What Is An Expat, Exactly? – Part I

Posted on 22. Jan, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Musings & Inspiration
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The question came from left field: “But how would you define “expat”, exactly?”

I work with expats, write for expats and talk to expats all day long, yet I never took the time to come up with my own definition of the term. What made the question even more puzzling is that the friend who asked is the perfect example of a TCK: Daughter of a diplomat, born in Africa, grew up in Asia and Europe and has spent her entire adult life in Canada. Without ever applying for Canadian citizenship.

The easy answer would have been “Well, you as a child and your family?” That is not much help to those who do not know my friend, though. And visibly, she is not the only one who is wondering, as I have seen this question crop up on various message boards since.

So this is where I roll up my sleeves (in spite of today’s icy fog and below-freezing temperatures- the things I do for you!) and try to tackle that beast of a definition. Actually, this may take several posts.

First, let me say that our trusted friend the dictionary does a less than stellar job in this particular instance. For one thing, it insists on the starchy “expatriate”, when every single expat I have ever met calls him- or herself, well, an expat. On top of that, here is what good old Merriam-Webster has to say about our fate:

transitive verb
1: banish , exile
2: to withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one’s native country
intransitive verb
: to leave one’s native country to live elsewhere ; also : to renounce allegiance to one’s native country

Seen this way, we certainly do sound like quite the unsavoury crowd, don’t we? All of this reeks of being sent to the colonies on felony charges – or possibly worse, of abandoning the motherland for some selfish reason.

Nevertheless, I think these definitions leave out a crucial dimension of the word Expat, (or Expatriate if you want to be all Merriam-Webstery about it): its socio-economic connotations.
Just think about how we use the word in everyday conversation. We would definitely call the wife of a foreign diplomat an expat, but would we apply the term to a refugee from the same country? Not necessarily.
An executive on an international assignment? Expat. A migrant worker? Not an expat.

PC or not, there seems to be a certain aura and a specific set of expectations surrounding the term Expat. I will explore them in more depth in my next post. In the meantime, here is your chance to sound off on this sometimes controversial topic- the comment box awaits you!

Emmanuelle