This book brings together a selection of articles that have been published throughout a series of special issues of the journal Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies that originally focused on the so-called ‘ethnographic turn’ in contemporary arts. An increasing wave of art events has occurred since the 1990s that have displayed significant similarities with anthropology and ethnography in their theorizations of cultural difference and representational practices.

The aim of these works was to revisit the ethnographic turn in contemporary art by bringing together contributions from theorists, artists and critics, to engage critically with the ethnographic perspective in their work. This focus on the ‘ethnographic turn’ has been expanded in subsequent special issues to explore how culture and society can be critically explored and challenged trough the detour of art, how contemporary art practices engage with participation, interaction and technology in an increasingly digital (screen) culture, and what the role can be of (critical) art to conceptualize, contest and/ or develop an engaged and critical pedagogy.

This collection aims to re-expose the special issues to an international audience by presenting a (non-exhaustive) selection of articles that exemplify the different perspectives and discussions that are tackled throughout. It starts with three of the introductory articles that have attracted large readerships and that give a detailed introduction for the special issues. The compilation ends with three so-called Vignettes, these are short statements and reflections by artists about their practice, which are an important feature of the special issues.

Kris Rutten is Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Studies of Ghent University, Belgium, where he leads the research group Culture & Education. His fields of expertise are the rhetoric of cultural literacy, the rhetorical curriculum and the ethnographic turn in the arts. He is an associate editor of Critical Arts.

Keyan G. Tomaselli is founder and co-editor of Critical Arts, and distinguished professor, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.