ANTH7013 Candidate number: LCBC3

The Third Culture Home: the relation between home interiors, self-identity, and Third
Culture Individuals
The interiors of the home are an aspect of the built environment that are highly important
to how individuals connect to the wider world: It is the material culture within our home
that appears as both our appropriation of the larger world and often as the representation
of that world within our private domain.1 Through this connective relation, the home
takes on a position as both a starting point for the journey of self-creation2 and also as a
canvas or platform upon which the identity is forged3. The interior of the home, and the
objects concerned with it, have a symbolic place in the lifelong journey of self-definition
that we all experience, no matter how different these experiences can be. A group of
people for whom this relation is especially interesting is third culture individuals (TCIs).
TCIs are people who have spent a significant amount of their developmental years living
outside of their passport country, usually because of the parents career choice4, and thus
go through a very different process of self-definition than people brought up in a
monocultural setting.
What I would like to explore in this paper is the way in which in which the material
culture of the home is related to the process of self-identification for third culture
individuals. While there is no existing literature connecting the material culture of the
home to TCIs specifically, there is a wealth of work done on the relationship of the
interiors and objects of domestic space to identity in many other types of people,
including similarly transient groups, as well as on the identity of third culture individuals.
Therefore I will start by examining several ways in which the home is related to the
formation of personal identity, using studies that focus on several different groups of
people with varying levels of transience. I will then outline how the process of selfdefinition is affected by the multicultural experiences of third culture individuals. With
the two areas that I am attempting to connect outlined, I will then commence a discussion
on how the interiors and objects of home (or of multiple homes) affect the process of self1
2
3
4

Miller, D. (2001) P. 1
Petridou, E. (2001) P. 102
Garvey, P. (2001) p. 56
Van Reken, R. (2010) p. 636

identification in TCIs. This will be supported by personal evidence from my own

experience and those of my family members, as my sister and I are both third culture
individuals.
An important notion argued by Anthony Giddens is crucial in understanding the ways
that the objects and interiors of the home contribute to self-identity:
'A person's identity is not to be found in behavior, nor - important though this is - in the reactions
of others, but in the capacity to keep a particular narrative going. The individual's biography, if
she is to maintain regular interaction with others in the day-to-day world, cannot be wholly fictive.
It must continually integrate events which occur in the external world, and sort them into the
ongoing 'story' about the self.'5

In this sense, self-identity is in continuous production through ones experiences,

thoughts, and reactions to experiences and events that are constantly occurring over the
course of life; the continual creation and revision of a personal narrative. If self-identity
is formed through the choices, events, and interactions that occur in ones social and
material environments, it follows that the home would be a physical reflection of this
process. It is also important to note that in this interpretation home is a process rather
than just a place6, and that it is not something subject to linguistic interpretation as
something signifying, or to be read as a fossil.7 There are many ways in which the
process of the home interacts with, affects, and is affected by the process of selfidentification. In order to create an image of the different connections between these
processes, I will examine three different studies (something about the gist of each of
them)
In her study of the reorganization and redecoration of homes in the Norwegian village of
Skien, Pauline Garvey explores the differences between two practices of effecting change
on ones home. She argues that redecoration; which requires intricate planning and
financial investment; and the reorganization of furniture; which is more spontaneous and
ephemeral; are critically distinct because they stem from different motives and fulfill
contrasting needs8. On the one hand, the deliberate act of changing or adding to the
5
6
7
8

