Foreign Lands: American Fathers Living Abroad

Living abroad changes you. The sights, sounds and experiences of a different culture challenge and reshape who you are. Living in three different countries in the past five years sparked a curiosity in me about how others deal with the internal transformation of living abroad, especially those who were already learning and adapting to a new experience: parenthood. As I researched both parenting roles, I found fatherhood was vastly overlooked in comparison to motherhood. Who are fathers? How do they bond with their kids? What happens to them when they become a father? My curiosity grew as I looked at the expatriate fathers around me. A father goes through a radical transformation that affects every part of his life when a child enters the scene. Hobbies take a back seat. Time is no longer their own. Responsibilities at home rise. Toys occupy every bit of floor space, including their bedroom. Masculinity is challenged—one minute kissing boo-boo’s and playing with figurines, to the next minute roaring at the gym as they thrust a barbell over their head. Being a father is more than just a name in a family, but about a metamorphosis; and that change is rarely explored or exposed. While in my own journey and process of understanding the effects of living abroad, I decided to inspect these expatriate dads closer. “Foreign Lands: American Fathers Living Abroad” explores what fatherhood is to these men, who fathers are, and how they interact with their children while navigating the world of parenting within a foreign country—while also processing my nomadic lifestyle and perspective.