Abstract
In this chapter, I explore Appiah’s (2007) suggestion of cosmopolitanism as a way of getting used to one another. What happens if this is not thought of as an acceptable alternative? What kind of environment is needed to promote processes with a cosmopolitan orientation? Drawing on theories of cosmopolitanism and transactional realism, the cosmopolitan situation for the Swedish student Mary, who is graduating from high school, is analyzed. The narrative is from an article in a daily newspaper, in which a mother, in a dispute with her daughter Mary regarding a detail in the celebration of the daughter’s Swedish high school graduation, claimed, “You are not Swedish.” The analysis demonstrates the difference between having a cosmopolitan outlook at a philosophical level and the struggle to embrace cosmopolitanism at a sociological level of “reality,” a struggle that instead might end in cosmopolitan resistance.
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