Self(ie) Reflections
The podcast series Self(ie) Reflections serves as an intellectual companion to the research project Digital Expressions of the Self(ie): The Social Life of Selfies in India. Over four episodes, the series deconstructs the selfie as an iterative, performative practice that reshapes the relationship between identity, space, and power.
From the "insta-worthy" cafes of Kolkata to the TikTok hotspots of Delhi's ruins, the podcast highlights how digital performance allows individuals to reclaim physical space and negotiate visibility. It contrasts the hyper-visible "attitude" videos of Delhi’s working-class youth with the curated "performing objects" of Bookstagram and Inktober, where personal identity is expressed through the curation of tea, books, and art rather than the face.
The series also confronts the darker side of digital culture: datafication and surveillance. In the final panel, researchers discuss the "afterlife" of the selfie, noting how AI and algorithmic curation transform personal expressions into data points for institutional harvesting. By examining the labor, ethics, and aesthetics of selfie-making, Spark provides a critical look at how Indians navigate the digital age, arguing that the selfie is a vital tool for self-making that must be balanced against the growing reach of algorithmic governance.
We bring the research to life through the voices of the people who shaped it—from professors and researchers Avishek Ray, Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan, Usha Raman, Martin Web, Neha Gupta, Sai Amulya Komarraju, Anuja Premika, Riad Azam, Farhat Salim, Pranavesh Subramanian and influencers and artists, Kajree Gautam, Mom Mitra and Delwyn Remedios.
It’s time to look closer at the backdrops of our lives. This is Self(ie) Reflections. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform.
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Episodes
4 days ago
4 days ago
In the finale of Self(ie) Reflections, Chhavi Sachdev joins Sai Amulya Komarraju, Avishek Ray, Neha Gupta, and Usha Raman to discuss the "afterlife" of the selfie.
They examine how selfies have evolved into digital infrastructure and tools for governance plus and the tension between using selfies to subvert norms and feeding a "network capitalism" that harvests data for surveillance. As our faces become data, who truly owns our digital existence?
5 days ago
5 days ago
In Episode 3, researchers Usha Raman and Anuja Premika examine digital self-presentation beyond the "selfie." Through the stories of #Bookstagrammer Kajree Gautam and illustrator Delwyn, the duo explores the "performing object." From curated book aesthetics to illustrations of parenting, they show how objects and art function as powerful tools for identity performance and personal branding within social media subcultures. If our objects speak for us, who are we really projecting?
5 days ago
5 days ago
In Episode 2, Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan and Pravanesh Subramanian explore the "digital double"—the algorithmic persona shaped by our online life. Using Goffman’s "staged performativity," they analyze how platform architecture dictates our self-presentation to both humans and AI. Selfies are now data points in an "image ecology" used for machine learning & surveillance. As generative AI untethers the self from reality, who truly controls our identities in this automated age?
5 days ago
5 days ago
In this episode Neha Gupta, Mom Mitra, and Ankita Das discuss the nature of online personas and the deliberate labor of digital self-fashioning. They trace the evolution of self-presentation from the era of formal, film-based documentation to the age of the instant selfie and the transition of the photograph from a private family memory to a public performative act - but at what cost?
Friday Apr 03, 2026
Friday Apr 03, 2026
Self(ie) Reflections is a four-part podcast series produced as a companion to the book Digital Expressions of the Self(ie): The Social Life of Selfies in India. How did the selfie transform from a simple self-portrait into a complex, performative digital practice deeply embedded in India's social, spatial, and infrastructural landscapes?