Culturally Fluid Definitions

In the 21st century, assessing someone’s background from outward appearance isn’t enough as hidden, rather than visual, diversity means people increasingly bring more to the table than meets the eye.

Whether through nationality, travel, race or ethnicity, many straddle culture in myriad ways.

From Cultural Fluidity, to Third Culture Kid, Expat, Third Culture Adult, Cross-Cultural Kid and more, the language to describe our in-between community is of utmost importance. Knowing the vocabulary creates understanding and deepens our sense of belonging and connections to others with similar experiences. Here’s a quick overview so you can follow along any of our articles with ease:

Refugees

Internationally nomadic group not characterized by a parent’s occupation. Displaced from their homeland forcibly or by choice, often having fled for varied reasons — violence, politics, religion, environment, etc. Refugees typically do not return to their origin country.

Immigrants

Cross-Cultural Kid (CCK)

A term coined by author Ruth Van Reken in 2002, is a person who is living, has lived, or meaningfully interacted with two or more cultural environments for a significant period of time during the first 18 years of life. This includes minority individuals living within majority culture.

Third Culture Kids (TCKs)

Adult Cross-Cultural Kid (ACCK)

An adult who grew up as a Cross-Cultural Kid.

Cultural Fluidity/Cultural Mobility

A term coined by Culturs founder Donnyale Ambrosine to characterize hidden diversity created by people who don’t or didn’t grow up in a homogenous cultural environment. Culturally Fluid individuals may straddle nationalities, ethnicities, race or culture. The fluidity created allows understanding between or among their foundational areas of meaningful experience. It also may hinder sense of belonging to any one area.

Missionary Kids

Children of missionaries who travel to missions domestically or abroad.

Coined by Sociologist Ruth Useem in the 1950s as a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture. The first culture is considered an individual’s passport culture, while the second culture consists of the culture(s) in which the individual has lived. The third culture is a result of the person’s life experience; this is the culture to which they most belong. The third culture often is where individuals feel community with others of similar experience.

Domestic TCK

Children who moved to various regions within the same country while growing up, often having to re-learn ways of being, especially as regional differences in dress, speech and action are heightened in formative years when it is important to be accepted.

Adult Third Culture Kid (ATCK)

An adult who grew up as a TCK.

Third Culture Adult (TCA)

Coined in 2002 by Psychotherapist Paulette Bethel to signify individuals who travel extensively and are immersed in, or live in global locations after the age of 18 (after identity has been solidified).

People who, for varied reasons, immigrate to a country different than their homeland to stay permanently. Many return to their home countries to visit, though some do not.

Expatriate (Expat)

As defined by Merriam Webster — to leave one’s native country to live elsewhere; which also sometimes means to renounce allegiance to one’s native country.

Military B.R.A.T.

Children of military who move with parents to different places within or outside of their home country. They often experience other cultures within the confines of a military installation or compound that possesses traits of the home country.

Non-Military Foreign Service

Children traveling with their parents to various countries in non-military government roles, diplomatic corps, civil service, foreign service, etc.

Diplomat Kids

Children whose parents are members of the home country’s political framework while living on foreign soil.

Traveler

Those who travel expecting differences among intra-international or international culture, however, not immersed in these cultures for extended periods of time, or long enough to integrate local cultural norms as their own.

International Business Kids

Children whose parents work with multinational corporations that take them to faraway lands, often in professional fields surrounding oil, construction and pharmaceuticals.

Borderlanders

Described by author Ruth Van Reken in the book

“Third Culture Kids,” a borderlander is a citizen of one country that lives close to another. Often the norms, customs and traits of each country’s culture seeps into the other, creating a cultural experience separate from either original culture, while allowing inhabitants keen knowledge and insight into their own culture as well as the other.

Multiracial

People whose family consists of two or more races to which the individual identifies. With race often come cultural norms, slang language and attitudes that can greatly differ. Many multiracial children, though not all, have the unique opportunity to learn norms of all the cultures they comprise.

Multiethnic; Multicultural

People whose family consists of two or more cultures to which the individual identifies. Even when belonging to the same race, differences in culture may exist between ethnicities, tribes and other cultural contexts.

Chilean-Nebraskan CCK

ANDREA BAZOIN (say “Bah-Zwah”) is a human resilience activator, which means she works with individuals and teams to identify and dismantle the practical and personal barriers that keep them from thriving in our ever-accelerating future. Her family ties span the globe and include the U.S., Chile, Argentina, Australia, and France. She currently lives in Colorado, U.S.A. with her French husband and culturally fluid son. Learn more at www.andreabazoin.com.

Adult CCK, TCA and TCK Parent

PAULETTE BETHEL, PHD is a career U.S. Air Force officer, trauma recovery coach, global transition expert and a mother to Third Culture Kids. Culturally and racially blended, Dr. Bethel is our expert on the importance of transition and its effect on relationships. She is CEO and Founder of Discoveries Coaching & Consulting.

Spanish Native

GEMMA GIL, a wedding and lifestyle photographer since 2009, lives in and loves her hometown of Valencia, Spain. She has a degree in audiovisual communications, specializing in graphic design, photo editing and multimedia.

