Advocating as a third-culture teacher: challenging U.S.-centrism through transnationalism and humanizing pedagogy

Abstract This longitudinal qualitative case study examines how the emerging teacher-advocate identity of Alara, an Iranian multilingual novice teacher educated across Iran, India, and the United States, developed through the interplay of transnational experiences, teacher preparation, artistic self-inquiry, and early teaching experiences. Situated in a liberal arts college in the rural U.S. Midwest and later in early-career teaching, the study explores how Alara’s identity, artistic self-inquiry, and classroom experiences informed her commitments to humanizing pedagogy and advocacy. Data included six semi-structured interviews, three drawing-based reflections, and a follow-up member reflection conversation. Findings show that Alara’s third-culture consciousness developed through moments of disconnection, resonance, and artistic reclamation; that she resisted institutional schooling practices through student-centered, relational, and compassionate pedagogy; and that she enacted advocacy by challenging U.S.-centric and monocultural assumptions in curriculum, teacher education, and everyday interaction. Rather than treating transnational identity as peripheral to teacher development, this study shows how Alara’s multilingual and cross-cultural experiences became central resources for pedagogical imagination and advocacy. The paper contributes to scholarship on transnational teacher identity, Third Culture Kids, and teacher advocacy by tracing how third-culture consciousness may mediate the transformation of lived transnational experiences into critically interpreted resources for pedagogy and advocacy.