CFP: The Feeding Tube

Posting this call for papers serves a dual purpose: a) For any of my media studies buddies, this may be conference of interest, and b) For all of my non-academic friends, you can see what kinds of wacky but oddly fascinating research is done. Here goes:

Food is a part of our everyday existence: we must eat in order to survive. For most people it is hard to imagine a day without food,whether we’re grabbing a snack from the vending machine or sharing a leisurely dinner with family and friends. Similarly, television has reached such a saturation point in our culture that we have, in many ways, become as dependent on it as we are on food. We gather in each other’s homes to watch season finales of our favorite shows, discuss the previous night’s HBO series broadcasts at the workplace watercooler, or just consult the local news for a weather report. We often eat while watching television, nourishing our bodies while allowing the information from television into our consciousness.

To that end, this proposed panel is concerned with the ways in which television mediates our cultural relationship with food. What can we observe about our society and our roles within it from the ways in which food is portrayed on television? How does it affect our relationships with our bodies? With each other? How does the food we see on television shape our regional, national, class, racial, sexual, and gender identities? Possible topics include but are not limited to:

Food and gender on TV
Food in reality TV
Sexuality and food
Sex and food (i.e., “feeding the beast” in Grey’s Anatomy)
Race and food
Candid TV & food (i.e., Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares, Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations)
TV advertising of restaurants, weight-loss programs, and food items
Power and food
Cooking shows (and daytime shows with cooking segments)
The History Channel and food
Food and eating on Sex & the City
Food and eating on Desperate Housewives
Food and eating on the Sopranos

Please send abstracts of 250-300 words by November 17 to Melanie Hauptat http://ca.f329.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=mkhaupt@mail.utexas.edu&YY=62762&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b

Despite loving to cook and eat, I never got into any of those cooking shows crazes myself. How about you- did you ever get all hot for Emeril or Nigella?