(1991) P. 54
Miller, D. (2001) P. 9
Buchli, V. (2013) P. 135
Garvey, P. (2001) P. 48

appearance of the home through redecoration is closely tied up in the equally deliberate
act of forging a self-identity in line with ones chosen ideals: personal aspirations are
manifested in decorative choices.9 Redecoration stems from an aspirational motive; a
desire to create the self-image that one desires, and desires to present to others. On the
other hand, the reorganization of furniture is most commonly an emotional response to
an emotional condition. Lacking any prescribed template on how it should be
accomplished, the homeowner can engage in this activity as his/her mood dictates.10
Thus, the act of reorganizing stems from organic, emotional, and individualized
motivations; such as boredom, depression, or a sudden desire for change. The important
thing to take away from this example is that Garvey shows that the transient and the
banal are as necessary as the the diachronic and aspirational in cultivating a sense of
self, and that the home provides a coherence from layers of experience11. She has
demonstrated how the orchestrations of change upon ones physical home (the domestic
interior) are a physical manifestation of the process of the internal world of the subject
interacting with the external world, material world as the individual spontaneously sorts
aspects of the environment and integrates them into the ongoing story about the self.12
While Garvey shows how different aspects of the process of self-identification manifest
in the action of changing the home, Jean-Sbastien Marcoux, in his study of tenants
changing residence in Montral, explores how the actions involved in moving house
refurbishes the memory. Memory is refurbished through the actions of going through,
packing, keeping, and discarding possessions in the preparation for a move, because these
actions become a means to reshuffle relationships and memories by bringing them back
into consciousness.13 When sorting through ones possessions, one is confronted also
with the memories associated with each object an excavation of the memory14.
Because things are not inherently meaningful, people bring along what they think
matters, economically or sentimentally, and through being brought along physical objects
9 Garvey, P. (2001) P. 65
10 Garvey, P. (2001) P. 52
11 Garvey, P. (2001) P. 65
12 Garvey, P. (2001) P. 56
13 Marcoux, J. (2001) P. 83
14 Marcoux, J. (2001) P. 78

acquire meaning.15 The now meaningful objects to be brought along become aidememoires, which provide a sense of continuity16, transferring a memory of the old home
and reconstituting it in a new place. The actions involved with moving cause people to
actively re-evaluate their relation to their possessions, a process which then directly
effects how memory attached to objects helps to reconstitute the feeling of home in a new
house. Through moving, people keep track of their relationships and memories, keep a
map of these and transform this map it may even become a means for reflecting on
ones self-narrative as Giddens would put it.17 The action of sorting through, editing, and
reconstructing the array of possessions that constitutes ones home demonstrates a
process of editing ones self-narrative, but also an action of maintaining ones identity
in relation to the objects that make up home.
The first two examples I have looked at demonstrated, in Garveys case, that the home
provides a platform on which motivations related to self-definition, both deliberate and
subconscious, can be materialized, and in Marcouxs study, that the displacement and
sorting through of the objects which constitute the home indicate a revision of the
personal narrative and action to maintain it. In Elia Petridous study of how Greek
students in London reconstitute home through food, the way that the process of home is
related to the creation of the self is even further removed from physical and geographical
boundaries. Petridous argument, like that of Garvey and Marcoux, is based upon a notion
of the home as something which acquires its meaning through practice, and as such,
forms part of the everyday process of the creation of the self18 However, the process of
self-creationthrough interaction with objects associated with home in question here is
not geographically bounded19. With the subjects removed from the original physical
structure that constituted home, home becomes
a point of referencea starting point to which we eventually return, and which gives a sense of
history and continuity. The journey, itself symbolic of the adventure that leads to the development
of the self, is constitutive of the meaning of home.20

15
16
17
18
19

Marcoux, J. (2001) P. 84
Marcoux, J. (2001) P. 73
Marcoux, J. (2001) P. 83
Petridou, E. (2001) P. 88
Petridou, E. (2001) p. 88

