Although the expression “Third culture” was only coined back in the ‘60s by sociologist Ruth Useem, global technologies such as the internet have really helped fortifying the third culture community(ies). This is finely tuned with the UNESCO definition of cultural diversity aspect referring to it as “a root of development”. The web has indeed fostered many exchanges and developments between third culture youth everywhere.
As in Melissa A. Wall’s article on “Social movements and email”[i], the expression of the TCK identity online is confronted to the same challenges as that of grassroots organizations members. We will examine some of these online challenges for TCKs.
- A TCK collective identity thanks to internet?
It is somewhat paradoxal to think of TCK’s as having a collective identity as each person in such a group has a multitude of very different life experiences. However, after reviewing the TCK related literature and particularly focusing on the websites, there are finite boundaries, beliefs, outlooks within the public TCK community. For example, it was surprising to find that there is a clear delimitation between global nomads and immigrants. The main difference can be perceived in terms of socio-economic levels as well as the eventuality of return to the homeland.[ii]
- Online exchanges
The five websites that are geared to promoting exchanges between TCKs offer different methods of communicating.
An online forum where there exists at least 4 TCK groups. Anyone on Facebook can be a member and interact with the other members. Photos, videos, written entries can be shared on this page. The biggest Facebook TCK group: 14,430 members and 1673 photos are shared. [iii]
The Global Nomads Virtual Village has a few announcements and links to more interesting pages but it is not exactly a Web 2.0 village such as Facebook. They organize conferences on a periodic basis favoring face-to-face interaction.[iv]
YouthCompass.org is more of a mentoring network where adults are “caring role models who assist (TCK’s) in navigating life.” This organization also describes a Habitat for Humanity project it exposes youth to.[v]
“The mission of Interaction International is to be a catalyst and a resource working cooperatively in the development of programs, services and publications to provide and contribute to an on-going flow of care that meets the needs of Third Culture Kids* (TCKs) and internationally mobile families.” They are the more informative online organization for TCK’s.[vi]
This group is the least directly linked to TCK subculture. They take a broader view on their target audience. Hence their leitmotiv, gng is “fostering dialogue and understanding among the world’s youth”. This organization is using interactive technologies such as videoconferencing and the internet to bring young people together face-to-face. They supersede “cultural and national boundaries to discuss their differences & similarities, and the world issues that affect them.”[vii]
- Commitment & trust on the longer term
These organizations are all valuable in helping TCK’s or more generally international youth communicate. They are all using global technologies and more specifically the internet to provide a “home” for these young people. However, after reading over the interactions on the Facebook groups, one realizes that the interactions are not necessarily going any farther than very general things such as where people have lived. The pictures are the kind of pictures you could find on a Travel-photo website. This brings me to believe that the 14,430 members are attracted to this space as an affirmation of their identity amongst many other parts of it, in the technoscape.
[i] Wall, M. (2007) “Social movements and email: Expressions of online identity in the globalization protests” in new media & society, Vol. 9(2):94.
[ii] Pollock D. C. and Van Reken R. Third Culture Kids. The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds (Yarmouth Maine, Intercultural Press 1999), 22.
[iii] “Facebook – third culture groups”. Online. <www.facebook.com> (Oct. 17th 2007)
[iv] “GNG | global nomads group.” Online. <http://www.gng.org/> (20 Nov. 2007)
[v] “Global Nomad Virtual Village”. Online. <http://www.gnvv.org/> (Oct. 14th 2007)
[vi] “Youth Compass. Navigating life together”. Online. <http://www.youthcompass.org/> (Oct. 14th 2007)
[vii] “Interaction International”. Online. <http://www.interactionintl.org/home.asp> (Oct. 14th 2007)