U.K., Trinidad & Tobago TCK

HAYDEN GREENE is a pop culture columnist and director of multicultural affairs and student development at Manhattan College in New York City, U.S.A. Known as Brooklyn’s favorite polymath, he is a prize-winning fine art photographer, voice over talent and Trinidadian from the U.K.

Hatian-American CCA

PATRICIA “REIGN” REIGN has been in the beauty business for two decades with an interest in the industry as early as middle school, when she started as a hair braider. She is deeply knowledgeable about self-care and self-care products and takes pride in learning and being aware of all the trends in beauty and self-care so she can always recommend the very best products and services to her clients.

U.S. CCA

SARA STOVER has over 20 years of experience as a storyteller, writer and editor. She has written for Hawai’i Magazine, Honolulu Magazine, Housing Wire, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, RunnerClick and many other publications and online outlets. After marrying into a multicultural family, Sara moved to the Big Island of Hawai’i, where she lives with her husband, cats and wild chickens, drawing inspiration from the diversity of the island’s nature and culture, as well as from her own creative adventures.

Guatemalan-American TCK

JOHN LIANG is an Adult Third Culture Kid who grew up in Guatemala, Costa Rica, the United States, Morocco and Egypt before graduating high school. He has a bachelor’s degree in languages from Georgetown University and a master’s in International Policy Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Liang has covered the U.S. military for two decades as a writer and editor for InsideDefense. com, and is also managing editor of Culturs Magazine. He lives in Arlington, Va., U.S.A.

Indian CCA

Mexican TCA

DIANA VEGA is a Third Culture Adult. Born in Mexico and passionate about design, they studied architecture and started a small business after college. Interested in entrepreneurship, Vega moved to Colorado, U.S.A. to earn an MBA at Colorado State University. Now repatriated to Mexico, they are a graphic designer and illustrator for Culturs Magazine.

Cross-Cultural SHANTHI YOGINI is an engineer-turned Authentic Yogic Lifestyle Expert and a #1 international best-selling author of a book series on happiness. She was born and raised in the country which is the very source of Yoga-Shaastram (Yoga-Living), and comes from a lineage of YogaMasters. She teaches ancient wisdom suitable to modern lifestyle through two-minute tools.

Margaret Hughes ( University of West of Scotland, and Association of Journalism Education) was raving about your presentation, and how engaged her students were in what you had to say.

— Via Email

I want my grandkids to grow up in a world where a global mindset includes them in all of their diversity of shades and perspectives.

— P. Bethel via Facebook

I told you that cover was prominently displayed in my office!

— H. Greene via Facebook

Oh my goodness so old I love it

— S. Techentien via Instagram, regarding “How to embrace being multicultural” video.

As an idian-American female heavily involved with Public Relations, I am passionate about diversity and think the client is very relevant and interesting! I am excited to work with my peers to create a campaign for Culturs and learn more about the process.

— C. Hensley via Email

You should feel proud of this great contribution to diversity and humanity. I’m glad to have had a small part in your beginnings.

— T. Cornell via LinkedIn

I love it.

— S. Sikder via Instagram

This Winter issue takes us to Valencia, a vivacious

Spanish city replete with sites as old as the medieval ages and as modern as the largest aquarium in Europe. It’s a city that draws people from all over the world for a variety of reasons, with the food — particularly paella — among the top.

In addition to exploring Valencia, we also meet Barbara Agrait, a Cuban-American public relations professional who loves being able to speak both English and Spanish and imparts some cool lessons from growing up bicultural.

There’s also the tale of three extraordinary superstars who are breaking new ground in women’s health and wellness, plus the seven secrets of Yoga-Living that help us to treat life as a present. This issue also has four quick tips for skincare and wellness during winter by our newest columnist, Patricia “REIGN” Reign.

Not only that, we take you to a park in New York City, U.S.A. where a celebration of African hair and beauty called CurlFest takes place. Hair has been a staple part of African expression for centuries, and this festival also celebrates Black culture in the United States. The event highlights vendors of hair products for and by people of color, and hairstyling booths demonstrate new hairstyling techniques.

We even have a story of love that began with a U.S. soldier boarding a troop transport to Hawaii by mistake and subsequently meeting the love of his life in the form of a JapaneseAmerican, Hawaiian-born woman.

All of these multicultural stories serve as a wonderful inspiration for me as I transition into my new role as Editor-inChief of this incredible magazine. As an Adult Third Culture Kid born in Guatemala — a child of a three-quarters Chinese, onequarter Spanish, Guatemala-born father and an Irish-Jewish-French U.S. Military B.R.A.T. mother — I grew up in Central America and North Africa as well as the United States. Tales of these culturally blended people bring a smile to my face and a warm feeling in my heart.

Both my immediate predecessor, Judy Howard Ellis, as well as our wonderful founder, Doni Aldine, have left some enormous shoes to fill. I aim to spend each and every day striving to do just that.

— John Liang Editor-in-Chief