Jack Shepherd

Universitetslektor|Senior Lecturer

Professional title: Senior Lecturer
Academic title: Senior Lecturer
Telephone: +46 (0)10-1428896
Email: jack.shepherd@miun.se
Visitor address: Hus A, Studentplan 1
Room number: Ej Angivet
Location: Östersund

Employed at the subject:

Tourism Studies

Research centers:

ETOUR

Department:

Department of Economics, Geography, Law and Tourism (EJT)

Background

Coming from the UK, I studied a BA degree in History and French at King’s College London with a year of political science at Sciences Po Paris, before moving to Sweden in 2015. At Mid Sweden University, I completed both a Masters and a PhD degree within tourism studies, the latter which I received in late 2022.

Research

The mainstay of my work is located at the intersection of tourism and peace studies. My research probes tourism’s seemingly unique ability to be both the “peace industry”, contributing to peacebuilding efforts both during and after conflicts, and an industry that sustains dictatorships and systems of oppression around the world.

My doctoral thesis and much of my research energy has gone towards understanding tourism’s role in settings of intractable conflict, in particular, the Israeli-Palestinian context. More recently, inspired by the idea of peace as an ongoing everyday process, I have been looking at how tourism can help ordinary people build peace and reintrept difficult pasts in settings considered at peace today, such as France and the United States.

Beyond the above, I have published on cross-border tourism cooperation and the need for creative and emotive qualitative research. I am also currently leading a book project looking at the relationship between the Eurovision Song Contest and tourism.

Teaching and tutoring

I am involved in teaching a number of courses in both tourism studies and human geography at Mid Sweden University, covering topics such as sustainable tourism, tourism’s impacts, cultural tourism, event tourism, and qualitative methods. I have supervised students at both Bachelor and Masters level.

Other information

I am a co-founder of the project Pilgrim for Peace - an initative to break down boundaries through walking and dialgoue.

Research projects

Finished

Tourism in Contested Space

Understanding the Power of Tourism in Contested Landscapes

Publications

Articles in journals
Articles, book reviews
Chapters in books
Doctoral theses, comprehensive summaries

Articles in journals

Shepherd, J. (2022). Exploring a unifying approach to peacebuilding through tourism : Abraham and Israel/Palestine. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 30: 2-3, pp. 482-499.

Shepherd, J. (2021). ‘I’m not your toy’ : rejecting a tourism boycott. Tourism Recreation Resarch,

Shepherd, J. , Laven, D. & Shamma, L. (2020). Autoethnographic journeys through contested spaces. Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 84

Shepherd, J. & Laven, D. (2020). Providing counter-narratives : the positive role of hostels in the Israeli-Palestinian context. Tourism Geographies, vol. 22: 4-5, pp. 848-871.

Shepherd, J. & Ioannides, D. (2020). Useful funds, disappointing framework : tourism stakeholder experiences of INTERREG. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, vol. 20: 5, pp. 485-502.

Articles, book reviews

Shepherd, J. (2019). A Review of “The rise of thana-capitalism and tourism” by Maximiliano E. Korstanje. Tourism Geographies, vol. 21: 4, pp. 731-733.

Shepherd, J. (2018). Chosen legacies : heritage in regional identity. Tourism Geographies, vol. 20: 4, pp. 759-761.

Chapters in books

Shepherd, J. & Guasca, M. (2024). Reflections on researching tourism and peace. In A Research Agenda for Peace and Tourism. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 121-137.

Shepherd, J. & Laven, D. (2022). Military Occupations and Tourism. In Routledge Handbook of Borders and Tourism. London : Routledge. pp. 145-160.

Shepherd, J. & Laven, D. (2022). The impact of tourism on peace. In Handbook of Tourism Impacts : Social and Environmental Perspectives. Edward Elgar Publishing (Research Handbooks on Impact Assessment series). pp. 166-182.

Shepherd, J. (2021). It’s Okay to Cry : Encouraging Emotional Writing Among Male Tourism Scholars. In Masculinities in the Field : tourism and transdisciplinary research. Channel View Publications. pp. 13-30.

Shepherd, J. & Laven, D. (2020). Hostels in Hostile Territory : Tourist Spaces of Transformative Dialogue in the Israeli-Palestinian Context. In Role and Impact of Tourism in Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation. Hershey : IGI Global. pp. 195-217.

Doctoral theses

Shepherd, J. (2022). Making Room for Peace : Challenging Intractable Conflict Through Tourism. Dis. (Comprehensive summary) Sundsvall : Mid Sweden University, 2022 (Mid Sweden University doctoral thesis : 381)