Cross Cultural Children

HOCHSCHULE REGENSBURG
UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

FAKULTÄT
ANGEWANDTE SOZIALWISSENSCHAFTEN

BACHELOR SOZIALE ARBEIT

MODULE 1.12 THEORIE-PRAXIS-TRANSFER
LIFE OF
CROSS-CULTURAL CHILDREN

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Definitions

3. High Mobility

4. Advantages

5. Challenges

6. Conclusion

7. Bibliography

8. Attachments

1. INTRODUCTION
It took me quite some time to decide on what topic to write for my term paper. While researching for a topic for many migration related subjects, I realized growing up in India in a bicultural family and now living in Germany since 3 years has made me face changes, integration, adaptation in two different cultural worlds. This phenomena has always interested me and this was an opportunity to actually research and find out about cross-cultural children (CCC) feel and face these changes in their lives.
Having lived in India for the majority of my life and often visiting my extended family in Germany, I had an understanding how the two different cultures function and also how it felt to live and be exposed in two completely opposite cultures. I also had many friends with bi/cross-cultural background. And we saw that we shared many common interests, likes and experiences.
It wasn 't easy for me to find books on this particular topic. It seems not much has been researched about this theme. It is only now a growing reality due to more intercultural movements in the past years of globalization and becoming therefore more prominent. Fortunately, I came across the book, 'Third Culture Kids. Growing up among worlds ' from David C. Pollack and Ruth E Van Reken. This book explores and defines the various categories of cross-cultural children and even more in depth about so-called third culture kids (which will be explained in the next chapter).
There are so many criteria that define and differentiate different kinds of CCCs. But nevertheless the many traits of a third culture kid (TCK) are very familiar to the ones of cross culture kids (CCK). I need to clarify that there is no difference between CCC and CCK. The term CCK is used in particular here when I refer directly to the Third Culture Kids book, whereas CCC is used otherwise.
Two reasons brought me to chose this topic: one is that I can identify with it from my own life experience and the other is that the phenomena of CCC have now become a more common occurrence over the past 2 decades and will become more likely an even bigger reality in the future. As it is a vast topic, I will go only highlight here what it means to live a cross-cultural life, some of its challenges and benefits .

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2. DEFINITIONS
The original definition of third culture was formed in the 1950s by the American social scientists, Ruth Hill Useem and John Useem, who went to India to do a research about Americans who lived and worked there (as missionaries or officers and so on in those days). This is where they came in contact with more emigrants from other countries and realized that those people had formed a different kind of lifestyle and culture from their home country as well from the host country. The Useems then defined the home culture from where the parents come from as the first culture. The host culture was defined as the second culture. And the shared lifestyle of the expatriates family as an interstitial culture which they named as the third culture. As Dr. Ruth Useem became more interested in the children of the expatriates, she noticed many common characteristics among the children as they grew up. She called them the third culture kids(TCK).
Pollock and Van Reken describe TCKs in their book as children that move with their parents due to the career choice of the parents. Cross Cultural Kids (CCK) on the other hand have a broader meaning. CCK is a person who has lived in—or meaningfully interacted with—two or more cultural environments for a significant period of time during developmental years. - Ruth Van Reken, co-author, Third culture kids. Growing up among worlds. 2009, Pg. 31
CCK experiences are in many ways similar to the ways of TCKs. TCK is in that way a sub-category of CCK. Many other sub-categories of CCK by Pollock and Van Reken are bi/multicultural children, bi/multiracial children, children of borderlanders (who cross borders frequently), educational CCKs (who go to different cultural schools, e.g. International schools), international adoptees, children of minorities, children of immigrants, children of refugees.
In order to understand the difficulties a cross culture child is facing, one has to understand also what culture means. Generally culture is the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group also the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time - Merriam-Webster Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture).
According to Harris and Moran culture gives people a sense of who they are, of belonging, of how they schould behave, and of what they should be doing (Harris and Moran, 1991, page 12

2 in Klaus Götz, Interkulturelles Lernen / Interkulturelles Training. 2007, Pg. 16)

That means with our culture we absorb values of the respective society (what is important, what is accepted or not accepted), what people believe in, how they dress, greet, behave with each other and what are the unspoken expectations towards their members. Cultur is something that is learned from childbirth. It is something one acquires throughout life, often without consciously noticing it. The outer manifestations of culture are the customs, food and traditions, the deeper layer of a culture are their values, beliefs and interaction with each other according to Anthropologist Dr. Gary Weaver.

3. HIGH MOBILITY
One has to consider that one of the main aspects of CCKs is that they are not in possession of a stable one-cultural influence, but their experiences are of a much higher mobility compared to what 'normal ' people go through. Through the postings of their parents in various parts of the world, CCCs can never stay over a long period of time in one place. Additionally, people like family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances also move in and out of their lives and create a highly mobile lifestyle. Pollock says that every move is a transition, in which we lose something and have to acquire something new. So one can say CCC 's life is a constant move. This process is connected with insecurities, fears and pain of separation and loss on the negative side. Turned around and seen from the other side it can lead to an increased flexibility which further increases the self-confidence and self-reliance over the years to cope with any changes that come in life.

