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Childhood Mobility in Postcolonial Asia & Africa

A webinar hosted by the FIGT Research Network

How does mobility impact children from the Global South? In this exploratory webinar, Dr Danau Tanu and Pradeep Rajendran will take a postcolonial approach to explore the experiences of children from Indonesia, India, Nigeria and Kenya who grew up moving around without financial and passport privilege.

Whether they move internationally or within national borders or both, many share the experience of feeling culturally ‘in-between’ as is commonly highlighted in dominant narratives of ‘Third Culture Kids (TCKs)’. Many are also passionate about becoming cultural bridges.

However, these cross-cultural experiences are deeply influenced by the cultural and political legacies of colonialism. Global economic inequalities, including the lack of passport privilege, also means that they experience severe disruptions in their education, family relations, and their physical, social and economic well-being.

How do the stories from postcolonial countries fit into or challenge existing TCK narratives? How can we use a ‘third culture’ perspective to further our understanding of mobility more broadly? We hope to create space for us to explore diverse narratives of childhood mobility in a way that takes into account its complexities.

The webinar will be followed by a time for Q&A and open discussion.

Speakers

Dr Danau Tanu is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Asian Migrations (IAM), Waseda University in Japan. She is an anthropologist and author of Growing Up in Transit: The Politics of Belonging at an International School. As a child, Danau moved with her family, speaking Indonesian, Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin) at home and English at school. Her research interests include youth, mobility, identity, multicultural/international education, and forced migration (refugees). Danau is also a Co-Founder of TCKs of Asia. 

Pradeep Rajendran is a writer. In 2021, he started Adult MKs Global, a discussion group that meets online every month to talk about experiences of growing up as children of missionaries. Pradeep himself grew up moving across diverse cultures and languages in India. In May 2024, under the banner of Miila Consulting and Membercare, he and a team of adult MKs organised and facilitated ‘The Discovery Camp‘ in Bangalore, India for ‘youngsters growing up cross culturally (Ages 13-21). Quixote Creatives, his web development company, keeps Pradeep busy, but he makes time for skateboarding and going on road trips with his rescue dog Storm.

Slides

You can download the webinar slides (PDF) by clicking the button below.

Resources

Here are links to some of the resources or articles mentioned in the webinar.

‘Thoughts and Prayers, Obituaries and Reflections: Baba Mamu‘ by Pradeep Rajendran (2025) in Among Worlds magazine – an article from an MK perspective.

Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, 3rd Edition – Pollock, Van Reken & Pollock (2017).

Japanese translation of Third Culture Kids:『サードカルチャーキッズ国際移動する子どもたち』　著者：デビッド・C. ポロック、 ルース＝ヴァン・リーケン 、マイケル・V. ポロック 著　嘉納もも、日部八重子、峰松愛子 訳

Growing Up in Transit: The Politics of Belonging – Danau Tanu (2018, 2020)

‘The Danger of a Single Story‘ – TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2009)

‘Discordant temporalities of migration and childhood‘ by Catherine Allerton (2023) – an article about the children of Indonesian and Filipino workers in Malaysia

TCKs of Asia live forums & podcast

Cost: FREE. Open to all.

Location: Online (via Zoom)

Date: January 30, 2025

Time: 7am PST・Los Angeles | 10am EST・New York | 12pm noon São Paulo | 4pm CET・Vienna & Lagos | 6pm Nairobi | 8:30pm IST・ Bengaluru | 11pm Hong Kong | See other Time Zones

Hosted by: FIGT Research Network
See also Families in Global Transition (FIGT) main page

The session is over but you can watch recording on FIGT Research Network’s YouTube channel below.