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?
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