No social framework is arguably more central to reality TV than gender, yet sustained scrutiny of reality TV’s relation to gender norms, performances and practices has barely begun. The aim of this conference is to raise questions about gender and reality TV from a comparative, cross-cultural perspective. We are particularly interested in critical investigations of the intersections between gender, culture and place as engineered by reality television.

We invite papers on any aspect of gender, culture and reality TV, including the following topics:
•Culturally and/or nationally specific articulations of masculine or feminine identity in Reality TV
•The reconfiguration of gender-focused international formats within non-Western cultural contexts
•Gender, Reality TV and transnational flows of capital, culture and consumption
•Gendered identities within colonial/post-colonial/settlement narratives or histories
•The place of gender within a multiple modernities approach to Reality TV
•Gender, Reality TV and multiculturalism/biculturalism/mixed cultures
•Intersections of gender, race and/or ethnicity in Reality TV
•Reality TV as a site of gender performance and/or transformation
•Family and gender politics within Reality TV
•Sexual cultures and gender on Reality TV
•Gender, Reality TV and cultures of fandom and celebrity
•(Anti) heteronormative practices in reality programming
•Reality TV, gender and hierarchies of cultural value

Please submit a 300-word abstract & short biographical note to a.west@auckland.ac.nz and m.kavka@auckland.ac.nz by 31 July, 2011. Successful applicants will be notified by 19 August, 2011.