Sacha was once again in class trying to keep up to pace with the discussion. After starting a conversation on different cultural traits in the world, everyone got heated and started naming all their favorite TV shows on North American channels and their links to the subject matter. She tried to think of something, it’s not like she never watched TV when she was young, it just didn’t stick in her mind as well. Instead she kept on remembering the family day-trips to the nearest town in the country they were living in or the friendships she had at the time.
Then someone spoke up, “Well this is all nice of you to talk about the things you think most of us know, but I for one, didn’t watch this or that, so I have no idea what you guys are talking about!”. “Wow, thought Sacha, that’s courageous. I wish I had those guts.”
By Laura Kneale
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A global movement that advocated indirectly for third culture is in line with the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity. This act clearly draws the line where culture should not be seen as a commodity [i] but rather something that inhabits all of us.
Within groups of third culture kids different cultural trends are visible in their adaptation to a new environment. Two interesting trends in third culture are the following two: “cultural chameleon” and “the hidden immigrant”. In both cases, the advantages and disadvantages oscillate between two extremes: blending in and standing out. In the case of the “cultural chameleon”, it may be easier for a TCK to adapt to their environment but it can also make them feel empty of their own identity. A “hidden immigrant” is a child that does not stand out physically in a group of foreigners. In addition, thanks to the “cultural chameleon” trait, a TCK “hidden immigrant” may even be able to hide any other traits he/she would have from the native country. [ii] These two cases are examples of how TCK’s exposure brings out a diversity of attitudes within third culture towards their host culture and their parent’s culture.
Contrary to Andrew Jakubowicz’s analysis of cyberia as a multicultural landscape reflecting power of the world’s cultural economies [iii], third culture cannot be categorized as complying to cultural imperialism. If anything the more exotic the place the TCK is living in, the imperative to fit in is that much more heightened. As Norma McCaig, founder of the Global Nomads network quoted a third culture kid say: “I feel I am an American, but not to the exclusion of other countries, cultures and peoples”.[v]
Overall, with all these degrees to which each TCK will develop their cultural identity, speaking a unique global TCK culture is limiting. Although forums such as Global Nomads International exist to link TCKs together through their common life experiences, it is necessary to distinguish the trends and novelties that emerge within a group that embeds cultural diversity as a whole.
[i] Chan-Tibergien, J. (2006) “Cultural diversity as resistance to neo-liberal globalization: The emergence of a global movement and convention” in Review of Education, Vol. 52: 94.
[ii] Pollock D. C. and Van Reken R. Third Culture Kids. The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds (Yarmouth Maine, Intercultural Press 1999), 91-96.
[iii] Jakubowicz, A. (2004). “Ethnic diversity, race and the cultural political economy of cyberspace” in H. Jenkins and D.Thornburn (eds.) Democracy and New Media (Cambridge, Massachussets: MIT Press), 65.
[iv] McCaig, Norma (1994). Growing up with a world view – nomad children develop multicultural skills. Foreign Service Journal, pp. 39.
