A (sub)culture of their own? Children of lifestyle migrants in Goa, India

Abstract

Increasing numbers of ‘Western’ families spend several months a year in Goa, India, and the rest of the time in the parents’ native countries or elsewhere. These ‘lifestyle migrants’ are motivated by a search for ‘a better quality of life.’ This article asks whether their children can be labeled as Third Culture Kids (TCKs) by elaborating and critically probing this concept. Based on extensive ethnography, the study not only examined what children say in interviews, but also paid attention to what they do. Findings from the study problematize the presumed elitist privilege of TCKs and the assumption that the parents have an unproblematic sense of belonging to their native ‘cultures.’ The article elaborates on what it means for the children to live in the global subcultural center of Goa and on their agency in creating the social and cultural environment in which they live.

Global nomads, cultural chameleons, strange ones or immigrants? An exploration of Third Culture Kid terminology with reference to the United Arab Emirates

“…Such a comparison leads us into the trap of comparing one side of the spectrum with the other, somehow engaging in a binary characterization, as cautioned against by Cambridge (2017). Indeed, we have to question why children in Goa are reported as 'lifestyle migrants' (Korpela, 2016) while children living in a Canadian Punjabi-Sikh community are described as 'ELLs' (Smythe and Toohey, 2009). Perhaps this is simply related to the academic field in which these authors are publishing and, in many cases, we can see that it is.…”

“…Pollock and Van Reken (2017) use the term Cross-Cultural Kids (CCKs) interchangeably with TCKs. Other terms include 'global nomads' (McCaig, 1992), 'cultural hybrids' (Bhabha, 1994;Greenholtz and Kim, 2009), 'transmigrants' (Basch, Schiller and Blanc, 1994), 'transculturals ' (Willis et al, cited in Fail, Thompson and Walker, 2004), 'globally mobile expatriates' (Heyward, 2002), 'lifestyle migrants' (Korpela, 2016), 'expatriate children' (de Leon andMcPartlin, 1995, cited in Selmer andLam, 2003), 'internationally mobile children' (Gerner and Perry, 2000), 'cultural chameleons' (McCaig, 1996), 'sojourners' (Hoersting and Jenkins, 2011), 'cross-culturally mobile children' (Hoersting and Jenkins, 2011), 'intersectional selves' (Compton-Lilly et al, 2017), and even 'strangers' (Kim, 2001). Rumbaut (2004Rumbaut ( : 1162 refers to foreign-born children who immigrated to the United States before the age of 12 as the '1.5 generation' (further explained below).…”

“…However, it appears that a significant amount of the academic literature related to TCKs deals with children attending international schools in multicultural cities (e.g. Tanu, 2016;Heyward, 2002;Selmer and Lam, 2003;Hoersting and Jenkins, 2011;Korpela, 2016). Immigrants are rarely defined as TCKs in the literature, but are defined rather in terms of the languages they speak (see e.g.…”

Religious dances and tourism: perceptions of the “tribal” as the repository of the traditional in Goa, India

“…In regard to the scope of their performance in tourism, literature makes no reference to the Gawda, focusing on broader-scale phenomena arising from the transformations in the tourism sector after the annexation of Goa to India, such as: the trance music festivals (Saldanha 2005;D'Andrea 2007;St. John 2011); lifestyle migrants (Korpela 2016); Portuguese heritage and Goa as an exotic destination for Indians (Perez 2006;Trichur 2007;Gupta 2009); and the impact of the tourism industry (Wilson 1997;Alvares 2002;Noronha et al 2002;Breda and Costa 2012). As such, it is necessary to document the relationship between the touristic performances of the Gawda and their religious ceremonies outside the events, in the "back stage" (cf.…”

“India has got it!”: lifestyle migrants constructing “Incredible Indias” in Varanasi and Goa

“…The material consists of interviews with the lifestyle migrants sojourning in Varanasi and with the locals working with them, as well as a detailed field diary of my participant observation. The second study (Korpela 2014a(Korpela , 2016 focuses on lifestyle migrant families, and children in particular, in Goa. The material consists of interviews with children, young people, parents and people working with lifestyle migrant children in Goa, as well as drawing projects conducted with children and a detailed field diary of my participant observation.…”