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4. ADVANTAGES

1. Bi/Multilingual
The obvious benefit: one learns at least more than one language: either conversing with the father in one language and with the mother in another, but still often in school with yet another language. These communicative skills suddenly give CCCs an upper hand for the future in their professional life or simply while travelling and connecting to other nationalities. If one considers, that language is the first entrance to understanding another culture, then the multiple language knowledge of CCCs gives them a more direct access to the mentality and way of living of people of other countries. They will feel therefore also a stronger concern for other cultures and can tie up more easily with new people than a person without those language skills.

2. Expanded Awareness of World
One of the first benefits of a CCC is the expanded awareness. From day one they are aware of both the cultures. They have either been to more places or learned more languages or experienced different cultures than even many adults. They know the difference between various traditions and how the conduct of behavior or values can differ from one place to another. One word or a hand gesture could have a completely different or opposite meaning in the other culture. In India, the shaking of the head is considered as an agreement or a neutral acknowledgement, whereas in the west it means 'no '.

3. Cross-cultural Enrichment
All cultures have different and many things to offer. And just being able to have more than one cultural experience can be so enriching, like learning different cuisine, art like handicrafts, music, paintings, dresses, festivals, religious approaches and so on. This diversity of experience is rarely found in monoculture family.

4 4. Adaptability/Flexibility
CCCs are more prone to changes, hence are since childhood more adaptable to various situations. It is easier for them to switch languages. It is also easier for them to respond to the unspoken behavior code in another culture and being tolerant to differences they find in each place as compared to adults who have been entirely grown and conditioned in just one culture. For example, I often saw in India that people coming from Germany felt aggravated about even small delays of train timings and the like, since everything is planned in Germany almost to the minute.

5. Three-Dimensional View of the World
Pollock mentions in his book, that living in different cultures is a tangible experience. What many learn about things only through books, movies or photos, many CCK experience that in real life. Pollock calls it the three-dimensional view, which means that one actually knows happenings in a certain place, like how hot the place is, how overcrowded a city can be, or how the food actually tastes and what kind of 'smell ' does a country have. This gives a better understanding and a stronger relation to the place.

5. CHALLENGES

1. Too Many Languages
One might think that it is great that one knows more than one or two languages, but in many cases it happens, that the CCC might not have a good grasp of all the languages he/she knows. Different languages mean different grammar knowledge and huge vocabularies to learn. This can be overwhelming and in the end one doesn 't 'know ' all the languages perfectly. I have seen with a friend of mine with a Indian/Italian family background and who has shifted in her childhood several times up and down to each of her parental countries, that as a child at one point she refused even to talk anymore. This could have come easily from the too many changes she had
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to 'digest '. At the same time she is having a hard time with spelling English words - her second mother language - correctly.

2. Opposing Value Systems
CCCs have a hard time connecting to either of the countries. They don 't know what to stand for. This can result in disconnecting oneself emotionally, as one friend of mine described it, especially if it comes to conflicting issues between each culture. CCCs seem to often don 't take any side and instead stand in a neutral position, as Pollock also mentioned. It can also lead to helplessness. For instance when a child lives in a family with two different religions. It is hard to decide for one side when one belief is conflicting the other. A one-culture child on the contrary would most likely find it easy to identify with social norms and values without any such conflict CCCs face. I came to know about a young man with Egyptian/German parents who has troubles with the distant behavior of his own German grandmother. His Egyptian values are to respect elders and stay connected with your relatives. The actual experience of disconnectedness from his grandmother hurts him, but his inbuilt value system does neither allow him to confront her nor to break ties with her.
The different mental programs with which people grow up in each culture lead often to intercultural conflicts of which CCCs are often a witness. Intercultural conflict is defined as the perceived or the actual incompatibility of norms, values, processes or goals between a minimum of two cultural parties over content, identity, relational, and procedural issues (Ting Toomey, 1999, 194 in: Daniela Molzbichler, Kulturen in Konflikt? Vom Umgang mit Konflikten in interkulturellen Beziehungen, SWS-Rundschau (45. Jg.) Heft 2/2005: 160–184)

3. No sense of Belongingness
It often so happens switching within countries/cultures one loses the base in either of the places. This makes CCCs sometimes feel confused as to where they belong. They might not have a permanent house in either of the countries. Even if they do still have the old friends, there is a feeling that they don 't completely understand the situation of CCC. There is often the feeling of the others not understand one big part of oneself which actually belongs to the other culture.
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Many of one 's experiences cannot just be told, but are simply understood when one shares the same cultural background. At times it can lead to the feeling of estrangement and social withdrawals. Besides not feeling fully seen and understood in all of what one is or has experienced as a whole, CCCs can experience additionally discriminations from the surrounding which is an even harder fact to deal with as a child.

