Erin Sinogba uses her experience of growing up as a transnational Filipino TCK to expand the narrative of what it means to be a “TCK”. Transnational refers to a person who is connected to more than one community across the globe, and TCK is short for third culture kid, which are kids who grow up outside of their parents’ passport countries.
Generally a TCK is presumed to be a child of an expat- which tends to connote a certain demographic (ie. an upperclass, western family living abroad temporarily for work or diplomacy.) However, Erin holds a Filipino passport; was born in South Korea and has lived in South Korea, Grenada, USA and the Philippines. She grew up in international communities but realized there was always something that set her apart from many of her peers, and this had a lot to do with her Filipino identity and the limitations her passport provided. This experience led her to explore what it means to be not only a TCK, but also what it means to be Filipino- she works to expand the narratives of both identities. Working with the organizations TIGRA, and TCKid, Erin advocates for the various communities that intersect these definitions.
In this episode, Erin talks about what it means to be transnational beyond the scope of the traditional expat experience. She also talks about the diverse and complex issues behind the Filipino identity.
See our previous post in which we shared Erin’s short film of four stories of Filipinos growing up abroad:
http://hiraethmagazine.com/authentic-identity-filipino-kids-growing-up-abroad/
Get in touch with Erin via
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TCKid/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/tckid
Photo cred: Brian Evans
