Provocative Question re: The Third Culture
When we teach cross-cultural communications to help prepare prospective exchange students and expats to cope with foreign cultures, we usually begin by comparing “culture” to an iceberg. 10% of a culture is “above the surface,” wrapped up in visible manifestations like mode of dress, language, dance, customary rituals, etc. These things are easily taught. The other 90% of the culture, however, is the key to truly understanding your host nationals. It is the set of hidden beliefs, assumptions, mores, taboos, etc. that define the shared “soul” of the people in that culture.
Most of the TCK research and discussion that I have seen serves the very necessary function of helping people identify people who may actually be TCKs, based on a shared life-experience, and trauma, to facilitate outreach, and enable the nurturing and ministry needed by so many young TCKs who are making that initial transition “home” to their passport culture, and realizing that they do not belong. Hey, it helped me immensely when I was going through it, and I don’t have anything against it.
However, definitions of “third culture” that are a procedural description of the life experience (intercultural mobility as a child) or the kinds of trauma (rootlessness, restlessness, loneliness), or the kinds of skills (linguistic ability, flexibility in the face of change) that many TCKs share, does nothing to help an outsider (or even our own community) understand what are the deeper, hidden aspects of our shared psyche that make us unique and different. What are the mores and taboos that we share, that are different from the mono-cultural norms, and that are unique to TCKs? What cultural beliefs and assumptions do we have, that both enable us to excel in some activities and relationships, but actually impede our ability to function in others?
What do you think are the defining cultural characteristics of the Third Culture?
October 6th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Aradhana,
That “relational” aspect of culture is exactly the kind of thing that I had been wondering about. Thanks for helping clarify. Your post also set my family up for a great dinner time brainstorming session. Here’s a few monocultural vs. TCK culture pairings that we came up with. I’d be curious to know if any of these resonate with you, or any other visitors to this thread…
MONO: “Don’t talk to strangers.”
TCK: “Everyone’s a stranger, initially.”
MONO: “Differences are anomalies.”
TCK: “Differences are the norm.”
MONO: “Misunderstanding is an accident.”
TCK: “Misunderstanding is the norm.
MONO: “Intolerant of strangeness.”
TCK: “Intolerant of intolerance.”
MONO: “Foreign = Scary”
TCK: “Foreign = Interesting”
Thoughts? Opinions?
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October 22nd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Larisa,
With regards to you pairings..I had a rather interesting conversation with a mono-cultural friend about this “cultural difference”.
We we talking about tourists. My friend said that tourists annoy her to a major degree. The language barriers irritate her, the fact that they don’t know that you stand on the right side of the elevator or how to use the subway machines and so on.
I reminded her that when she travels she’s also a tourist and she said even them the language barriers irritate her and the fact that she doesn’t know how to use anything. She likes to visit places that she knows.
I was telling her that situations like that I enjoy. I like going somewhere not knowing anything and discovering what it has to offer. Instead of getting annoyed at language barriers, I enjoy finding other ways of communicating. Tourists don’t annoy me. Actually I love them. I love walking around and hearing different languages. I have no problem waiting in line while someone figure out how to use the subway machine and I have no problem reaching out and helping them. This summer I think I became Starbucks’s unoffical Frnech translator. lol
I can’t make a blanket statement but I’ve def noticed a difference between my mono-cultural friends and TCK friends in their attitudes no not only tourists but also immigrants.
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