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I first came across the term third culture kids(TCK) in 2008, when Barack Obama was running for election to become the first ever Black American president of the United States.

Obama, who is currently in Australia for a speaking tour, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He spent six years there before moving to Indonesia with his mother, who had recently remarried. He returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to continue his education.

Much like the former US president, I too lived in different countries growing up. I was born in Pakistan, then moved to the Gulf nation of Bahrain, and then my family moved again, making our home in Sydney.

Obama and I are third culture kids (TCK), a term coined by American sociologist Ruth Useem in the 1950s, to mainly describe the children of expatriates who spent a significant time during their childhood living in a culture other than their country of nationality or their parents country of nationality.

Obama has never been one to shy away from speaking about his identity. In his memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama wrote about his childhood spent in Indonesia and Hawaii, and how these experiences shaped his sense of identity and perspective on the world. My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didnt, couldnt, end there. At least thats what I would choose to believe, he wrote. In his now infamous speech during his first presidential campaign, then Senator Obama spoke passionately about his race and identity: I am the son of a Black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Pattons Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. Ive gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the worlds poorest nations.

He went on to say, At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either too Black or not Black enough.

This feeling of not belonging as if youre neither here nor there is commonly felt by many TCK

This feeling of not belonging as if youre neither here nor there is commonly felt by many TCK.

In an article in The New York Times about TCK, Noor Brara wrote: If asked, any third-culture kid will tell you that shape-shifting rousing one of the many selves stacked within you to best suit the place youre in becomes a necessary survival skill, a sort of feigned fitting in that allows you to relate something of yourself to nearly everyone you meet.

Its something I have felt personally, as if my identity was scattered across continents, especially when I was growing up. Its also something Ive tried to tap into in my own writing.

In the novel I wrote,The Matchmaker, the protagonist Kal discovers he is a TCK. Kal reads in a book: TCK were adaptable, did well in social situations, made friends easily. They were not of one place but of many. But despite the positives, TCK often felt alone, not knowing where exactly to call home or which culture to identify with. As soon as he does, everything clicks into place and he realises just having a label to his identity helps him navigate the world better.

And while it can be confusing, at least initially, to figure out your identity, a recent studyfound that, Contrary to previous knowledge, this review found that TCKs are not confused by the multiplicity of their identity.

Obamas own complex identity helped him, at least a little bit, to become relatable to vast swathes of people not just in America, but around the world. It is why so many of us turn up to listen to him speak to this day.

Obama once said: .... what I benefited from is a multiplicity of cultures that all fed me

I was raised as an Indonesian child and a Hawaiian child and as a Black child and as a white child, Obama once said. And so what I benefited from is a multiplicity of cultures that all fed me.

Its this feeling of being fed by multiple cultures rather than being alienated by them, that perhaps TCK can turn to, especially when we feel we dont belong.

In my case, I was confused about who I was and where I belonged as I was growing up - a feeling that spilled into my 20s. As Ive become older, Ive come to realise that identities are complex. They are shaped not only by where we grew up or the places we lived, but by so many other factors too. In many ways, Ive made peace with the fact that my identity doesnt neatly fit in a box. My multifaceted identity has helped shape me into the person I am today.

Saman Shadis an author and freelance writer. Her debut novel,The Matchmaker,is out now through Penguin Australia.

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Barack Obama - the most famous Third Culture Kid - SBS