Name: Jesse Sihra
Area of Study: Specialist in English Literature, Minor in French Studies
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Place of Birth: Nairobi, Kenya
Status: Single
College: Victoria
Year of Study: 4th and Final!
Languages: English, French, Punjabi, and a little bit of Spanish. Did you know I used to speak Swahili?
For future reference in the article: A Third Culture Kid or TCK is one who has spent a major portion of their developmental years in a culture a part from their parents’ culture. One born amongst one culture, and raised in others.
What is something someone wouldn’t know about you just from looking at you? People wouldn’t know that I’m an introvert. In fact, they get really shocked when I tell them I’m an introvert. Also, people wouldn’t be able to tell that I’m a third culture kid.
What are your three cultures? Well, I’m Punjabi (but I’ve never been to India), but I was born and raised in Africa, and now I live in Toronto (came to Toronto 6 years ago). And I guess you can say I consider Toronto my home now.
How do you think growing up as a Third Culture Kid has affected you? I guess for me, growing up as a TCK, I actually don’t understand stuff like patriotism and nationalism. I can’t understand that because for me, I’ve never had that idea of what home is, or being proud of your country. I’ve never really felt part of anywhere that I’ve lived, though a lot of who I am has been shaped by Toronto. Another thing about being a TCK is the ability to see things in different ways. For example, when people tend to say stuff like “Africa is full of starving people” I can say “Umm actually, no. It’s not.” Or “Oh you were born and raised in Africa? Did you live in a village?” I say, “No.. I was raised in a city. Sorry.”
Being a TCK how did you feel integrating into Toronto with it being so multi-cultural? I think it was really easy for me to integrate because Toronto is so multi-cultural, and just finding people who are also third culture kids or people who are from a variety of different races but consider themselves Canadian. Growing up in Africa, your identity is sort of set but coming to Toronto you hear people saying stuff like “I’m Chinese, but I’m Canadian.” The whole construction of identity and how people take different aspects of their life and weave it into their identity as a whole; that for me was really helpful in trying to understand who I am and what I am.
What’s it like being a Third Culture Kid at the University of Toronto? I feel like there are so many TCKs at U of T and it’s good for me to meet them and get their perspectives on identity and life, as well as the whole concept of a home. It’s very easy to be a TCK at U of T because U of T has sort of helped me figure out who I am in the sense that I’m Brown, but I’m studying English. I find that a lot of departments have an over or representation of a certain race, but for me it’s interesting to sometimes be the only Brown kid in my class and not think about it at all.
Do you find you’re more comfortable with being in a class of a predominately different race because you’re a Third Culture Kid? I think it’s yes and no. I took a course in Jewish Literature where there were eight people in the class and I was the only coloured person. I didn’t notice this until a friend of mine pointed it out, and I remember thinking “why didn’t I notice this?” Now that I notice it, however, seeing other brown people in English makes me really happy like, “Woah!” It feels nice breaking beyond the math and science stereotype.
Do you find yourself now wanting to be more immersed in your cultures? I’m not very connected with Indian culture, especially with me being Punjabi. I’m not as connected with Punjabi culture either because most Punjabis are usually Sikh’s, or Muslim if you’re from Pakistan. Most of the Punjabis I meet are Sikh and whenever we meet for the first time, somebody will ask: “wait a second, you’re Punjabi and you’re Christian? How does that even go together?” I do want to be more immersed in my culture, but I also feel like being a TCK allows me to accept certain parts of a culture and reject other parts of a culture, like cultural prejudices.
How has being a TCK positively shaped you? When I look at people, I automatically know that there’s more to them than what meets the eye. I know that this person has a complex story to their life as I do, and I like getting to know that story and find out what makes them enjoy life. Being a TCK impacts the way I see people.
Do you have any words of advice for any other multi-cultural students? It’s okay to be different. You’re not always going to fit in. Toronto makes me feel like I fit inbecause everyone is so multi-cultural, but where I was living before in Africa, I was different from the majority. I would tell multi-cultural students to embrace their differences because these differences make us want to get to know each other more.