Sat, 20 March 2010
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A Third-culture kid is a person who has a different culture than their parents. They often call themselves 'internationals' and globalisation is breeding more and more of them. A recent book examines the special emotional and psychological issues of TCKs. Natasha Gunn reports.Are you a third culture kid or TCK? Or maybe your children are TCKs in the making? Or perhaps you can call yourself a third culture adult (TCA) or ATCK (Adult TCK)?
Puzzled about these terms and what the 'third culture' is anyway?
In presenting her book 'Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds' at a recent WIN meeting in Amsterdam, Ruth van Reken introduced the notion of TCKs to a receptive audience.
With more than one culture in the family, TCKs may suffer conflicting loyalties.
In fact, many of those present said they fitted into at least one or more of the following groups: 'traditional' TCK, children of bi/multicultural parents, children of immigrants, children of refugees, children of minorities, children of international adoptees or 'domestic' TCKs — children who have moved around within the same country, rather than internationally.
If you recognise yourself or your children in one or more of these groups, then you are joining an increasing number of cross-cultural kids (CCKs), as Van Reken calls them, who are a reflection of a rapidly globalising world.
The third culture
Van Reken says the third culture is the interstitial culture, the shared commonalities of those living international lifestyles. The 'third culture' is interwoven with the home culture or 'first culture', which is interwoven with the experience in the host or 'second' culture.
In other words, a TCK is a person who has spent a significant part of their developmental years outside the parents' culture or cultures. The sense of belonging is in relationships to others of similar background.
However, Van Reken is also quick to stress that 'TCK' is an experience —not an identity.
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