Thriving Thursdays: Third Culture Kids: Beyond and Between Borders
Welcome to the new 2022 Expert Talk Series in collaboration with SIETAR Austria! Thriving Thursdays: Third Culture Kids: Beyond and Between Borders. Today, we are joined by our guest who is an Adult Third Culture Kid (ATCK), Ruth Van Reken, a second-generation Third Culture Kid* (TCK) and mother of three now-adult TCKs. She is also the co-author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, 3rd ed., and author of Letters Never Sent, her personal journaling seeking to understand the long-term impact of her cross-cultural childhood. We will explore the dynamics of the Third Culture Kids, aspects of their identity, and career beyond and between mental and physical borders.
About the speaker: Ruth Van Reken is a second-generation Third Culture Kid* (TCK) and mother of three now-adult TCKs. She is co-author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, 3rd ed., and author of Letters Never Sent, her personal journaling seeking to understand the long-term impact of her cross-cultural childhood. For more than thirty-five years (pre-Covid19!), Ruth travelled extensively speaking about issues related to the impact of global mobility on individuals, families, and societies.
Since 2001 she has expanded her interest to work with those she calls Cross-Cultural Kids (CCKs) — children who grow up cross-culturally for any reason. She is co-founder and former chairperson of Families in Global Transition. In addition to her two books and many published articles, she has written a chapter in other books, including Strangers at Home, Unrooted Childhoods, and Writing Out of Limbo. In 2019 she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Wheaton College for her life’s work. She now lives in Indianapolis, IN with her husband, David.
You can join the event by using the link below.
Footnotes:
*a child who spends a significant period of time during his or her developmental years growing up in a culture outside the parents’ culture.