Bringing Third Culture Kids Together: Building a TCK Network in Your Library

Abstract

Several months ago, I had the privilege of reading Born Confused authored by Tanuja Desai Hidier as a requirement for a seminar on issues and trends in young adult literature. In this novel, an Asian teenager struggles with self-identity while living with her Indian parents in the United States. Feeling the impact of both an eastern and western culture, she expresses: …not quite Indian, and not quite American. Usually I felt more along the lines of Alien (however legal, as my Jersey birth certificate attests to). The only times I retreated to one or the other description were when my peers didn’t understand me (then I figured it was because I was too Indian) or when my family didn’t get it (clearly because I was too American)… Sometimes I was too Indian in America, yes, but in India, I was definitely not Indian enough... This statement compelled me to continue on a most fascinating and reflective reading experience. As I paralleled my own life experiences against the experiences of the girl in the story, I was reminded of the overwhelming sense of loneliness that accompanied my final return from Africa to the United States at the age of seventeen. After spending thirteen years in Kenya, intermingled with a few years of furlough, I found that it took increased amount of energy to adjust to the fastpaced, materialistic lifestyle of the United States, and I, like the heroine in Hidier’s story, became frustrated over the lack of knowing how to fit into the culture, understand myself, and relate to my peers.