Representational Image. (Thinkstock)
An American university has offered a new course on the art of selfies, giving a chance to students to critically examine society's influence on self-identity in the 21st century.
Los Angeles-based University of South Carolina is offering "Writing 150: Writing and Critical Reasoning: Identity and Diversity," known among students as #SelfieClass.
The new course will teach freshers to critically examine society's influence on self-identity and how selfies reflect and affect the global culture in which we live, the university said in a statement.
"When we look at selfies, we're also looking at the beginning of the 21st century," said Associate professor Mark Marino, who teaches the course.
"The cultural moment of the selfies will pass and become something that's iconic of our age, the same way that photographic self-portraits or painting self-portraits or religious journals were the selfies of their moment," Mr Marino added.
As part of the course, students have to take five selfies and analyse the background, their clothes, their gestures and any objects in the image.
"My students are learning that we live in a moment where selfies have become a part of the communication process and there are parts of our identity that are being read regardless of how we try to portray ourselves," he said.
Throughout the course, they will be asked to compare their selfies with other students and well-known celebrities.
The course will run through next semester as part of a broader project to study the selfie culture beyond the celebrity world.
Dismissing the notion that selfie is a narcissistic expression reflecting a self-absorbed society, Mr Marino views it as something that has been present through the ages.