Introduction: Cultures of circulation

What are cultures of circulation, and how can they be understood in ways that inform critical scholarship and relationships between academic work and public engagement in globalized settings? This introductory article discusses the initial formulation of the phrase in 2002 and describes how the seven articles in this special issue extend its implications 10 years later. We begin by charting some of the key contexts in which the concept has flourished, noting some of the problems and limitations of its use in different disciplines. We then provide an overview of how each article in this issue takes up the dialectics of circulation and the programmatic of culture as practice. We conclude by proposing avenues for further research as well as opportunities for self-reflexive uses of the concept within academic debates and via wider public engagement.

► Discusses transformations to the concept of circulation in contemporary contexts of globalization. ► Presents the trajectory of the concept of circulation in different disciplines and the implications for research in light of shifting understandings of the concept. ► Presents circulation as a keyword for cultural research and for the culture of researchers. ► Offers avenues for further research on circulation within sociology and sociological subfields.