Established scholars and graduate students are invited to submit an abstract (150 words) addressing the following question by 20 May 2016, 5pm to be a respondent at the 2016 Flow Conference on September 15-17 at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas. Here is the response link: http://www.flowjournal.org/flow-conference-2016/flow-2016-call-for-responses/

Question: Theorizing Place and Space in Television

“A strong sense of place,” is an often-repeated phrase about critically acclaimed television dramas such as Breaking Bad, Justified, Treme, True Detective and The Wire. Yet, as television scholars do we know how to theorize “place” on television and the audience’s experience of it in "quality" TV dramas, situation comedies, and reality television? While the concept of place has obtained some degree of theorization in film studies [Aitken and Zonn (1994), Higson (1984), Rappaport (1980), Wollen (1980], it has received scant attention in television studies. One early article by Newcomb (1990) suggests that the connotative richness of geographic region, city, community, setting, character as stranger, self and status of place—all serve to express place in fictional television. But, what role does televisual space play in the creation of place on television? How is place humanized and vested with memory and desire? How does place contribute to performance and to intensify character identification? In what specific ways do TV programs employ narrative and production techniques, including location, character, language, sounds, objects, to create a memorable and tactile sense of place with audiences?