With home as a physically and geographically indistinct entity, objects that are
connected to ones conceptualization of home can be used to evoke the experience of
home as a sensory totality, serving as a vehicle for the recreation of this world [home],
which is constituted of meanings and definitions as much as it is of objects.21 The
objects which do this for the Greek students in London in Petridous ethnography is food
sent or brought from home. The world of the Greek students living in London is
fragmented, so they use the food brought from home to evoke a sense of stability of
home, and in their displacement, is closely tied up with the constitution of the self. The
evoked construct of home is plays an active role of the formation of beliefs about the
self and the Other 22. The evocation of home brought about through food provides the
Greek students with a sense of stability and continuity in the formation of their identity,
as well as helping them to define themselves against the new culture which they have
found themselves in the Other. This capacity of material objects that are associated
with a geographically distant or indistinct home to form a point of reference in the
process of self-creation is not something that is limited only to food, and it is a notion that
will become important as my discussion involving third culture individuals is developed.
The three studies I have outlined here represent several different ways in which processes
of the home interior are related to the process of self-definition. Garvey shows that our
subconscious and deliberate iterations of our personal biography manifest themselves in
the actions of changing the home that are respectively transient and banal and
aspirational and diachronic- we change ourselves actively, but change also occurs in
identity organically, and each type of fluctuation in identity is manifested differently in
our interactions with our material surroundings. Marcoux shows, through the lens of
people moving house, how the meaning we attach to objects when our continued
possession of them is in question constitutes a revision of the self-narrative, and the
reconstitution of this narrative in a new habitat. Finally, Petrinous study shows how
material objects associated to home interact with the formation and continuity of the self
20 Petridou, E. (2001) P. 88
21 Petridou, E. (2001) P. 89
22 Petridou, E. (2001) P. 101-2

in times of displacement; evoking the sensory experience of home which serves as a

reference point in defining who one is, as well as who one is not. What can be proven at
his point is that the process of the home and the process of self-identity feed into each
other: people imbue their physical surroundings with meanings and memories, and
likewise the physical world interacts with the meanings and memories of our internal
worlds. The creation of the self and the creation of the home are tandem journeys that are
mutually autocatalytic.
The themes outlined here have been illustrated through the study of three very different
groups of people: the first being people who have lived mostly in the same place (one or
a few dwellings in a Norwegian village), the second people who stay in the same city
(Montral), often the same area, but change house often, and the third are people who are
living in a different country, but who have moved as adults and whose home is firmly
rooted in a single country (Greece). As of yet, these notions, which I feel are mostly
universal in their relation to the modern Western process of self-identity as argued by
Giddens, have not yet been applied to people whose conception of home may be based in
several different physical structures, geographic locations, and cultures.
In order to examine how these notions; which are all part of the idea that objects and
interiors related to the concept of home are pieces of the ongoing layers of experience
that build up self-identity; apply to third culture individuals, it is necessary to first create
an overview of what a TCI is, and how their experiences of self-definition differ from
those of most people. Third culture individual, or third culture kid, is a term first
coined by sociologist Ruth Useem in the mid-1970s, after observing internationally
mobile families who had gone from their home, or first culture, to live in a host, or
second culture, because of a career choice, not as permanent immigrants and that these
families did not live in a way characteristic of either their home culture or their host
culture, but rather in a unique way shared by other expatriates. This unique lifestyle
formed what Useem called an interstitial, or third, culture one lived out between the
first and second.23

23 Van Reken, R. (2010) P. 636

Because TCIs move between cultures before they have had the opportunity to complete
the critical task personal and cultural identity developmentthey blend their home
culture with the host culture(s), thus becoming truly multicultural and achievinga third
culture.24 Going on Giddens model of self-identity as a narrative process, the
incorporation of multicultural experiences into the identity can be seen as just another
way in which events and experiences are ordered into the creation of the self: identity is
shaped by the different cultures they have experienced, and they have internalized these
different cultures and made them a permanent part of who they are. 25 In a study of adult
TCIs by Andrea Moor and Gina Barker, several ways in which these multicultural
experiences cause the identity to develop in a different way than that of someone in a
monocultural upbringing are illustrated.
One challenge faced by TCIs is that because they have moved between cultures before
they have had the opportunity to be socialized into their home culture and form a
personal identity their identity development is often disrupted and they have to focus
on adjusting to new environments instead of gaining a sense of self.26 In Moore and
Barkers study, they found that most participants did not think that they had an underdeveloped identity, but rather a blended or shifting identity. Nine participants described
their identity as a result of having blended different cultural aspects into a single identity
and they would behave in a way consistent with their multicultural identity regardless of
where they are.27 Additionally, participants also spoke of their ability to shift between
identities depending on the cultural context, and it was found that these shifts in identity
take place intuitively rather than as an intentional effort to fit in28. So, in this sense, it
seems that the multicultural experiences add to the ongoing addition and revision of the
self-narrative in the same way that monocultural experiences do; but that they simply
imbue the individual with a different type of identity. Another problem that can occur as a
result of the experiences which have resulted in multiple cultural identities or a blended,

