Public Culture has a focus on ethnographies, and analyses of cultural politics in globalization. The journal also acts as a forum for discourse on occasions where cultural, social, and political differences emerge as public eruptions. It is published three time per year.
Public Culture received awards for Best New Journal in 1992[2] and Best Special Issue in 2000[3] from The Council of Editors of Learned Journals. In 2013, the same body named Public Culture co-winner of the Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement,[4] recognizing the journal's revitalization and transformation with a "marked emphasis on accessibility and broader relevance."[5] The journal has also been reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement.[6]