Interconnected through liminal space

Reading WhiteAfrican's latest post titled "Bridger, Third-Culture Kid, Xenophile" woke up some long forgotten thoughts and reminded me of the extensive writing I'd done in late 2005 on the topic of global nomads - yet another name for that bridger, that boundary spanner, the TCK or xenophile.  Erik's words struck a chord that makes me ponder,

There really isn’t that many of us yet relative the all the “normal” people, but the bridgers, xenophiles and third-culture kids of the world tend to either have an inordinate impact or be spectacular failures. Maybe average is just a little harder for us to achieve?

Today, the most famous global nomad is Barack Obama, that bridger of cultures who embodies the continent spanning interconnectedness of humanity within his very own immediate family - from Indonesia through Kenya to the south side of Chicago. I'd written on this the last time I was in Chicago back in April of 2008,

I normally don't care about politics but reading the recent gibe that Obama didn't have any foreign service experience on his resume I realized the biggest challenge facing the global nomad on his way somewhere; how do you establish credentials you earned before the age of 10?

As someone who has extensively written about liminal space, design thinking and innovative thinking and attempted to integrate and find room for the lessons learnt as a child growing up between cultures, always dancing in between. That is liminal space. From the greek word limnos, one that means a threshold time, when what was is over but what will be is not yet. Ah, the teenage angst of trying to grasp an identity that shifts and shimmers and does not stay still long enough to be understood.

So what are the benefits that a highly mobile childhood among other cultures has given Obama? From an email discussion with a friend,

Ah, nice. I do like the guy.
he knows where places are
he understands that there are other cultures
he know the flaws of the US
he understands that the world is changing
he has a global outlook

[...] And if the above bullet points do not clearly show the value proposition of a global nomad president, then I'll add that they paint a picture of a man who knows how to tread softly upon the world.

So what are the characteristics of living in liminal space that this highly mobile, third culture childhood bestows on those of us who grew up that way? From earlier posts,

When I embraced living in liminality, and truly there is no word other than "embraced", that is to take in, wholeheartedly, within your worldview and allowing it to alter your perspective on the world around you, this was the paragraph that resonated with my experiences.

Remember first that one of the defining themes of the internationally mobile childhood is frequent change. Consider, then, that for every experience of change— by their own mobility or another's— nomads experience a parallel process of psychological transition.

William Bridges has written extensively on the three developmental phases that compose this internal process: the ending, the neutral zone, and the new beginning. Movement through each varies from individual to individual. Different members of the same family, engaged in the same change process, may have different transition experiences. It is influenced by the individual personality, the kind of change precipitating the transition, and the broader environmental support (or lack thereof) offered the individual in terms of both the change process and the transition experience.

What Bridges called the "neutral zone" is what we are calling liminality. When a person is in liminal space, he or she is on the threshold, no longer part of the past and not yet part of the new beginning. For many global nomads and their families, in particular for multi-movers, the experience of liminal space becomes the most constant, lived experience.

And to summarize the qualities of the individual,

I'm going to highlight key statements that articulate the characteristics of a person who embraces liminal space,

• Cross cultural skills such as flexibility, tolerance and strong observation skills
  • As cultures and communities come increasingly into contact, we need to know how to respect, observe and learn from cultural differences.
  • We are life-long learners, and the world is our classroom
• Poised to deal with rapid change. Comfortable with ambiguity.
  
  • The ability think quickly on our feet and can take the initiative to troubleshoot -- but we often do so in a context of understanding the currents and observing the situation first.
  • Flexibility and tolerance don't always translate as strong points in business.
  • Observation in particular seems to be underrated.
  • Tries to figure out which way the river is flowing before jumping in. i.e. sees the big picture.
• Multi-dimensional world view
  • We don't assume that our way is the best or only way.
• Greater "spiritual" perspective or Open to other value systems.
  • We observe that different people's experience has created different truths in their lives -- from how to relate to self and others to how to relate to spirituality.
  • Question those who promote a belief that there is only ONE way to nourish a spiritual life.
  • Rather than be threatened by different belief systems, relish the beauty in the diversity, taking something from everything.

It seems to me that there is an inkling here of what this could mean - as Erik and Ethan Zuckerman (whom he quotes) muse - for is it not true that right now the whole world itself is in a transition phase on a planetary scale wrt geopolitics and socioeconomics? Are we not in a wonderful moment of liminality right now as we begin to figure out how to get along and pull together in this multiplistic, complex world of ours, as people, all with red blood under our vari-coloured skins?

More on this thought in future posts.

Comments

[Chris Blow]

Great post Niti, i think that you are touching on something very big and complex when you mention a "spiritual" outlook at the end. Also, definitely, the ability to cope with -- even thrive in -- ambiguity is incredibly important for negotiating the conflicts that arise when cultures interact. Would love to see both of those points explored more.

I feel like the (astonishing) advances of communications technology are testing the limits of our capacity for empathy and good judgment. Much of the developing world is running headlong into the Promethean crises of completely free speech and networked communication. Few of us are well equipped to deal with the power of a printing press that is always on, reproducing infinitely, distributing everywhere, instantly.

God I sound like Alvin Toffler.

[niti bhan]

thanks Chris, and for giving me points to ponder for the next post :)

btw, there's nothing wrong with sounding like Alvin Toffler, perhaps we all should do more of it, less shock, more future ;p