24
25
26
27
28

Moore,
Moore,
Moore,
Moore,
Moore,

A.,
A.,
A.,
A.,
A.,

and
and
and
and
and

Barker,
Barker,
Barker,
Barker,
Barker,

G., (2011) P. 554

G. (2011) P. 559
G. (2011) P. 555
G. (2011) P. 558
F. (2011) P. 557

multicultural identity is a lack a sense of belonging29. Moore and Barkers study found
that 6 out of 19 participants felt that they did not belong to any one culture and 7 out of
19 participants felt that they belonged to two or more cultures; which implies to me that
the feeling a sense of belonging is a matter of individual experience.
TCIs, like anyone else, go through the process of continually integrating events which
occur in the external world, and sort them into the ongoing story about the self30. The
important thing to consider is the unique nature of the events that they must integrate and
thus the fundamentally different story that is created.
In the first section of this paper, I outlined several examples of different ways that the
autocatalytic processes of the home and self-identity can be manifested: subconscious
and deliberate revision of the identity reflect different types of changes in a single home
location; the action of sorting and moving ones possessions to a new home causes a
refurbishment of memory and a transportation of ones construct of home; and, finally,
in the experience of displacement, one uses the material objects from home to evoke
home as reference point from which continuity of the self may form. In the following
section, I will use my own personal evidence, from the experiences of myself and my
sister, as a nexus upon which to connect the relationship between the process of the home
to the development of the self with the nature of self-definition that is unique to third
culture individuals. The way I will attempt to do this is by briefly examining each notion
of identity formation in relation to the home, but in reference to our life experiences and
the literature on TCIs.
My sister, Sophie, and I are both Americans by birth and citizenship, as are my parents
and every other member of my family. I am 21 years old presently and she is 19. We lived
in Massachusetts, near the town where all of my extended family lives, for most of my
life until we moved to France because of my mothers career when my sister and I were
12 and 15, respectively. We both spent time in French school as well as international
school. I have now been living in UK for 4 years and Sophie moved to the Netherlands
for university 5 months ago. We are both third culture individuals, as we both spent at
29 Moore, A., and Barker, F. (2011) P. 558
30 Giddens, A. (1991) P. 54

least 3 years outside of our home country before adulthood. However, our situations
differ slightly as I have now absorbed a certain amount of British culture into my identity,
while she has absorbed a lot more French culture than I did.
The first notion is perhaps the least obvious in its connection to TCIs, as the redecoration
and reorganization of the same home, in the same location, is not something that my
sister or I, or many other TCIs, being transient by definition, have experienced. However
the theory that the identity is created in both deliberate and subconscious ways through a
reciprocal relationship with different types of actions towards the home is salient in
thinking about how a multicultural identity interacts with the home. TCIs build up a
multicultural identity through the integration of various experiences of different cultures,
and this process will have iterations both intentional and subliminal. For example, when
my sister and me were moving to France when we were younger, we both actively
asserted our American identities in the decoration of our rooms. This was especially
prominent in Sophies room: I was trying to make my room show how American I was,
with little American flags and things.31 Other things that she saw as artifacts that helped
to cement her American identity were cheerleader pompoms and the picture of her on the
track team at our old middle school in Massachusetts. Sophie was trying to prove to
herself as well as others that she was still American, and this sentiment was manifested in
her actions concerning her room. In relation to the subliminal identity changes that affect
the relationship with the home, as I became more acclimated to French and expatriate
culture, subtle changes in the way I acted within and treated our house occurred. For
example, when I was still fully American I disliked going outside or having the window
open, preferring to use the air conditioner. As I began to enjoy the al fresco aspects of
living in the south of France, however, I slowly began spending more time outside on the
patio and engaging with my father in the rearrangement of our outdoor furniture.
The notion that Marcoux highlights- that through moving and sorting through objects we
refurbish our memories- is also something that is very present in the way that TCIs
develop identity. TCIs are people who have usually experienced moving house several
times in their life, so thus the feeling of excavation of memory that goes along with
31 Sophie, (2015).

