Prior to 2006, citizenship education in Kuwait formal education was centred on the notions of muwāṭana, or ‘(national) citizenship’, and waṭaniyya, ‘nationalism’. In 2006, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education created a new citizenship curriculum underpinned by human rights, intending to “create a thick knowledge framework with awareness and understanding of the constitution and human rights” (MoE, 2008). While citizenship education policies like these in some Arab countries include cosmopolitan concepts of citizenship and human rights, they often co-exist and are undermined by nationalist and conservative values (Akar & Chelala, 2015; Al-Nakib, 2015). Despite these tensions, there is little empirical evidence on young Kuwaitis’ views regarding their citizenship. Our study explored Kuwaiti secondary school students’ conceptualisations of their citizenship identities, duties and rights, and how these relate to concepts of citizenship taught in the national curriculum. Data was collected from two public schools and a private American school. 109 students expressed their perceptions of their identities, citizenship, their rights, and where they feel most heard in a series of individual and group workshop activities. Our study incorporated a constructivist, dialogical approach to classroom group work as data collection that recognized students’ ‘cultures of communication’ (Christensen, 2004). We found that, despite learning about cosmopolitan, ‘maximal’ citizenship (McLaughlin, 1992) and human rights through either the national Kuwaiti or a Western curriculum, students conceptualised their citizenship mainly in nationalistic terms. Most identified with their national, regional, religious and familial communities; this resonates with characteristics of Kuwait’s constitution highlighted in the curriculum, which states that Kuwait is an Arab Muslim country, where Islamic sharia is a main source of legislation. Students demonstrated an understanding of and agreement with what they are taught about citizenship identities and human rights. However, they were simultaneously critical about the fulfillment of their human rights claimed to be protected by Kuwait in their Constitution and Human Rights textbook, and felt that they do not fully enjoy these rights and freedoms. The results illustrate that young people’s civic identities are deeply nationalistic and influenced by cultural and religious tradition, while also inclusive of a critical cosmopolitan lens highlighting the problematic citizenship status and rights of women and non-Kuwaitis. Students’ cogent dissections of the gaps between the citizenship “haves” and “have-nots” suggests a sophisticated understanding of the differentiated and unequal civic realities in Kuwait. Our findings reveal significant tensions and fragmentations in Kuwaiti youth civic identity formation that warrant further study.