The Self Identity of the Global Nomads

The Self Identity of the Global Nomads
Agnieszka Trąbka, Jagiellonian University, Institute of Sociology, Department of Social Anthropology;
a.trabka@gmail.com


Many sociologists argue, that in the contemporary, globalized late-modern society the crisis of traditional
social structures and institutions, such as nation state, class, or even nuclear family may be diagnosed. It
has, undoubtedly, important consequences for the process of self-identity forming: it is no longer inherited. It
becomes a project, an obligation – it has ethic dimension since every decision one makes can be seen as
significant for the process of identity construction. In this context we can speak about individualization,
as an important characteristic of contemporary society. On the other hand, high mobility of people, money,
ideas or things results in a sense of unrootedness.
I would like to analyze the consequences of mentioned processes to the self-identity on the example of global
nomads (called sometimes third culture kids). According to David Pollock third culture kid ”is a person who
has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside his/her parents’ culture. The third
culture kid builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements
from each culture are assimilated into the third culture kid’s life experience, the sense of belonging is in
relationship to others of the same background, other TCKs”. I shall try to describe a nomadic, unrooted self,
focusing on the ways continuity of self-identity is maintained and on the most important identity strategies.
As far as methodology is concerned I chose a biographical method, which seems to be a good solution if we
want to analyze a process of self-identity forming in a detailed manner.