Cross Cultural Kids

Nordic Network Conference Daring to be Different 11.05.2014

Lill Salole Psychologist & Author www.krysskultur.no

© Krysskultur

My life is tethered to a rolling stone, my dreams are anchored in the wind.

I come from here, I come from there In truth, I come from everywhere.

My tongue does not have a mother, my language is an open mind.

Before I learned how to walk, I already knew how to fly.

Comfort for me is constant motion Continent to Continent, Ocean to Ocean.

Anonymous

TCK defined

”A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parent ´ s culture…..” © Krysskultur

The Third Culture Kid Model

Children of Parents working with Aid Children of Parents working in the Media Children of Parents working as Missionaries TCK Children of parents working in the Military Children of Parents working as Diplomats Children of Parents working in Business

”Third Culture Kids are the prototype for the future”

Ted Ward, 1984 © Krysskultur

Cross Cultural Kid defined

”A cross-cultural kid (CCK) is a person who is living or has lived in-or meaningfully interacted with- two or more cultural environments for a siginficant period of time during childhood” © Krysskultur

The Cross Cultural Kid Model (Ruth E. Van Reken)

TCK Children from bi/multiracial homes Children of Immigrants CCK Children of Minorities Children of Refugees International Adoptees © Krysskultur

Significant issues in the life of a CCK:

1.

Being raised in a genuinly cross-cultural world 2.

Being raised in a highly mobile world © Krysskultur

”Parents adapt, children absorb”

Mathew Neigh, 2005 © Krysskultur

What are the main themes in CCK stories?

© Krysskultur

Identity & Belonging

  Insider and outsider Home is everywhere  and nowhere ”Culture shock”  Choices and ambivalens  Contrasting values and expectations  Adaptation, loyalty, pressure to conform  Many ”personas” © Krysskultur

Transnational Life Frame

 Heart, mind and memories here and there      Cultural imbalance Unresolved grief Pressure to succeed Global events are personal Three-dimensional world view  Rootlessness and restlessness

Marginalisation & Difference

 Look the same, think different  Think the same, look different  Looks don ´ t match feeling  Constant labelling/ othering  Constant explaining and defending  Shadow boxing

Perhaps the greatest gift to give Cross Cultural Kids is to acknowledge the reality that this world of multiple cultures they have experienced as children is a valid place of belonging, even if not rooted in one place or ethnicity. We need to stop pathologizing the issues and begin to redefine the norms!

Ruth E. Van Reken © Krysskultur

”Cross Cultural Kids have all the right answers, but no one is asking the right questions”

David C. Pollock © Krysskultur

Maximising the Benefits

  Develop language Acknowledge challenges  Activate experience and knowledge  Show them relevance and value of a cross-cultural skill set in a globalised world  Be patient!

© Krysskultur

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

A CCK ”Resume”

Language skills Ability to recognise and take different perspectives Cognitive flexibility Self discipline Tolerance Cultural Competence (general and specific) Ability to listen Observational skills Ability to tolerate ambivalens and opposing premises Experience dealing with change and problem solving skills Social skills Ability to switch between value and communication systems Ability to switch between contexts Being able to facilitate communication © Krysskultur

”If I get to be myself, I belong.

If I have to be like you, I fit in”.

Brené Brown © Krysskultur

”The Elemenos, she said, could turn not just from black to white, but from yellow to purple to green, and back again. She said they were a shifting people, constantly changing their form, color, pattern, in a quest for invisibility. The Elemenos could turn deep green in bushes, beige in the sand, or blank white in the snow, and their power lay precisely in their ability to disappear into any surrounding…But what was the point of surviving if you had to disappear?”

Danzy Senna, Caucasia

© Krysskultur

Thank you for your attention!

 My contact information: [email protected]

 For updates, information and literature suggestions (in Norwegian), visit my webpage krysskultur.no or ”like” my Facebook page krysskultur © Krysskultur