Comments on: (Book revision) Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds.

By: Attachiante

Attachiante — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 10:36:00 +0000

In fact what I propose is an equivalent book : “Mono-Cultural Kids: On growing up in one place”.

By: Attachiante

Attachiante — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 10:33:00 +0000

Hello Ruth,

Here are some things I like less about your book.

1) Kids? Why are those of us who have had these experiences forever kids? In addition to the choice of terminology is also a choice of focus. and the focus is on children, on taking care of children, on helping teachers and parents to better help and understand children, which leads on to my next point:

2) Pathologising. The starting-point is that there is a problem, there are people who need help. Great for attracting the type of people who ‘need to feel needed’ & helping to the field, but not the most helpful epistemological or ontological starting point, in terms of setting out to actually understand a phenomenom? And does it not just reinforce teh tendency to see monocultural provincialism as the norm, and mobility and cross-cultural interaction as deviant?

3) It seems you are primarily talking about missionary kids, and Anglo-American ones at that. A little misleading and a bit of elision then not to be more honest about that?

By: Attachiante

Attachiante — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 08:36:41 +0000

In fact what I propose is an equivalent book : “Mono-Cultural Kids: On growing up in one place”.

By: Attachiante

Attachiante — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 08:33:04 +0000

Hello Ruth,

Here are some things I like less about your book.

1) Kids? Why are those of us who have had these experiences forever kids? In addition to the choice of terminology is also a choice of focus. and the focus is on children, on taking care of children, on helping teachers and parents to better help and understand children, which leads on to my next point:

2) Pathologising. The starting-point is that there is a problem, there are people who need help. Great for attracting the type of people who 'need to feel needed' & helping to the field, but not the most helpful epistemological or ontological starting point, in terms of setting out to actually understand a phenomenom? And does it not just reinforce teh tendency to see monocultural provincialism as the norm, and mobility and cross-cultural interaction as deviant?

3) It seems you are primarily talking about missionary kids, and Anglo-American ones at that. A little misleading and a bit of elision then not to be more honest about that?

By: Joy Foursquare

Joy Foursquare — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:27:00 +0000

We lead the Missions department for our denomination (church) in a national level, and I always recommend and give as a gift this books to the ones that are leaving or coming back to the US.
Wonderful material and i had the privilege to attend two workshop’s that David had done overseas!!! What a privilege and i found myself as I am also a Third Culture Kid (which i did not know till then)

By: Joy Foursquare

Joy Foursquare — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:27:27 +0000

We lead the Missions department for our denomination (church) in a national level, and I always recommend and give as a gift this books to the ones that are leaving or coming back to the US.
Wonderful material and i had the privilege to attend two workshop's that David had done overseas!!! What a privilege and i found myself as I am also a Third Culture Kid (which i did not know till then)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:06:00 +0000

Thank you Barbara for your kind word. I remember a conversation I did have with my mother when I was in my early 40′s I think. We were talking about some of the problems I had when we returned “home” and I explained part of what I had gone through, finally able to put it into words. What amazes me now is that I was actually describing much of what I have recently been reading on the subject. I or we just didn’t relize there was actually a name for it. And yes it does help so very much to know that I am not alone!

By: kandi707

kandi707 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:06:18 +0000

Thank you Barbara for your kind word. I remember a conversation I did have with my mother when I was in my early 40's I think. We were talking about some of the problems I had when we returned “home” and I explained part of what I had gone through, finally able to put it into words. What amazes me now is that I was actually describing much of what I have recently been reading on the subject. I or we just didn't relize there was actually a name for it. And yes it does help so very much to know that I am not alone!

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:40:00 +0000

I liked your letter and thoroughly identify with your experience.I am 66 now and learned about TCK about eight years ago when I was invited to attend the “Reunion of Strangers” at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. I recall many of cried the whole weekend! What a relief to discover that you are not insane, as people would say, strange, weird or anything else like. There are “lots of others like me!”
I was fortunate to be able to share the book with my mother before she died. Two comments from her: first she said she felt that I was punishing her by asking her to read the book. She got quite defensive. As she continued to read more and think more about it she said that a lot of t he book applied to her also. Every time she moved between the “home” country and the place of service (China and India) she had many of the same experiences. She felt like a fish out of water and very lonely etc.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:40:33 +0000