TCK Research, Part 1

[author][author_info]Our guest blogger for the next three weeks is Sheryl O’Bryan. Sheryl has been involved in TCK education since 1988, both as a classroom teacher in Bouake, Cote d’Ivoire, and for the past 10 years as TCK Coordinator for WorldVenture. In her down time, Sheryl likes to sleep in, hang out with TCKs, eat dark chocolate, drink coffee, collect new stamps in her passport, and blog, and doodle with zen tangles. She’s less fond of reading contracts and packing, which is what she’s been doing in most of her free time lately.[/author_info] [/author]

The innovations of the last fifty years transformed behavior and thought in ways unimagined by most in the mid-twentieth century.  From truly rapid transit via bullet trains to the insignificance of bound encyclopedias to the morphing of the word “google” from a number to a verb, a search engine, and a leading innovator, how we define the world changed dramatically.

A few years ago a group of Third Culture Kid (TCK) caregivers, educators, and TCKs spent three days looking at the definition of a TCK and the attributes generally assigned to this unique people group.  They tackled questions of relevancy, wording, and change. They reviewed a ream of answers generated from a survey of over 500 TCKs under the age of 30.  If you’re a bottom line kind of person, the verdict is the definition’s skeleton is healthy and its flesh has grown beefier.  If you’re more interested in the details, please keep reading.

The Definition

“A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture. The third culture kid builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the third culture kid’s life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of the same background.”

Hours of discussion and definition dissection surrounded these few sentences penned by Dr. Ruth Hill Useem in the 1950s.  A great deal of the discussion surrounded the phrase “outside their parents’ culture.”  As more adult TCKs choose to live outside of their passport, ethnic, and heart cultures, their children have less of a cultural reference point other than the Third Culture.  The increase in multi-national and multi-ethnic families also lends confusion to many who try to tackle the question of their parents’ cultural belonging.

The other notable observation of the definition is that it refers to those who are solidly part of the Third Culture not those who are in process of becoming Third Culture.  While it outlines the elemental properties of the transformation, it leaves the progression to the individual.

The Characteristics

Traditionally the characteristics of TCKs are presented in a static form of benefits and challenges common to modern thought.  Contemporary thought does not necessarily delineate characteristics in such stark contrast.  While some things are distinctly beneficial (rolling with the punches) and others are decidedly challenging (seeming arrogant), most TCK characteristics fall somewhere on a continuum between the two extremes.

As you read through the following categories and their defining characteristics, please remember that not all traits apply to everyone.  Just as all Americans are not loud and all Germans are not organized, every trait listed does not necessarily fit every person of the Third Culture.

Mobility

That TCKs are competent travelers who have rich memory banks is no surprise.  Their extensive relationship banks with peers, younger children, and adults as well as a migratory instinct seem normal. Some new consequences of a highly mobile life surfaced during this research.

Heightened anxiety/hyper-vigilance  Because our awareness of general malevolence in the world and more specific threats made against foreigners, we teach children to be more aware of their surroundings, to report out of place things, and to remain vigilant.  One byproduct of this awareness is a heightened sense of responsibility among TCKs to control more of their environment and more of their lives.

Increased time in passport country/countries  The ease and relative inexpense of travel allows many TCKs to spend more time in their passport country/ies than ever before.  Korean TCKs in China often receive medical and dental care in Korea.  North American TCKs return to the USA and Canada for college visits, summers of work and learning to drive, and some vacations in numbers unprecedented by former generations.

While this trend is not new, one of its consequences is.  Many who have spent increased time in their passport country have less attachment to that country.  The mystery of the unknown country dissipates as it becomes known and its warts become visible.

Increased Hidden Immigrants   The knowledge of TCKs as hidden immigrants in their passport country/ies is not new.  The increased number of hidden immigrants is new.  As more families serve for shorter periods (1-5 years), the hidden immigrant population grows.  Families leave with an intact singular culture and often return with at least two.  Unfortunately, most parents are not aware their children aren’t returning home and will find their roots more in people than place.

Both of these trends increase the sense of geographic rootlessness in TCKs.

Part two of three will be published next week, covering the characteristics related to the expanded worldview and linguistic ability of TCKs.

What do YOU think? Anything you would add to the definition of TCK or to issues related to mobility?

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