second culture. The third culture is one of relationship. It is the sense of belonging that they find with those who have lived internationally or grown up multi-culturally.
Even our students who are Indian by nationality and have only gone to school at ASB, experience the attributes of being a TCK by virtue of spending their formative years amidst so many cultures rather than growing up solely with an Indian peer group. So for all of our students, talking about culture, identity, culture shock, worldview and marginality are ways that we can educate our children and help them to garner the most benefits and least liabilities from their unique experiences as a global citizen.
Culture is a shared, learned system of values, beliefs, expectations, attitudes, history and traditions that shapes and influences behavior and perceptions.
Identity is identification and/or a sense of belonging, commitment and attachment to a group or culture (characteristics, values and beliefs).
Culture Shock is the alienation and confusion that may be experienced by someone encountering a new culture. It’s the sense of everything being different – sights, smells, sounds – and not knowing the cues or how to fit into the new surroundings. It’s normal for adults and children to feel out of place in a new culture, but children will generally show their reaction through behavior rather than words.
Reverse culture shock can be even more pronounced because we expect to understand our “home” culture, but we often find that things have changed, we have changed, and people expect us to know how things work despite the time away.
Benefits for student growing up globally include having an expanded worldview, an understanding that there is more than one way to look at situations. This worldview is also three-dimensional because they have experienced it first-hand and thus can share with others the insightful stories and vivid descriptions of geographical places. Interpersonal sensitivity is an important attribute that they develop from their exposure to a variety of perceptions and lifestyles. It allows them to register cues and cultural norms more easily and to be more flexible in their cultural expectations. They also enjoy a greater sense of cultural enrichment, seeking out new experiences and appreciating foods, languages, traditions, arts and other cultural complexities.
Potential liabilities for students include having confused loyalties about politics, patriotism and values. This is especially the case when moving between cultures that are either very collectivist or very individualist. Children become aware of painful realities such as how insular a culture might be in that they only focus on their own culture. They also may develop a certain ignorance of their own home culture, having missed out on landmark events and experiences, thus lacking in knowledge about their home nation, culture, town, and/or family. With current technology leading to the globalization of information, this is becoming increasingly less of a problem.
One of the best ways to help children to have a greater sense of belonging is to teach them how to cope well with change. Click here to read about the cycle of transition and how to support children in leaving well and staying well..
Visit our resources page for websites that will connect you with the vast community of expatriates. Reading some of the articles and getting a hold of the books will help you to best guide your own children. And it’s helpful to start now, even if your children are still very young, as learning how to gracefully embrace transitions in the early years will best prepare them for the future challenging transitions.
Cindy Cleary
Elementary School Counselor
American School of Bombay