Masks and Faces: Critical Perspectives Across Disciplines

This edited volume explores masks and faces as intertwined figures shaping the ethical, political, cultural, and technological dimensions of human experience across historical and contemporary contexts. Bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives from philosophy, semiotics, media studies, visual culture, history of science, cognitive psychology, and anthropology, the contributions examine how masks and faces function as conceptual and material surfaces through which identity, subjectivity, and power are negotiated. The essays trace the mutual constitution of concealment and revelation, analyzing phenomena ranging from theatrical and cinematic masks to racialized scientific classification, prosthetic reconstruction, digital avatars, AI-generated faces, and contemporary biometric surveillance. By situating masks and faces within broader transformations driven by technological innovation and shifting visual regimes, the volume interrogates the boundaries between human and non-human, authenticity and simulation, individuality and social construction. Together, the chapters propose that masking is not merely an act of hiding but a dynamic process that structures perception, mediates social interaction, and redefines the conditions of visibility and recognition in digital societies.