The anti-selfie: an alternative artistic and educational proposal to the media narrative in teacher training

Abstract

Our current hyper-connected society, with its dependence on screens and the proliferation of stereotypes via social networks, is contributing to the creation of an identity and relational dystopia that is gradually taking hold and gaining legitimacy. In the context of education, we are aware of the impact of phenomena such as the selfie on the identity development of adolescents and young people, and must consider thoughtful, critical and emancipating alternatives. This study proposes a theoretical journey that highlights the symbolic power of the selfie as a cultural and media device which perpetuates hegemonic stereotypes, so that, from these conceptual bases, the required transition towards artistic and critical symbolic constructs in teacher training can be established. To this end, the anti-selfie is put forward as an educational, artistic, antagonistic and counter-hegemonic device. In order to evaluate the impact of this artistic exercise, which was conducted over three academic years in a Plastic and Visual Arts Education course, this proposal uses an artistic-narrative educational research methodology. The study shows the replacing of standard self-representations by introspective self-referential representations that encourage individual and collective identity rebuilding from diversity, as well as the suitability of the use of the anti-selfie in educational contexts.