Families in Global Transition – the Adventure #2

by | Mar 17, 2016 | Blog | 6 comments

So, I started chronicling my adventures at the recent Families in Global Transition conference here. Today, I find myself driven to my bed by a throat infection and aching joints… and in a reflective mood. So here is the next installment!

After taking part in the Early Bird Research Forum, and all revved up by the exciting amount of expat and Third Culture Kid research going on out there, we joined the rest of the delegates for our first keynote presenter, Christopher O’Shaughnessy. Chris is a fantastic storyteller… and had us laughing very quickly as he related stories from his childhood growing up cross-culturally asPhoto by Geralt, www.pixabay.com (2) a TCK. And then, he had us weeping, as he shared a particularly powerful story about a classmate on the edge… who very nearly didn’t make it to adulthood because of the harder side of frequent mobility, and all the opportunities for rejection that this presents. He appealed to the expatriate community to invest in empathy… reminding us that we all arrive in a new place, ‘culturally naked’. And that this shared experience of vulnerability can be a great source of connectedness to the Others around us.

In the afternoon, I joined a session by Ellen Mahoney and Amada Bate, called ‘TCKs who Tweet’. This was an interesting introduction to the ways in which TCKs form community over Twitter, and is the main reason I recently joined myself! Find me @XploreLifeStory 🙂 They host #TCKchat, a monthly discussion based around a series of questions on a TCK theme… hoping to get involved myself soon!

Another mention for the day should go to the Panel Discussion on Insiders and Outsiders, asking is belonging overrated? A group of expat and expat experts shared their own experiences of cultural outsider-ship and the challenges felt when parts of yourself feel constricted or their expression is limited by a change in culture. Language and gender plays a part in this, of course. I didn’t feel we came very close to answering the question though, or determining if belonging was overrated 🙂 Turns out it’s a complex issue!

I would have liked some more discussion however, on instances when changes in culture bring about fuller expression of self, as well as covering the instances where it is constrained. For example, in the culture I grew up in West Africa, my status was always going to be less-than, because of my gender. On the other hand, I was freed from the constrains of Western expectations that I should be slim. In West Africa, having a little more ‘meat’ was something to be prized an encouraged, and did more for my sense of self worth than my passport culture that expected a regime of constant dieting!

Inside Out

The afternoon brought Kitchen Table conversations, and I was privileged to hear two discussions. The first was facilitated by the lovely Grace Franklin, who used the film Inside Out to explore ‘The Value of How to be Sad’. This was an interesting discussion on the role of sadness in our lives, the rituals we can use to honour it, and how to keep from trying to ‘fix’ it. 

The second talk was facilitated by Laia Colomer, who had some airport-687256_1920fascinating ideas about Third Culture Kids and cultural heritage. Namely, that transport, the means of movement (airports, highways, etc.) become the locus for our cultural heritage as a global community. Looking forward to reading that paper!

More to come on the Families in Global Transition conference… Look out for post #3!

6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Ruth VanReken

    Good job, RAchel…hope you are better soon! and again, congrats on finishing your Ph.D and may the journey ahead indeed be filled with joy as you work to help others understand their stories better as well

    Reply
    • Dr. Rachel Cason

      Thank you so much Ruth! For the encouragement, inspiring talk at FIGT and just the thrill of meeting you again!

      Reply
  2. Melissa Dalton-Bradford

    Rachel, this is good coverage, and you highlight the very things I took personal notes on, too. Like you, probably, I wished I could have gone to all sessions, but felt I got an extra layer to it all by spending many hours in private conversations with new friends, learning things one might never share in an open forum. That’s a side of FIGT no one can script or give feedback on, but was as enriching, for me at least, as what went on in the sessions themselves. Looking forward to next year already!

    Reply
    • Dr. Rachel Cason

      Thanks for reading, Melissa! The conversations inbetween were amazing opportunities 🙂 It felt like such a family! So excited next year will be in NL too! See you there!

      Reply
  3. julia Simens

    I love the kitchen table talks – to me, they are the perfect way to share your passion to a group of like minded people. I am so glad you got to hear Grace’s KT and Laia’s KT – they were topics that I really thought would be interesting.

    Reply
    • Dr. Rachel Cason

      Yes, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the format but it was really interesting 🙂 And yes, very interesting topics!

      Reply

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