packing, sorting, and unpacking is likely to be very relatable. This process worked a bit
differently for my family because the act of going over and sorting through every object
occurred after we arrived in France, because we did not have the time to carefully sort
every object before leaving. When we arrived in France, the house was empty for a week
before our things arrived, and what followed was an intense unfolding of the feeling and
memories of our previous home that we had been fully disconnected from for about a
month (the time it took for the boat to deliver them). As Marcoux mentions, getting
separated from all ones belongingsoften equates with getting separated from all that
appears to be stable and familiar.32 This was certainly the case for us, having just arrived
in a foreign country, and the reappearance of all the furnishings, decorations, and other
belongings that constituted our previous home was a crucial part of the integration of
France as a cultural experience into my identity.
The last notion I am exploring perhaps seems to fit most perfectly with the identity of a
third culture individual; that a conception of home, evoked through material objects,
provides a reference point for the continuity of the self when one is displaced. However,
there is a fundamental difference in that Petridous study focuses on individuals with a
monocultural upbringing that have just moved to a foreign country as adults. However,
the feeling of rootlessness is something that many TCIs, including Sophie and I, feel at
times and try to remedy by constructing a sensory landscape of the familiar, of home.
However, because our identities are based on a multitude of cultures, so is our conception
of home. The objects, tastes, and other artefacts that give me the feeling of home
represent the amalgamation of cultural aspects that define what home is: a bottle of ros
from near where I live, herbs that my father picked for me in the garden, Dunkin Donuts
coffee that I brought from Massachusetts.
In my examination of these various studies of the relation between the development of
identity and the process and conceptualization of home, I have found that these are
processes working in tandem. As the identity is woven from the experiences, events, and
choices that make up ones life; the interactions with the home are at the joining point
between ones internal mind and the external, physical world. Third culture individuals
32 (2001) P. 80

have a distinctly different set of experiences that contribute to their narrative, which adds
another layer to the autocatalytic relationship between the evolution of the home and the
formation of the identity: the meanings assigned to the interior and objects of the home
are the product of an identity based upon different cultural experiences, and thus the
concept of home is truly a blend of different cultures and places.
Bibliography:
Buchli, V. (2013) An Anthropology of Architecture. London and New York: Bloomsbury.
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern
Age. Oxford: Polity Press
Marcoux, J. (2001). The Refurbishment of Memory. In: D. Miller, ed.
(2001) Home Possessions: Material Culture Behind Closed Doors. P. 6986
Miller, D., (2001). Behind Closed Doors. In: D. Miller, ed. (2001). Home Posessions:
Material Culture Behind Closed Doors. Oxford: Berg. P. 1-19.
Moore, A. and Barker, G., (2011). Confused or multicultural: Third culture individuals
cultural identity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 36(2012), p. 553-562.
Petridou, E., (2001). The Taste of Home. In: D. Miller, ed. (2001). Home Posessions:
Material Culture Behind Closed Doors. Oxford: Berg. P. 87-104
Sophie [Last name omitted], (29 December 2015). Personal interview.
Van Reken, R., (2010) Third Culture Kids. International Encyclopedia of Education. 3rd
ed. Oxford: Elsevier. P. 636-643