Robert Shepherd

Assistant Professor (University Honors Program and Anthropology)
E-mail rshepher@gwu.edu
Office: Hortense Amsterdam House 303 / (202) 994-4395

Dr. Shepherd is a cultural anthropologist who focuses on tourism issues, cultural heritage, and the side-effects of market reforms in contemporary China.

Research

Dr. Shepherd has studied the politics of cultural heritage policies in Tibet, the rise of the Falungong Movement in China, and the cultural impact of a World Bank-funded tourism project on the island of Bali.

Current Research Projects

1. "When Culture Goes to Market: Market Practices and Cultural Production in an Urban Marketplace" (An ethnographic study of vending practices at Eastern Market in Washington, DC).
   
2. "What's in a Name? Higher Education and Market Reforms in China" (A field study of the effects of educational reforms and privatization policies on the residents of an urban university campus in Beijing, China).

Selected Publications

Book

2007	Shepherd, R.When Culture Goes to Market: Space, Place, and Identity in an Urban Marketplace. New York: Peter Lang.

Articles and Book Chapters

2007	Shepherd, R. "A perpetual unease or being at ease? Daoism, Derrida, and the metaphysics of presence," Philosophy East & West 57:2 (April).
2006	Shepherd, R. "UNESCO and the politics of cultural heritage in Tibet," Journal of Contemporary Asia 36(2):243-257.
2005	Shepherd, R. "Age of the law's end: Falun Gong and the cultivation of modernity in post-Maoist China,"International Journal of Cultural Studies 8(4): 387-404.
2003	Shepherd, R. "Fieldwork without remorse: Travel desires in a tourist world," Consumption, Markets & Culture 6(2): 133-144.
2002	Shepherd, R. "From the temple to the market: Tourism, commodification, and culture," Tourist Studies 2(2): 183-201.
2002	Shepherd, R. "A green and sumptuous garden: Authenticity, hybridity, and the Bali tourism project," South East Asia Research 10(1): 63-97.

Courses Taught

Anth 150: Human Rights and Ethics
Anth 151: Anthropology of Development
Anth 175: East Asian Cultures
Honr 015: Honors Seminar on Chinese Philosophy
Honr 016: Honors Seminar on Modernity
Honr 042: Honors Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology

Education

Ph.D. 2002, George Mason University
M.A. 1983, Northeastern University
B.A. 1980, University of Delaware