Cosmopolitanism on Pakistan’s Frontier

Abstract

Cosmopolitanism is usually associated with educated, affluent, and highly mobile citizens. But why would the “open-endedness” of cultural vision not apply to less fortunate global citizens? This contribution follows the experiences of an Ismaili man from Tajikistan who temporarily joined the Taliban in Pakistan. His trickster-like abilities to artfully instrumentalize relationships with a variety of groups provide important insights into the workings of actually existing cosmopolitanism.