Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

We live in a transitional time. Notions of cultural identity are being challenged by the lived experience and resulting cultural development of increasing numbers of people. No longer is it sufficient (or even possible for many people) to identify themselves as belonging to a specific culture or place. This paper explores research into the cultural identity of Adult Third Culture Kids who spent their childhood outside their parents’ home culture. These children are not migrants, but dependents of expatriate parents. The author contends that the transnational, liminal identity of Third Culture Kids has an important contribution to make in a rapidly globalizing world, where, conversely, identity and cultural lines are being drawn more sharply. Much cultural research explores the experience of cross-cultural people from the viewpoint that they have a “baseline” national, or cultural identity. Studies of Third Culture Kids show that people who experience multiple cultural inputs as they grow up, do not have a “baseline” cultural identity. This is not necessarily felt as a lack by Third Culture Kids. It is often seen as an advantage in the globalized world. With reference to the work of Homi Bhabha, Kwame Appiah, Lilley, Barker & Harris, Fazal Rizvi, Hans Schattle and many others, the author asks who the global citizen is imagined to be.