This article addresses debates on the relationship between elite cosmopolitanism and localism through the study of young elite cosmopolitans’ rationales in the context of talking about their future lives. Drawing on interviews with 24 students at an elite university, the article delineates three types of cosmopolitan meaning-making. Students embracing the first type talked about their cosmopolitanism in terms of individually chosen actions. They said they did not feel obliged to their nation but to their family; most of them had sought a career abroad. Students embracing the idea of ‘rooted cosmopolitanism’ (second type) stated that they wanted to make their home country a better place, not least because of their family’s mediating influence. They said they wanted to return home, as did those students who combined a sense of solidarity with humans around the globe with a longing for familiarity (third type). Implications for cosmopolitanism and youth studies are discussed.
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