The Scholarship in Selfies; New York Times, 7/31/15

Laura Pappano, New York Times; The Scholarship in Selfies:

"Consider Parmigianino’s “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” for what it is: a selfie. Painting a Renaissance masterpiece takes more skill than tapping a camera app, but in the emerging field of selfie studies, they can be part of the same conversation.

Selfies engage the tradition of journaling and self-portraiture (also consider Cindy Sherman), says Mark C. Marino. His “#SelfieClass” was a section of Writing 150 at the University of Southern California last spring, with three sections planned for fall. One assignment: Use selfies to examine the diversity (or lack of it) in your friend network on Facebook.

Applying an academic lens to selfies is not frivolous, says Miriam Posner, who teaches “Selfies, Snapchat and Cyberbullies” at the University of California, Los Angeles. Glib pop-culture critics may point to them as evidence of “vanity and exhibitionism,” but she sees something deeper. Selfies raise important questions about identity, culture and technology. Like: What do selfies say about what we choose to document, how we craft images for different groups (family on Facebook, friends on Instagram), or reveal or hide about our identity? Is Kim Kardashian making art? And what of the selfie stick? It’s worth a class discussion."