A.D.Kelley
A “Third Culture Kid”
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
~ Mark Twain
So, what’s a “Third Culture Kid” (TCK) ? or a “Cross Cultural Kid” (CCK)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_culture_kid
Third culture kids (TCK) are persons raised in a culture other than their parents' or the culture of the country named on their passport (where they are legally considered native) for a significant part of their early development years. They are exposed to a greater variety of cultural influences.The term can refer to both adults and children, as the term "kid" points more to an individual's formative or developmental years, but for clarification, sometimes the term adult third culture kid (ATCK) is used.
My mother is from Scotland (UK) and my dad is from a small town just north of Nashville, Tennessee in Kentucky. - See my short Bio of the cultures, and U.S. sub cultures, I have lived in.
Generally known as a “Third Culture Kid” or “Trans-culture Kid” “TCK” (Ruth van Reken 2017)
1. The First Culture:
Usually the home or passport culture (more often the same as the parents’ but not always)
2. The Second Culture:
All the places a child has lived
3. The Third Culture:
The shared lifestyle of the expatriate community. As early as the 1950s Social Scientists Drs John & Ruth Hill-Useem observed that expatriates – people who had moved overseas for their career (as opposed to immigrants) – preferred to spend time with other expats even though they were from different cultures and countries. Continuing in the 21st Century, expatriates (also known as expats) form a lifestyle that is different from the host or home culture but common to them all in that particular setting. In the Third Culture, the sense of belonging comes from the commonality of the expats’ internationally mobile experiences despite the differences in nationality, cultural heritage or ethnicity.
I’m also a…
o Bi/Multi-cultural or Bi/Multi-racial Child
Children born to parents from at least two cultures or races. My mother is Scottish (UK), Dad is American (U.S. - Kentucky)
o Child of Immigrant
Children whose parent(s) made a permanent move to a new country where they were not originally citizens. Mother - immigrated to the U.S. from Scotland to marry my father.
o “Domestic Cross-Cultural Kid”
A child “whose parents have moved in and among various subcultures within that child’s home country.” (Pollock & Van Reken, 2009). See my Short Bio… my father worked for Lockheed and we traveled the world because of his work assignments.
Examples of “cross-culture” experiences… from the rural subculture to the city, from the subculture in one city to the subculture on the other side of that city, from a Capital city’s subculture to the subculture of another Capital city or from one State to another. Domestic TCKs are moving across cultures, they just happen to be within one country’s border.
o Educational Cross-Cultural Kid
A child who moves between educational cultures such as from the eastern educational culture to the western educational culture or vice versa. See my Short Bio… In this category I also include students moving from living at home and attending the local school to living in the school boarding house and experiencing a new educational culture.
Don’t feel left out, there are other types:
· Children of Borderlanders
Children living on or near the border between two countries, perhaps living in one country and going to school in another country.
· Children of Minorities
Children whose parents are from a racial or ethnic group which is not part of the majority race or ethnicity of the country in which they live.
· Children of Refugees
Children whose parents are living outside their original country or place due to unchosen circumstances such as war, violence, famine, other natural disasters
· International Adoptees
Children adopted by parents from another country other than the one of that child’s birth