Meeting new people is always something interesting for me. I have my personal suspense moment when meeting somebody for the first time. Suspense moment because I am waiting that moment when they will ask THE question. A question that can make the conversation go several ways. But I find myself having the same responses.  I’m not from around here, so people naturally will ask me one question. Where do you come from? It’s always a complex question for me. First, I would love to answer in my native tongue (Frañol) which would be a little something like this

 

“Chamo, eso es una pregunta vachement dificile à répondre, but I’ll try. Prends des cotufes en attendant.”

 

To spare you a headache don’t try to google “cotufe”. It’s a made-up, mash-up word by French living in Venezuela, hence Frañol. Second, depending on my mood, I would answer this way: Do you want the short version or the long version?

 

Why should this simple question be so troubling to answer? It’s supposed to be an easy answer. Judging by “how” I want to reply it implies that the answer won’t be a short, direct one like everybody would think. It depends also on the public I have in front of me. Some deserve the short version, others that I judge worthy, deserve the cool version.

 

Let’s start with the short version: I’m French but born and raised in Venezuela. This short version is really a condensed answer that has most of the details in it. It can lead to small talk about both countries which is always a nice conversation to have. Specially when it comes to the gastronomy of both cultures.

 

Now, the long version would be “I was born and raised in Venezuela by French parents.” Of course, this doesn’t make it longer just because I changed the sentence and added a few words. The following is the long version and why it is complex question for me to answer. “I was born and raised in Venezuela by French parents. I lived in Caracas, moved to Montpellier, lived in Toulouse, finished my French life in Paris and now living in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. My dad was born in Czechoslovakia from a French father and a Bulgarian mother. He lived in France and in several Spanish speaking countries such as Colombia, Spain, Venezuela. Now on my mother side, she was born in Ecuador from a French father. My maternal Grandmother was born in Ecuador from French and Spanish parents. My mother lived in Mexico, France and Venezuela.”

Cf. le schema ci-après.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My roots in a glance.

 

 

 

 

So, where do I really come from? Aucune idée, N.P.I., I have no idea. Maybe everywhere. I usually get the follow up question “Which country do you feel more closed to?” It’s funny that people seem to try to put me in one box, one culture and don’t understand my multicultural identity. But I don’t blame them. It would be so easy to know where you stand: Coca Cola or Pepsi (Pepsi of course), Mac or PC, Beatles or Rolling Stones, etc. I answer that I take the best of both worlds. This crazy atypical family tree makes me a third culture kid and a kid of third culture kids.

 

A Third Culture Kid, as David C. Pollock defines it is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents' culture. The TCK builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the TCK's life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of the same background. So, in short, I lived my development years in Venezuela with a French background.

 

So, there is this question of identity and belonging to a tribe. The fact that a TCK is not attached to any culture or on the other hand is attached to all his/her culture makes it easier for us to integrate, to accept other traditions and cultures.

 

This brings me to the superpower of a TCK: Adaptability. We are adaptive (or maybe Responsive as websites nowadays – ok, bad design joke there) meaning we adapt, we don’t jump to conclusions right away, we fit in because we are able to understand and empathize with other cultures. Our world is constantly changing, and we need to adapt to these changes. Adaptability  is (definition by Cambridge Dictionary)

 

“an ability or willingness to change in order to suit different conditions”.

 

I would add that it’s being able to change our way of thinking, our approach or our actions depending on the changing situation without whining. We, TCK, do it flawlessly. But adaptability it’s not only being easy going and going with the flow. To be adaptable we need some key elements: Curiosity, Creativity, Initiative, Multi-disciplinary thinking and Empathy. These are qualities or skills that TCK have and, very important, these are qualities that a designer should have. So, are all designers TCK or all TCK designers? Not at all, but for me, being a TCK makes me have naturally these skills and helps in my design work.

 

When I tell people I’m a designer or more precisely a visual designer, the question of belonging comes up again. So, I say I’m a Graphic Designer. But it still doesn’t put me in a group, in a box. “What kind of work do you do?” Being a multicultural kid, I find myself claustrophobic when thinking in specializing. I would love to be a specialist but I’m afraid of being bored and losing opportunities in learning so much. Being a generalist, and curious, I have learned a lot in my professional years. I have learned how to communicate with architects, I have learned about algae, I have learned about weaving technics, I have learned about insurance, I have learned about exhibition organization, I have learned about video games, I have learned about coding, web design, animation, and so much more.

 

Some of the great famous people are polymaths. Look at Leonardo Da Vinci, at Steven Spielberg, at Oprah Winfrey, at Elon Musk, at Marie Curie, at Blaise Pascal, at Descartes, etc. I don’t want to compare myself to these individuals…but who knows, maybe soon I will be in the same category?! I wish. My point being is that there is a correlation between adaptability and generalist. I would have to thank my TCK background to have given me those skills. It’s a little bit like having survival instincts. Having a multicultural identity makes it easier to connect the dots and see relationships between situations, traditions, actions, subjects, etc.

 

Of course, you don’t need to be a TCK to have these qualities. Absolutely not. It was just a fun way to present my story and connect some dots.

 

 

References and readings:

 

https://www.cleverism.com/skills-and-tools/adaptability-skills/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf0LvUaMNr8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=937iCwJd3fI

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/adaptability

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofjlg7bi1zY

https://hbr.org/2018/07/when-generalists-are-better-than-specialists-and-vice-versa

Conexiones creativas: La herramienta secreta de las mentes innovadoras, Dorte Nielsen y Sarah Thurber