4. Lack of True Cultural Balance
According to Pollock cultural balance is of utmost importance for the development of our self-confidence and feeling of belonging. CCCs often do not really feel that they are part of any particular society and therefore might shrink away from any full commitments as well. This lack of commitment might also mirror in their diffused value system, like not really knowing what to stand for and seeing the good in both sides of the coin. Nothing seems to have an absolute value in their lives. This in turn can easily cause mistrust to a person that is more rooted in his/her own cultural set up.

5. Painful View of Reality
Since often CCKs are coming from areas that are war-stricken or where there is natural or political upheavals, news about adversities are not abstract and distant happenings, but filled often with lot of agony. Along with such encounters, some CCK 's have seen the bitter reality. They see the tsunami destruct houses of their community, riots and blood sheds. Many won 't realize what kind of horrors the CCK sitting right next to them has already faced. Along with the perks come various challenges faced by CCCs as we could see. Many of the perks in one culture can be drawbacks in the other.
One criteria is not mentioned here in this writing - it is the social background from which the CCC is coming. It is clear that if a child comes from a working class environment (means unskilled workers or craftsmen and everyone who does not have a higher education) to a new culture than his/her experience will differ a great deal from that of a child with parents of an academic
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background. Generally one can assume that the higher the education of the family is, the more acceptance one will find from the host culture and the easier it will be to find friends from the host culture as well. Families from a less educated and more rigid traditional background have the tendency to close up more in their own small circle from the same cultural background in a host country and are more likely to build a "ghetto" situation. They will also meet more people from the host culture according to their professional occupation who might not be so welcoming and understanding of their differentness. So, in those cases - without having done a lot of research into it - the challenges that all the CCRs are encountering could likely expand to more conflicts than turning into benefits.

5. CONCLUSION
Generally children are growing up in one culture. Holidays to another country do count, but are too short and do not give a real encounter with all the life situations and people abroad that a child of cross culture faces. Starting a new life in another culture can feel almost like being an illiterate because one has to learn a lot new, and sometime almost everything, depending on the divergences of cultures involved.
It seems that CCCs are undergoing additional conflicts and fears during their upbringing. To my mind and from what I experienced, what matters a lot is the understanding they get from their parents. If children can discuss their fears openly with their parents, it helps bring stability and self-confidence into their life and personality. One more helpful point mentioned in the Third Culture Kids, I very much agree to is that the parents of CCKs should have a stable relationship between themselves to foster the feeling of security in their kids.
As a CCC one often comes across many other CCCs. This too, nourishes the process of identifying oneself with others and creates a feeling of belongingness. Meeting other CCCs is for most CCCs the biggest joy because through it one becomes more aware of the perks of being a CCC. One of the side effects are that one has friends all over the world. The life of CCCs are basically formed by the many experiences they make. The difficulties and challenges shapes the future too. Overcoming the challenges can bring out all the promising personality traits and opportunities in regard to work, interests and relations. From personal 8 experience and having contact with other CCCs I see that one tends to go in the direction of more occupations that relate to the own personality or to international relations. I think, a CCC background carries naturally the ability for cross cultural concerns and mediating between two sides. Most of the CCCs I know have studied or are now studying subjects like International Business, Peace and International Conflict, Ethnology, Social Science, Psychology, Travel Guide, Languages, Gastronomy. I am not sure if one can draw a conclusion from a handful of friends. And like I mentioned before, it seems not much been researched yet, but it would be interesting to find out the later life of such children.

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6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Main source:
Ruth E. Van Reken, David C. Pollock: Third Culture Kids. Growing up among worlds. 2009
Interviews in form of Questionnaires
Secondary source:
Klaus Götz, Interkulturelles Lernen /Interkulturelles Training, 2010

http://www.uibk.ac.at/peacestudies/downloads/peacelibrary/kulturen.pdf

Internet source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary 7. ATTACHMENT
Interviews with 4 cross-cultural children.

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[ 1 ]. Paraphased. Pollock and Van Renek, Third culture kids. Living among worlds. 2009, Pg. 14.
[ 2 ]. Paraphased, Third culture kids. Growing up among worlds. 2009, Pg. 42, Fig. 4-1
[ 3 ]. Paraphased, Third culture kids. Growing up among worlds. 2009, Pg. 63-66
[ 4 ]. Paraphrased, Third culture kids. Growing up among worlds. 2009, Pg. 93
[ 5 ]. Paraphrased, Third culture kids. Growing up among worlds. 2009, Pg. 94

Bibliography: According to Harris and Moran culture gives people a sense of who they are, of belonging, of how they schould behave, and of what they should be doing (Harris and Moran, 1991, page 12 2 Klaus Götz, Interkulturelles Lernen /Interkulturelles Training, 2010 http://www.uibk.ac.at/peacestudies/downloads/peacelibrary/kulturen.pdf