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Exploring the Selfie

Historical, Theoretical, and Analytical Approaches to Digital Self-Photography

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  • © 2018

Overview

Editors:
  1. Julia Eckel

    1. Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Jens Ruchatz

    1. Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  3. Sabine Wirth

    1. Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany

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  • The first comprehensive volume on the current and publicly debated topic of selfies

  • Offers approaches from a broader field of disciplines

  • Provides a theoretical as well as a media-historical basis for investigating the selfie as an image practice

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
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  2. The Selfie as Image (and) Practice: Approaching Digital Self-Photography

    • Julia Eckel, Jens Ruchatz, Sabine Wirth
    Pages 1-23

  4. The Displayed Self: The Selfie as Aesthetic Object and Networked Image

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 111-111
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    2. The Selfie and the Face

      • Hagi Kenaan
      Pages 113-130

    3. Selfies and Authorship: On the Displayed Authorship and the Author Function of the Selfie

      • Julia Eckel
      Pages 131-165

    4. Competitive Photography and the Presentation of the Self

      • Alise Tifentale, Lev Manovich
      Pages 167-187

    5. Of Duck Faces and Cat Beards: Why Do Selfies Need Genres?

      • Bernd Leiendecker
      Pages 189-209

  5. The Self on Display: Technology and Dispositif of the Selfie

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 211-211
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    2. Interfacing the Self: Smartphone Snaps and the Temporality of the Selfie

      • Sabine Wirth
      Pages 213-238

    3. The Video Selfie as Act and Artifact of Recording

      • Florian Krautkrämer, Matthias Thiele
      Pages 239-259

    4. Be a Hero: Self-Shoots at the Edge of the Abyss

      • Winfried Gerling
      Pages 261-283

    5. Strike a Pose: Robot Selfies

      • Lisa Gotto
      Pages 285-301

  6. Displaying the Self: Social, Political, and Creative Interventions

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 303-303
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    2. Selfies and Purikura as Affective, Aesthetic Labor

      • Mette Sandbye
      Pages 305-326

    3. The Kid Selfie as Self-Inscription: Reinventing an Emerging Media Practice

      • Alexandra Schneider, Wanda Strauven
      Pages 327-350
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Reviews

“The chapters in this volume clearly point out that exploring selfies and selfie culture requires an interdisciplinary approach. The book therefore gathers contributions from the fields of Media Studies, Art History, Cultural Studies, Visual Studies, Philosophy, Sociology, and Ethnography, providing an overview of the different positions between the two main approaches of selfie research … and attempts to reconcile them.” (Scriptable, rtreview.org, Issue 28, August, 2018) “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 Jyväskylä, Finland)


Editors and Affiliations

  • Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Julia Eckel, Jens Ruchatz, Sabine Wirth

About the editors

Julia Eckel is Research and Teaching Associate at the Institute of Media Studies at Philipps-University Marburg, Germany. 



Jens Ruchatz is Professor of audiovisual transfer processes at the Institute of Media Studies at Philipps-University Marburg, Germany. 


Sabine Wirth is Research and Teaching Associate at the Institute of Media Studies at Philipps-University Marburg, Germany.



Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Exploring the Selfie

  • Book Subtitle: Historical, Theoretical, and Analytical Approaches to Digital Self-Photography

  • Editors: Julia Eckel, Jens Ruchatz, Sabine Wirth

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57949-8

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-57948-1Published: 19 April 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-09626-7Published: 01 February 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-57949-8Published: 06 April 2018

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXI, 392

  • Number of Illustrations: 4 b/w illustrations, 40 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Media and Communication, Social Media, Photography, Cultural Theory

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