[-empyre-] empyre Digest, Vol 132, Issue 3

[Jonathan Schroeder]

Mehita Iqani and I are working on the topic of selfies, focused largely on their role as practice as well as objects within contemporary consumer culture.  We have a paper in press, "#selfie: Digital self-portraits as commodity form and consumption practice" in which we argue that selfies are fascinating objects not only due to their explosion within the popular culture domain, but also in terms of how they allow us to think about modes of making public and claiming authenticity. As well as this, selfies are an intriguing empirical object because they combine questions of subject and object, as well as questions of identity, agency and power. Furthermore, turning to the selfie’s rapid uptake as a branding and marketing tool, the selfie reveals shifts in the traditional functions of the advertising photograph, from sources of information, persuasion and representation to emblems of social currency.