New to TCK – although I grew here in the U.S. could the TCK “label” apply to me? | TCKID 2.0

New to TCK – although I grew here in the U.S. could the TCK “label” apply to me?

Hi, I am new to TCK. I was recommended by one of my professors to check out the material on TCK.

I personally grew up here in the U.S. I consider myself to be African American, although I am of mixed blood African American Native American and Caucasian. My growing up, I grew up in white middle class neighborhoods in various states and cities here in the U.S., I attended a new schools every year up until my 3rd year of high school. During college, I traveled abundantly and learnt languages and love it!

But during my growing up years, I did not identify with one particular group or race. My friends, were (and still are) from different places in Asia, Hispanic, Caucasian, Pacific Islanders, African, and African Americans. I really believe I have friends in every country. I grew up taking on their cultures, their expressions, their languages, their way of being etc…and now as an adult I never really formed my own identity.

I identify with so many cultures, that have derived from my friendships and my travels, that I do not know where I belong in this world of cultural identity. I have no idea. I feel and believe as if I am my own person, that I have established my own unique cultural identity, and I like it, I love it. But yet, at times, when I look around me and see my friends and their families, I know they have something specific in which they can identify with, and when I see that I do get sad and/or wish I had that. They have a place where they belong in their identity, and yet I feel as if I do not have that.

So that is where my professor came in, I had written a paper on my own cultural identity, and she thought it recommended that I look into TCK’s. So I guess my question is, although I grew here in the U.S. could the TCK “label” apply to me?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Posted by jsj001 at 6:12 pm on July 1st, 2009. Comments
Categories: General Forum, Introduction.

  • miyon
    Like Danau said it really helps to be here at tckid!
    I heard my MK friend replacing MK with the term TCK in her talk several times within a 2 year time but it never occurred to me that TCK implied so much more than just the term until I discovered this TCKID site. I found myself reading all the posts and comments I could find here for hours everyday for weeks.

    Like Danau said it is a journey of finding your identity.

    Welcome mucho hehe
  • danau
    Plus, you're multiracial and multicultural. So, yes, yes, yes! Use the label all you want if it helps you. We dig you JSJ001. Know that we know exactly what you're talking about even if we may not know all the details. We know how it feels to identify with so many cultures, yet not feeling as though you fit fully in any single one in particular.

    And you know what? It's all okay. It's okay to feel the way you feel about cultural identity.

    And you now what the beauty is? You've already started on your journey of finding your identity. I found tckid about a year ago. I didn't pay much attention to it at first. But after awhile I started to read what people said. Then added my two cents here and there. And for the past year I've been talking a lot to people in similar situations, as well as to Brice. And as I logged in to respond to your post, I realized how far I've come from feeling lost about my identity, and now feeling more and more assured about it. And surprisingly, it doesn't seem to have much to do with cultural identity, but I think more with values and what makes your heart tick...

    ....aaaand I realize I'm blabbering a bunch of abstract things here, but basically I was really excited reading your your post and how you found this site.

    So, Welcome to tckid!
  • miyon
    Hi there,

    I think you could be a domestic TCK. I believe people who grew up within the same country could be TCKs if they were minority to the major cultures while moving around a lot within the home country. Here's the definition I found at http://www.tckid.com/crossculturalkid.html

    "Domestic" TCKs
    —Children whose parents have moved in or among various subcultures within that child's home country.

    Special note: Children are often in more than one of these circles at the same time. (e.g. A traditional TCK who is also from a minority group; a child of immigrants whose parents are from two different cultures, etc.) This helps us understand the growing complexity of the issues we face in our changing world .
blog comments powered by Disqus