Editor’s Letter

Abstract

This issue marks the third year of the current editorial group’s work on Public Culture, and I hope we’ve delivered on our promise to update the journal, both substantively and stylistically, while also preserving its role as an outlet for imaginative social research and theory. We’ve made some significant changes, adding the Forum essays, the Public Culture interviews, and a number of new contributors. We’ve also helped to launch a sister publication, Public Books (www.publicbooks.org), which has already reviewed hundreds of works of fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, memoirs, children’s books, apps, and more, generating vigorous debates in something close to real time. I’m happy to report that our readership is growing — not only online but, improbably, in print subscriptions, too. Please help us continue expanding the Public Culture project by spreading the word about the journal and website and by letting us know what we can do better. There are more changes to come.It’s no accident that this issue is focused on questions about change and technology. It begins with a pair of Forum essays on new technologies of connection, by two leading thinkers on the topic, Cathy N. Davidson and Zeynep Tufekci. Davidson’s piece, which follows up on themes introduced in her acclaimed book Now You See It, focuses on the role of technology in higher education, while Tufekci’s addresses the vexing question of how new media are remaking social life. The issue also includes interviews with Peter Galison and Ulf Hannerz and a pair of ethnographic articles, by Christina Dunbar-Hester and Daniela K. Rosner, examining the kinds of ethical and political projects involved in repair work. These essays resonate with “Urban Design from Below,” in which Jennifer Mack illustrates how, in one Swedish town, a group of Syriac Christian immigrants gradually transformed the built environment, remaking the city without a master plan. And, in different ways, questions about public participation in the body politic are central to Joseph Massad’s essay, “Love, Fear, and the Arab Spring,” and “Affective Economies and the Politics of Saving Babies’ Lives,” by Mara Buchbinder and Stefan Timmermans.As the editor, I’m proud to publish such extraordinary work from this diverse set of authors. But I know more than anyone that it would be impossible without the help of the editorial board, particularly senior editors John Jackson, Andrew Lakoff, Sharon Marcus, Fred Turner, and Caitlin Zaloom, as well as the editorial office staff: managing editor Plaegian Alexander, associate editor Stephen Twilley, assistant editor Kavita Kulkarni, senior editorial assistant Saniya Ghanoui, and departing editorial assistants Emma Hickey, Khiara Ortiz, and Kathryn Tam. I hope you don’t mind me thanking them here.