Bonus Episode 2: Discussing the TCK/CCK Concept with Ruth Van Reken

TCK VOF

For our podcast, we have been using the Third Culture Kids term for all Cross-Cultural Kids. Is that okay for the experts in the TCK world? What would someone like Ruth Van Reken, the author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds think? Let us get back down to basics to terminologies with Ruth and hear what she has to say about it as well as her hope for the future of the TCK term!

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 Ruth has traveled 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 past chairperson of Families in Global Transition. In addition to her two books and many articles, she has written a chapter in other books including Strangers at Home, Unrooted Childhoods, and Writing Out of Limbo. She has also co-authored a group study guide on transitions in the Bible called Life in Motion. 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.

*a child who spends a significant period of time during his or her developmental years growing up in a culture outside the parents’ culture.

Learn more about Ruth via her website at: https://www.crossculturalkid.org/who-are-cross-cultural-kids/