I am married to one, worked under one, related to one and friends with… more than one!

According to TCK World, American sociologist Ruth Hill Useem defines them as follows: “A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture. The third culture kid builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any…”

Such is the plight of kids of parents who travel for any of these usual reasons: military, diplomatic corps, religious ministry and corporate relocation.

In an abstract written in a study by Momo Kano Podolsky, the term kikoku-shijo was used in the 70s  to specifically refer to Japanese children with cross-cultural upbringing outside of Japan and had come back to their motherland.  The term, unfortunately, was initially used with a less-positive tone to mean “returnee children” (Wikipedia), people  in need of help in realigning them back to their Japanese roots and shelving their Western ways.

For those not familiar with this sociological phenomenon, here’s Adrian Bautista’s  fantastic documentary (short-film) I stumbled upon, posted in TCK Makena Sage’s blog: Wanderlust.

So Where’s Home? A Film About Third Culture Kid Identity from Adrian Bautista on Vimeo.