What is a TCK?
Most Foreign Service kids can be classified as Third-Culture
Kids (TCKs) or Global Nomads. The term TCK was coined by
sociologist Ruth Hill Useem in the 1960s and refers to
people who spent significant parts of their childhoods away
from their parents’ homeland. Rather than identifying fully
with the culture of their passport country or one or more
host countries, they integrate aspects of each and create
their own “third culture.” Later, the term “global nomad”
was introduced as an alternate descriptor by Norma McCaig,
founder of Global Nomads International.
Belonging Everywhere and Nowhere
While every third-culture kid is unique, TCKs tend
to have a lot in common with each other. They often have a
chameleon-like ability to fit into other cultures but find
it difficult to answer the question, “Where are you from?”
By growing up in multiple cultures they never fully
experience any one culture, which can cause them to feel
left out, especially in their passport country, which is
supposed to feel like home. This contributes to the
phenomenon of reverse culture shock and helps to explain why
TCKs often build social networks among themselves. Frequent
“goodbyes” and years spent living as relative outsiders in a
kaleidoscope of cultures contributes to another commonality
among many TCKs—they enjoy especially tight-knit nuclear
families but struggle to form and sustain long-term,
in-depth relationships throughout their lives. Nonetheless,
most TCKs agree that the pros far outweigh the cons of an
internationally mobile childhood.
TCK and
Re-entry Resources
TCKs have been thoroughly studied and analyzed over
the past 40 years. Some Foreign Service youth (and their
parents) may find comfort in learning more about the TCK
experience and recognizing that they are not alone. Leagues
of TCKs have come before them and translated their
multi-cultural childhoods into successful and happy
adulthoods. The most famous example is the current U.S.
President, Barack Obama.
Websites
Interaction: Today’s Voice for Third Culture Kids
and Internationally Mobile Families
http://www.interactionintl.org/home.asp
TCKid: A Home for Third Culture Kids
http://www.tckid.com/
TCK World: The Official Home of Third Culture Kids
http://www.tckworld.com/
Books
Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among
Worlds by David C. Pollock
Strangers At Home: Essays on the Effects of Living
Overseas and Coming "Home" to a Strange Land by Carolyn
D. Smith (Editor)
According to My Passport, I’m Coming Home by Kay
Eakin (click here to download
the free full-length book)
The Art of Coming Home by Craig Storti
Raising Global Nomads: Parenting Abroad in an On-Demand World by Robin Pascoe
Unrooted Childhoods: Memoirs of Growing Up Global by Faith Eidse and Nina Sichel
Articles
When no place feels like home (The Christian
Science Monitor, Dec. 23, 2009) by Corinna Schuler
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1223/p14s02-legn.html
Rooted To Nowhere (Time, Oct. 20, 2003) by Hanna
Kite
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901031027-524622,00.html
At Home Abroad / Third Culture Kids: Often more
accomplished, but sometimes more troubled (New York Times,
Oct. 26, 2002) by Gretchen Lang
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/26/news/26iht-rreturn_ed3_.html
At Home Abroad / Third Culture Kids : Nowhere to call
home but I like being a global nomad (New York Times, Oct.
26, 2002) by Anne-Sophie Bolon
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/26/news/26iht-rkid_ed3_.html
For teens, it's a tough transition (New York Times, Jun.
26, 2004) by Nora FitzGerald
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/news/26iht-rteen_ed3_.html
FSYF Re-entry
Support
FSYF exists, in part, to help Foreign Service youth with
re-entry to the United States (usually the greater
Washington, DC area). We organize a welcome-back picnic for
Foreign Service families every September and an Away Day for
new returnees every fall. (For more information,
click
here.) We connect FS kids and teens with their DC-based
peers, who are an important source of friendship and support
during the challenging re-entry period. (For more
information, click here.) And we
sponsor an annual teen re-entry workshop that delves into
the TCK experience and considers life in the United States
from the perspective of a teenage global nomad. Check the FSYF Calendar for
the date of the next workshop.
Additional re-entry support may be available from the
Family Liaison Office (FLO) at the department of State.
Contact the FLO at (202) 647-1076 or (800) 440-0397 and ask
for the Education & Youth Officer.
