Exploring the Selfie

"This is a highly nuanced and balanced offering of high quality scholarship on "selfie" theory and history, the selfie as an aesthetic object and networked image, its technology and dispositif, and its socio-political and creative interventions." (Athina Karatzogianni, University of Leicester, UK) "Exploring the Selfie" provides a substantial, multifaceted, interdisciplinary perspective on digital self-photography. The selfie is a photographic and cultural phenomenon in an age where the practices of photography are affected strongly by mobile and online communication and many of the popular social media platforms are based on visual communication. The volume assembles a wonderfully rich and many-sided "image" of the selfie as part of contemporary visual culture - that also has a history." (Mikko Villi, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland)

This volume explores the selfie not only as a specific photographic practice that is deeply rooted in digital culture, but also how it is understood in relation to other media of self-portrayal.This volume explores the selfie not only as a specific photographic practice that is deeply rooted in digital culture, but also how it is understood in relation to other media of self-portrayal. Unlike the public debate about the dangers of 'selfie-narcissism', this anthology discusses what the practice of taking and sharing selfies can tell us about media culture today: can the selfie be critiqued as an image or rather as a social practice? What are the technological conditions of this form of vernacular photography? By gathering articles from the fields of media studies; art history; cultural studies; visual studies; philosophy; sociology and ethnography, this book provides a media archaeological perspective that highlights the relevance of the selfie as a stereotypical as well as creative practice of dealing with ourselves in relation to technology.