Hey my peoples - so just a quick post. This morning it was such a surreal experience because I was in the car with my dad at like 5am driving to the airport and this program came on NPR about Global Nomads and Third Culture Kids and how there's a growing group of people around the world who find themselves returning to their "home" culture and finding that it isn't home at all, and that they have developed an identity entirely different from that, but they struggle with the fact that they are often held to the "norm", in terms of cultural knowledge, views, notions of nationality, etc. And I was listening and I was like that's me! And it was just cool to hear that it was something that NPR was putting out there and telling people about. And also apparently it's a new anthropological and psychological field of study, and that's how the terms Third Culture Kids and Global Nomads (which is apparently what you become as you grow up, because you feel you have more of a 'global' identity than a conventional national identity). I kind of wish I had written my thesis about it.
It also just felt good to hear a radio program saying basically that it's "okay" to be SO in between and to feel so unattached to the US and its culture, and to feel more attached to a global culture, even if it's a somewhat undefined/fuzzy thing.
It was the coolest and so I found a couple websites about it. You can also google it and find coolness. I'd be more interested to read like academic articles about it and stuff though, I think. :
http://www.gnvv.org/
http://www.worldweave.com/GN.html
http://www.myspace.com/globalnomadsgroup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Culture_Kids
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4 comments:
Two things jumped out at me reading your post and the wiki article.
1. Wikipedia says: "TCKs are unlikely to work for big business, government, or follow their parents' career choices." I only feel like this is worth mentioning because big business is very capitalistic and government doesnt allow for very much ideological flexibility, and thus I guess this isn't that surprising, but worth mentioning nonetheless.
2. I find it interesting that this term only really applies to people of a certain class, ie. the kids whose parents (or parents' employers) can afford to send them to American/British/French/international schools abroad. And also the stats about educational attainment seem more closely related to socio-economic status than the moving around part.
The reason I'm pointing this out is because I think its really interesting that this is a distinct phenomenon from regular/old-school immigrants because of both class/socio-economic status and the opportunity to resist assimilation that comes along with it.
One thing that kind of worries me about all this though is the money thing and the accountability thing...Specifically, if you dont feel ties to any one place/identity/people then it seems easier to justify shirking responsibility for things. Do you know what I mean? Like it always kind of bothers me that my dad doesn't pay taxes in Holland because I feel like we're like squatters in other people's country. Maybe that's a seperate issue, but this whole idea of cosmopolitan global citizens just strikes me as very privileged, and privilege always worries me.
:)
Hey so I see exactly what you mean, and it's true that there's a "privilege" aspect of it, especially in my case. At the same time, I'd say that despite the privileged underpinning of the whole thing, it's not a choice that the kids make, and there's a lot of disadvantages and shitty experiences that go along with being unable to identify with a single place or people. So in that sense it's not necessarily privileged, and the accountability issue bothers me, because when one doesn't have a choice as to where their identity lies, then how can they be accountable for the repercussions of that identity because it deviates from the norm?
In other words, if you didn't initially have a choice in the whole matter, and you have been raised in such a way that gives you a fractured, transient identity, then how can that be tied to shirking the responsibilities that go along with having a static (i.e. national) identity? Isn't the act of avoiding accountability and responsibility, and then justifying it, a choice?
Also, just because someone comes from a privileged background (which is arguable in a way, because someone who was constantly exposed to poverty in the third world may act less privileged than a kid in America who is poor but still has running water and doesn't think about starvation or aids as a problem. I dunno.) doesn't mean that they have a predisposition towards avoiding responsibility.
Also, this is pretty personal to me, because I feel like a global nomad, and in a lot of ways it sucks because I often deal with people who think that because I don't feel an attachment to a certain place, I am acting haughty, like I'm better than them or something. And it hurts to hear people say that, because it's much easier to have a 'home identity' and it also sucks to have to defend your position all the time because it doesn't fall into conventional categories.
I don't know if this is relevant, but the only parallel I can come up with would be with being gay, because you don't have a choice in the matter and yet some people will hold you accountable for not adhering to conventional gender roles, thereby implying that you are deliberately avoiding the sort of accountability issues that go along with those roles. I know it's an extreme example, but its the only one I can come up with.
Finally, let's not make the wikipedia the be-all, end-all definition here. In many ways it's extremely limited because let's face it, it's an encyclopedia.
Wow! Someone just recommended that I google TCKs because I am going through a bit of the struggles associated with it. I was born in Australia, grew up in Romania as a kid, spent my teenage years in Denmark and then my parents moved to the DROC in central Africa but I stayeed in the US for college and visited on breaks. I just returned from a 3 year stint in Slovakia, teaching English.
I was beginning to think that I waas crazy or something because I can't seem to fit in back here in the states. I dream of traveling all the time and I feel like I have missed out on a lot of cultural things back here in the states.
I'd like to hear more about this subject as I definitely know what you all are talking about. I wonder if I could listen to that NPR piece.
Anonymous:
Thank you so much for your comment!! I haven't written anything nearly as genuine as this post (re-reading it, I love it and I'm glad to be able to reach out to you) for ages, and it just amazes me that somehow I launched this into cyvberspace, and another TKC/multuculture kid like you picked it up.
I know exactly what you are going through, I am half Rwandan, half American and was born in Rwanda and lived in Gabon, Thailand, Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya before leaving to go to Uni in the States.
It was extremely tough, which is why I am where I am now - I work for the UN World Food Program in Nouakchott, Mauritania. I finally gave in to that annoying itch to travel that follows you where ever you go, though you still feel a nagging need to conform and "settle down" somewhere and see what hometowns are all about. That was a run-on sentence, but you get my point.
My recommendation is to give in to those non-conformist urges and follow the need to travel. I really think that that was one of the best choices I've ever made in life; I am happy as a clam traveling within that little comfort zone of displaced difference that we all have, and will probably not go back to living in the U.S., ever.
The fact is that when all's said and done, TKC kid or not, it is you, your choices, and your capacity for happiness that matters. If you follow your instincts, then your satisfaction will be a benefit to you and all around you. Riiight?
I love being a TKC/Global Nomad etc, it's nice to know I have a unique perspective on things and at the end of the day I just think it's a rare identity and if it's yours, then make the best of it. It changes the way you relate to the world and communicate with people :D
yay, I am so happy you read this once again and feel free to come here and vent as desired! If you need to talk to someone about this, feel free to email me at sandrauhart@gmail.com.
Cool?
give us some more perspectives on your experiences on U.S. "culture shock"; incidentally I am going through it right now as I am visiting family here in 'Murica after being overseas for a year.
Best,
Sandra
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