A TCK Definition

If you're like me, at some point you couldn't remember what this term 'third culture kid' meant or you've wondered where it came from. In the 1950's, Drs. John and Ruth Hill Useem started using the term after studying expatriates in India. If you count the culture you grew up in as the first culture and then the culture you go to as the '2nd culture' you somehow arrive at the 'third culture'. This third culture is made up of the characteristics and patterns that come about when expatriates live together--kind of a mush of traditions and survival techniques. The catch is that you somehow take on these characteristics and they are recognizable even when you don't live together with other expats. Sooooo . . . a Third Culture Kid--TCK has spent a good chunk of the years between birth and 18 living in a culture other than that of his parents and he can relate to both cultures (possibly several cultures) but doesn't really own any--therefore the TCK tends to find the best sense of connection and grounding with others who have also grown up in a culturally nomadic lifestyle. That's my mom style definition--or you can read the 17 pages in chapter 2 of Third Culture Kids, by Pollock
:)