A global nomad is anyone of any nationality who has lived outside their parents’ country of origin (or their “passport country”) before adulthood because of a parent’s occupation.

This includes the offspring of people who work, or worked, in the diplomatic corps, the military, international businesses, missionary organizations and intergovernmental or voluntary service agencies, such as the UN or the Peace Corps, and various other organisations. There may be other reasons children find themselves growing up in a “foreign” country and then “returning” to a new country that is supposed to be “home,” but the simple definition offered above helps identify a remarkably diverse—and often hidden—population that share similar responses to and often predictable patterns as a result of this legacy from their formative years. As adults, military brats, missionary kids, foreign service kids may discover that they have some core characteristics in common that result from growing up mobile, experiencing different countries, cultures and languages, and for many, experiencing repeated uprootings and cultural changes.

There is no hard and fast definition of a global nomad. The short, commonly-accepted description we use above provides a starting point for discussion and, for some, research. But most importantly, the coining of the term global nomad, which is attributed to Norma McCaig, President of Global Nomads International, has had the effect of drawning together people from diverse backgrounds, some of whom may not have recognised the commonalities of their experiences with that of the greater community of people with internationally mobile childhoods. Others may have recognised early on the commonalities we, as GNs have with each other, as well as commonalities we share with other groups, such as immigrants, refugees, and world travelers.

Where am I from? and Where do I belong? are basic questions of human identity. Because global nomads have been crossing boundaries and borders of personal, social, national and cultural identity since childhood, it is no wonder many of us have felt and may still feel a sense of restlessness, conflicting loyalties, and the sense that we never completely fit in anywhere. As each of us defines, and redefines at various stages of our lives, the answers to such questions of identity in the context of the societal norms we function in, we can draw from the experiences of other GNs.

According to David Pollock, founding director of Interaction and one of the foremost educators and advocates for this population, a Third-Culture Kid (TCK)--a term used synonymously with global nomad--is:

"an individual who, having spent a significant part of the developmental years in a culture other than the parents' culture, develops a sense of relationship to all of the cultures while not having full ownership in any. Elements from each culture are incorporated into the life experience, but the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar experience."

In other words, our roots are not in a place but in each other.