Public self-expression, identity and the participatory turn: The power to re-imagine the self

ABSTRACT

References to the so-called ‘participatory turn’ have become pervasive in the social sciences. In the broad field of culture, media and communication studies, the participatory turn is mostly studied in a single site or scholarly sub-discipline. In contrast, this article provides an overarching view of the participatory turn in culture, media and communication studies by tying together isolated references to participation in political communication, development communication, media studies, celebrity studies, Internet studies and youth culture. This comprehensive view is specifically anchored by the intersection of public participation, identity and self-expression, and focuses on how people publicly express and work on their identities. In the process of describing the participatory turn in culture, media and communication studies, different forms of self-expression are identified. It is argued that even though some of these forms are noisy and narcissistic, they are meaningful to the individual who creates them. Some of these forms offer opportunities to voice opinions that might otherwise not be heard in the public sphere. Most significantly, public self-expression affords the ordinary person the power to (re-)imagine the self in the wake of the many changes the world faces due to globalisation and hegemonic power relations.

Keywords:

• identity
• media
• participatory turn
• public participation
• self-expression