Ann Baker Cottrell (acottrell@sdsu.edu)
What / Who is a TCK?
** Professor Emerita of Sociology, San Diego State University, Ph.D. Michigan State University
** Research: with Ruth Hill Useem, a study of 604 American Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs).
Prior research: 1) a three nation (India, U.K., U.S.) study of South Asian - Western marriages, 2) female reentry students in Italian universities.
** Co-founder of TCK Research Network, now FIGT (Families in Global Transition) Research Network
Children/teens
who live outside their passport country, for at least a year, because of a parent's
employment abroad.The parents are
employed by an organization that is not based in the country of
residence. They are temporarily abroad because they are expected to return to their "home" country for higher education and to make their permanent home in that country. Adults who have had TCK childhood experiences are referred to as Adult TCKs (ATCKs).
As originally conceptualized by Ruth Hill Useem,the parents were sent abroad to work for, or represent, an organization; thus the children of
diplomats and other governmental organizations including the
military, missionaries and other representatives of religious
organizations, businesses, educational institutions, international
organizations such as the UN, CARE etc. Such families are sponsored, often called Assigned Expatriates (AEs). Over time patterns of overseas employment have change; the dominant pattern now is individuals seeking employment in other countries on their own. These are referred to as Self-initiated Expatriates. (SIEs). The term TCK has expanded to include both AEs and SIEs.
Third cultures are not blended cultures, but a culture reflecting the experiences of individuals who live in more than one national culture and frequently several as many third culture families are highly mobile. TCKs recognize a shared culture based on this life style, a culture that is not based in nation states, religions etc. It is a broad culture shared by those whose lives are based in living internationally. While different TCKs have different specific ingredients in their personal cross-cultural "stew", based on passport country, where they have lived, and why their parents are abroad, they do find commonalities in the shared mobile cross-national life style. An American military brat who has lived in Japan and Germany will find much in common with a Korean missionary kid who has lived in several Latin American countries, for example or a Nigerian diplomatic kid who has lived in five different countries with a Swiss business kid who has lived in a single country abroad.
Related Terms CCK (Cross-cultural kid)
References TCK Researchers' groups (please let me know of other groups or meetings) TCK/ATCK Researchers
Global Nomad
This term was coined by Norma McCaig, inpart because adult TCKs didn't like being called kids. This term is generally used as synonymous with TCK.
This term refers to any individuals/families
settling outside their passport country, without acquiring citizenship and usually expecting to
repatriate at some point. This broader category includes both AEs and SIEs as well as those living abroad on their own, e.g. artists, life style expatriates, retirees.
This term, introduced by Ruth Van Reken, includes anyone whose childhood incorporates more than one culture for any reason. This recognizes that TCKs have a great deal in common with other individuals who have a complex cultural heritage, such as immigrants, refugees, children of cross-cultural marriages or children who grow up in a community dominated by a different religion, race or ethnic group, whether or not they have lived in more than one country. At the same time, CCK recognizes differences between different kinds of CCK experience, which is important because they do differ in many ways. Many CCKs have more than one kind of cross-cultural childhood experience, For example, a child whose parents are from different countries and different religions who moves from an urban predominantly minority community to a rural predominantly dominant community without leaving the country, or a child of immigrants who is also a TCK because her parents move to work in a third country.
I have developed a bibliography of over 700, primarily research, TCK references. For further information contact me at the email above.
Cottrell's & Useems' Third Culture & TCK articles
FIGT (Families in Global Transition) Research Network