"En Afrique, on n'oublie Jamais": An Autoethnographic Exploration of a TCK's Return "Home"

Abstract

Many Third Culture Kids (TCKs) struggle to answer the commonly-asked question: Where are you from? In this autoethnographic essay, a continuation of my earlier exploration of TCK experience (Hopkins, 2015), I confront my concept of home in reference to psychological research by Jerry Burger (2011), exploring the phenomenon of adults returning “home,” to place(s) that were important in their early lives. Like Burger’s subjects, I describe my experience of returning to visit, after over two decades away, the remote village in Senegal where I spent many of my childhood years. Following Tessa Muncey’s (2010) methodological lead, I structure my account using “snapshots,” both photographic and video, of my childhood life and my return visit. These snapshots, accompanied by my narrative and analysis, illustrate elements of my concept of home such as roads, language, food, and trees. My perspective on these elements provides insight into what “home” means to me.