THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2023 33 CULTURAL IDENTITY FORMATION IN Third Culture KIDS Lia Miller joined the Foreign Service in November 2003 and has served in Armenia, Bolivia, Tunisia, Nicaragua, Oman, and Washington, D.C. She is a 2023 graduate of the Naval War College and currently serves in a faculty position focused on State Department–Defense Department foreign policy related to women, peace, and security. She is also an award-winning freelance writer. FOCUS ON FS FAMILIES AT HOME Instilling a sense of cultural origin tied to a place and national identity in a family is challenging at the best of times. The constant presence of social media and globalized cultural phenomena that bombard us every second of every day promoting socially constructed notions of what and who are acceptable often bumps up against traditional cultural and national identity formation. Coupling that with raising children in the Foreign Service, a transient career where you don’t spend more than on average two to three years in each place, makes the task of helping your children form a cultural and national identity that much harder. Helping their children form an American cultural and national identity is a particular challenge for Foreign Service parents. One FSO offers some practical pointers from her family’s experience. BY LIA MILLER
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