As I was conducting this interview with Violet, I removed any element of formality to make her feel comfortable. I wasn’t sure which tactic to use at first, but as soon as I started the interview, the sharing of stories and perspectives unfolded through an ongoing co-interpretive dialogue. Hence, I decided to choose reflexive dyadic interviewing method, a technique that allows the interviewer to share his/her own personal experiences and to reflect on the communicative process of the interview itself. In my interview, I was able to use the reflexive dyadic interview as a way to build a bond of sympathy and open up comfortably, sharing emotional responses. Reflexive dyadic interviews follow the typical protocol of the interviewer asking questions and the interviewee answering them, but the interviewer typically shares personal experience with the topic at hand or reflects on the communicative process of the interview. I began asking questions while talking to her on Skype. Whenever she wasn’t on track, I would tell her my own story and bring her back on topic.
I started out with a simple question. “Do you consider yourself a Third Culture Kid?” “I would say so, yes.” replied Violet. “When people ask you the question “Where’s home?” how do you normally answer it?” “It depends on where I am. If I’m in the States, I say Taiwan. If I’m in Taiwan, I say the States.” I could relate to her. Whenever people asked me, “Where’s home?” my answer was: “I am Korean but I’ve lived in San Diego, Shanghai and Taipei. My parents live in Beijing, by the way.” It was awkward, but I would say the whole thing because it’s an interesting story. I was curious whether Violet felt the same. “Why is that?” I asked her out of curiosity. “Why? Because I sort of feel like as a Third Culture, biracial and bicultural kid, you don’t really belong to one place exclusively, because you embrace a bunch of different cultures.” |
“Did you have any trouble identifying yourself? Like, you say you’re from both Taiwan and the States. Were there any people challenging this idea?”
“I think I have a lot of trouble identifying myself, like in terms of the fact that I’m not really an American teenager so I don’t REALLY belong there but I am not a Taiwanese local teenager, so I don’t belong here either.” “Do you still have a problem, or have you sorted it out?” “I still do, and as of now, I probably always will to a certain extent.” “How many years did you spend in North Carolina?” “Live? Or just spending in general?” “Live.” “I’ve never lived in North Carolina, but I’ve spent two months a year there over the summer.” “I see. Man, that’s tough. You see, the whole identity thing got weird for me too. Once school started talking about it, I wasn’t sure where I belonged to. I mean, I don’t really belong to the Korean local group.” “Exactly! But culturally, you’re not really Korean OR Taiwanese exclusively. It’s really confusing and kind of depressing to think about.” “Yeah I know. Like, I am not a Korean local, I’m not Korean American either, I’m not Taiwanese, so what the heck am I?” “I just decided to embrace all the cultures I am affiliated to, and develop an identity as a Third Culture Kid. I feel like we live a different life from those who reside in one region for a long time.” I couldn’t agree more. From a certain point, I decided I don’t just belong to Korean international or Korean American students’ group, but have ownership in all of the cultures I’ve been exposed to - Korean, American, Chinese, Taiwanese. We had an awkward silence for a minute or two, as if we were both contemplating on our identity. |
“What traits do you think characterize a TCK?” I asked out of the blue.
“Adaptability for sure. We are able to kind of all into any culture with more ease. We are also more open-minded to other cultures and the unknown.” The word “we” sounded to new to me. I’ve never considered myself as a member of a clique; however, this word ‘we’ of the Third Culture Kid group - it gave me a sense of intimacy. I finally decided to establish my identity as the Third Culture Kid, rather than trying to settle in an exclusive culture group. “I agree. For example, I get along with so many different groups of people here. For example, Koreans - both international and American, Chinese and Taiwanese Americans, friends of all colors and races. I am able to embrace other cultures with more ease and this really helped me making friends in college.” “I feel this situation is kind of ironic. I can socialize with so many different people too, and yet I don’t belong to one culture exclusively. And I feel like this is a gift. A unique trait we will live with for lifetime.” said Violet. I talked with Violet for another few minutes about TCK identity and school. Before hanging up, I gave her a sincere appreciation for her time and she thanked me back for giving her an opportunity to contemplate on herself. I pulled out a Word document right after the call to type up the interview. My high school represented 70 different nationalities; each individual comes from a unique background but in some ways, we are similar. |