Kathleen Fairbanks Rubin
Border Person | Fronteriza | TCK | CCK
Border People Are Awesome
How comfortable are you with ambiguity? Do you have a passion for synergy? Do you accept that there are multiple world views?
Are you a Border Person?Do you...
Hold more than one perspective at the same time?
sense the differences people raise and focus on ways to create bridges between people?
connect ideas and perspectives across disciplines?
see at least two sides to issues as possible strategies or solutions?
enjoy having your feet in more than one ‘camp’?
work to increase your ability to find comfort in what to others may be one-sided?
You may be a Border Person if...
Your identity is complicated
When someone asks you where you're from, or what your background is and it's hard to give a one word answer ... you may be a border person ... because you don't fit neatly into any one category.
You "speak" multiple languages
Maybe you speak more than one language -- or, you quite often go back and forth across an international boundary -- or, you move easily between different ethnic or racial or religious groups. You know the unspoken rules of each group and know how to blend in.
You are "in-between"
You can hold more than one perspective at the same time. You sense the differences people raise and focus on ways to create bridges.
Ruth Van Reken Ted Talk: Third Culture Kids | TEDxINSEAD
Third Culture Kids are those children who grow up in a culture that is different from their parents’ culture. The number of TCKs has increased as never before in History, and this is not without consequences. Ruth Van Reken shares her insight on the griefs and gains of being the Third Culture Kid.
Ruth Van Reken is a second-generation Third Culture Kid (TCK – a child who spends a significant period of time during his or her developmental years growing up in a culture outside the parents’ culture.), mother of three adult TCKs, and co-author of the internationally acclaimed book, Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds.
If you replace Nigeria with Mexico in my friend Ruth VanReken’s talk you’ll know how I grew up to become me, a TCK, a CCK, a Border Person.