The Emergence of Intercultural Personhood in Young People

When describing the dynamics of cross-cultural adaptation and intercultural transformation, Kim (2015) offers the concepts of enculturation, deculturation, acculturation, individuation and universalization in her integrative theory of cross-cultural adaptation. Together, these processes are thought to promote the development of intercultural personhood, i.e. a sense of self-identity that naturally includes a third culture perspective, i.e. a more abstract position from which it is possible to understand and act in intercultural interactions taking account of the diverse cultural and personal backgrounds at play.

In this project, the development of intercultural personhood in young people is studied. Till now, the specific study groups included 'expatriate children moving along with their families to live abroad for an extended periode of time, and university students with extensive and less extensive international experience.