ABSTRACT

Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are as complex and multi-faceted a phenomena as cosmopolitanism itself which is fitting, as they appear to be perfectly suited–a synergy of theorem and lived reality in an ever globalising and inter-cultural world. This chapter explores the link between TCKs and cosmopolitanism, and the cosmopolitan nature of the TCK experience and outlook. It examines the structural and collective basis of TCK cosmopolitanism, and the ways in which their experiences propel them, paradoxically, both towards transnational rootedness and territorial rootlessness. An analysis of continuing mobility in the lives of adult TCKs lends itself to a final discussion of 'elite vagrancy' and the ways in which this phenomenon suggests that TCK cosmopolitanism is a paradoxical set of cultural competencies. The transnational networks and expatriate organisations that are so culture-defining for the TCK also equip them with a cosmopolitan skill set.