Decolonising Third Culture South Asian - DTCSA

“Decolonising Third Culture South Asian” — these five words can be deeply powerful.
So I add the Disclaimer: Exploring this theme may surface deep wounds, challenge internalised beliefs, and destabilise aspects of identity. Engage only if you feel able to hold that material; otherwise, please scroll on.

“Decolonising” means paying attention to how colonisation didn’t just erase parts of who we were.

It changed our languages, our stories, our spiritual traditions, our sense of beauty, and even our ideas of what is “normal” or “respectable.”
These forces didn’t disappear just because colonisation ended on paper.
They kept shaping:

• how we see ourselves,
• what we think we’re allowed to feel,
• what we fear or hide,
• and what parts of our identity we push down to fit in.

It’s not about blaming people.

It’s about understanding the inheritance we carry, so we can choose what actually belongs to us — and let go of what doesn’t.

“Third culture” describes people who grew up between cultures:

• South Asian roots at home,
• Western or global culture outside,
• and our own mixed identity somewhere in the middle.
• Many of us learned to switch between worlds to survive.

When we put these two ideas together, Decolonising Third Culture South Asian simply means Understanding how history, family, religion, language, shame, colourism, class, and how Western expectations shaped us… and to then slowly making space to be who we really are.

That’s it - awareness, unlearning, in a safe dialogical social space.

This will remain a placeholder for this group until it has sufficient member interest to launch.