The Self(ie) Reflections podcast is officially live! 🎙️
After several years of production at Sonologue, we’ve released the full four-part series exploring how the selfie has reshaped identity, space, and power in India. It was an honor to moderate the final panel for the series.
The podcast is the companion to the book “Digital Expressions of the Self(ie)”

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.

What we explore in the series:
Episode 1: The Malleable Self: The labor behind our digital self-fashioning.
Episode 2: The Digital Double: How algorithms dictate our online personas.
Episode 3: Beyond the Selfie: Identity performance through objects and art.
Episode 4: The Afterlife of the Selfie: Our faces as data points in an automated age.

Catch all episodes here: https://selfiereflections.podbean.com/

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.

Massive thanks to the Sonologue team: 🔊 Sound Engineering: Sharad Joshi 📝 Associate Producer: Deepa D and the authors of the book including Usha Raman.

The book itself: “Digital Expressions of the Self(ie), The Social Life of Selfies in India” By Avishek Ray, Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan, Usha Raman, Martin Web, Neha Gupta, Dr. Sai Amulya Komarraju, Anuja Premika, Riad Azam, Farhat Salim, Pranavesh S. is available online
🎙️https://selfiereflections.podbean.com/