Education:

Ph.D., George Mason University

Expertise:

Tourism, cultural heritage issues, side effects of market changes in China

Background:

Bob Shepherd holds a B.A. in political science and history from the University of Delaware, an M.A. in history from Northeastern University, and a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from George Mason University. He began to teach courses at George Washington University in 2003, and was appointed an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Honors in 2006. Before this, Dr. Shepherd spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Nepal, three years teaching at a United Nations educational training institute in Beijing, China, and two years helping design and implement a national technical training program in Java, Indonesia. He has also led study-abroad programs to China and Tibet, and worked with the University of Virginia's "Semester at Sea" program.

Dr. Shepherd's work on tourism, cultural heritage issues, and the side effects of market changes in China has appeared in Southeast Asia Research, Consumption, Markets, and Culture,, the International Journal of Cultural Studies, and the Journal of Contemporary Asia, among other publications. His book, When Culture Goes to the Market: The Politics of Space, Place and Identity in an Urban Marketplace (Peter Lang) was published in 2008.

His current research analyzes the construction and development of a UNESCO-supported World Heritage site at Mount Wutai, China, while his broader research examines the political, economic and social foundations of the world heritage process, in particular how this impacts local communities. For the past four years (2007-2010), Professor Shepherd has organized and led GW summer study-abroad programs to China, jointly sponsored by the University Honors Program and Department of Anthropology.

Courses Taught: