Dr Jane Lovell

Education

• BA American Studies (University of Hull, University of New Mexico, 1987)
• MSc Tourism and Environmental Science (University of Kent 2003)
• PhD Tourism Studies Cities of Imagination: Staged Authenticity in Historic Cities ((University of Kent, 2013)

At Canterbury Christ Church University, my responsibilities include:

• Course Director Tourism and Events Management MSc 2021- ongoing
• Course Director Events Management and Events Planning BSc (Hons) 2007 – 2015
• Subject Chair for Tourism, Hospitality and Events at our partnership organisations.

Key responsibilities have included establishing new Events Management Courses and leading on revalidations, modifications and other refinements designed to reflect the changes in technologies, approaches and markets at UG and PG levels.

I have also acted as an External Examiner since 2012 for Events, Tourism and Creative Industries Management Courses at UG and PG levels at organisations ranging from the University of Brighton to the University of Sheffield.

My previous work experience provided me with a background in strategic arts development, at the world-class Royal Opera House and in tourism development at Canterbury City Council (balancing the needs of a district which includes a World Heritage Site, a cathedral city, the two very different seaside resorts of Whitstable and Herne Bay and rural areas of significant interest). Cultural tourism projects at Canterbury included implementing capital projects, devising strategy and organizing initiatives such as the 100-day outdoor Canterbury BLOK urban sculpture show with English Heritage and the University for the Creative Arts, intended to enhance our heritage landmark assets. I also led the British partnership side of an Interreg-funded, £285,000 project working with the cathedrals of Canterbury, Amiens, Rouen and Rochester, culminating in the Cathédrales de Lumière show in 2005. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI5FBWYkz1M

I have written seven new modules and taught on many others, including Introduction to Tourism, Introduction to Events, Contemporary Issues in Tourism, Hospitality and Events, International Events, Residential Field Trip and Vocational Experience for Tourism and Events. I also supervise UG and PG dissertations and PhD theses.

I currently lead the following modules:

• MSc Dissertations
• MSc Events Design and Production
• MSc Creative Destinations
• Heritage and the Creative Industries
• Creative Places for Tourism and Events
• Events Operational Design

From Levels 4-7 my teaching is often research-led. Engaging activities and assessments co-created with students as part of the curriculum include: magical tourism walks; an annual live Sustainable Spring Festival (which has run for the past decade) in partnership with our Academy for Sustainable Futures; a Medieval Festival in Dane John Gardens; and, since 2018 with thanks to English Heritage, Autumn light installations at the World Heritage Site of St Augustine’s Abbey, illuminating our module theory.

My current research speciality is magical tourism and new animism. For example, I have how the mainstreaming of fantasy culture results in ‘magi-heritage’ visitor experiences in English historic cities such as York, Oxford, Durham and Canterbury. My work on film, literary (transmedia) and examines both how visitors negotiate affective, storied fairy tale landscapes and how the tourism and creative industries develop myths, folklore and new forms of enchantment. For example, fairy festivals as storyscapes. I am particularly interested in the extra-textual permeation of fantasy literary and film (transmedia) works, including the novels and adaptations of authors such as Philip Pullman, Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, Tolkien and CS Lewis.

The commonality in my research is that it tends to takes place in heritage sites, including historic cities, natural environments and World Heritage Sites.

I’ve used Goldberg’s mindful writing practice to induce a deeper state of attunement to atmospheres and interconnections in the researcher. In addition, I have extended the seminal theories of hot and staged authenticity and expanded Fjellman’s (1992) categories of reality from ‘fake-fake, real-real, real-fake and fake-real’ to incorporate the magically-real, hyper-real, unreal and irreal.

Lastly, for the past twenty years, my research practice has included staging light installations. A recent collaboration involves projecting text about the perceptions of St Augustine’s Abbey (part of Canterbury’s World Heritage Site) back on to the ruins, unfolding the multiple layers of the heritage gaze.

BOOKS

• Lovell, J and Bull C. (2017) Authentic and Inauthentic Places in Tourism: From Heritage Sites to Theme Parks. Abingdon: Routledge. – Please note, this is my monograph.
• Lovell, J. and Hitchmough, S. (2019) Authenticity in North America: Tourism, Culture and the Popular Imagination. Abingdon: Routledge.
• Lovell, J. and Sharma, S. (forthcoming, 2024) Magical Tourism and Enchanting Geographies: Storytelling, heritage, fantasy, and folklore. Abingdon: Routledge.

RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES

• Lovell, J. and Hitchmough, S. (2020) ‘Simulated authenticity: storytelling and mythic space on the hyper-frontier in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Westworld’, Tourist Studies 20 20(4), pp.409-428.
• Lovell, J. and Thurgill, J. (2021) ‘Extending hot authentication: Imagining fantasy space’, Annals of Tourism Research, (87), 103138, pp.1-17.
• Lovell, J. and Griffin, H. (2022) ‘Unfamiliar light: the production of enchantment’, Annals of Tourism Research, (92) 103328, pp.1-17.
• Lovell, J. (2022) ‘Opening spatial hinges with mindful writing practice: negotiating Philip Pullman’s secret commonwealth’, Cultural Geographies, pp.1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2290662
• Lovell, J. (2023) ‘Media tourism as atmospheric practice’, Annals of Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103579
• Lovell, J. and Sharma, N. (2023). ‘Fairy tourism: negotiating the production of fantasy geographies and magical storyscapes’, Tourism Geographies, pp.1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2290662

RECENT BOOK CHAPTERS

• Lovell, J. and Howard, G., (2021) ‘Fairy tale tourism: the architectural projection mapping of magically real and irreal festival lightscapes’, in Smith, A. and Eldridge, A. (eds.) Tourism and the Night: Rethinking Nocturnal Destinations. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 99-113.
• Lovell, J., (2021) ‘Evolving authenticity into the magical realm of fantasy-based third-order simulacra’, In Sharpley, R. (ed.) Routledge Handbook of the Tourist Experience. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 77-88.
• Lovell, J. and Hitchmough, S. (2021) ‘Hyper-staged authenticity on the technological frontier in Westworld’s post-human theme park’, in: Yeoman, I. and McMahon-Beattie, U., (eds.) Science Fiction, Disruption and Tourism. Bristol: Channel View, pp.187-199.
• Lovell, J. and Fox, K., (2023) ‘Always the desert: creating affective landscapes in Breaking Bad,’ in Champion, E., Lee, C., Stadler, J. and Peaslee, R.M. (eds.) Screen Tourism and Affective Landscapes: The Real, the Virtual, and the Cinematic. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 121-135.

EXTERNAL GROUPS

• Member, Canterbury World Heritage Site Management Committee.
• Member, Stakeholder Group, Levelling Up Fund Canterbury bid (2020-2022).
• Member, UNESCO list of experts, authenticity, historic cities.
• Chair, Sustainable Heritage Working Group, Canterbury Christ Church University.
• Chair, Canterbury Light Collective.
• Council Executive Member, British Association of Canadian Studies.
• Visiting Fellow, Eccles Centre for American Studies, British Library (2016-18).
• Associate Fellow, University College London Institute of the Americas (2016-2021).
• Chair, Canterbury Heritage Partnerships (2015-18).
• Member, East Kent City of Culture Bid 2017 Steering Group (2013 – 2014).

NOTABLE CONFERENCE/EVENT ORGANISATION

• Pilgrimage As Transformation: A Symposium to explore contemporary thinking (2022) Symposium, Canterbury Christ Church University (staged with the Sustainability Academy any the Confraternity of the Pilgrims to Rome, expanding the Via Francigena).
• Time, Lighting World Heritage at St Martin’s Church and St Augustine Abbey (2023). In partnership with English Heritage, St Martin’s Church and the University of Kent (invitation-only event with stakeholders).
• Light Installations St Augustine’s Abbey, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023.
• Symposium, (2020) Light Installations, Heritage, Magic. Canterbury Christ Church University.
• Panel Session Organiser, (2019) Authenticity, Imagination and Place. Association of American Geographers, Washington.
• Symposium, (2018) Reimagining Authenticity in the Age of Post-truth. Canterbury Christ Church University.
• Golden Night Festival of Light (a large-scale on et lumiere set of installations installation, celebrating Canterbury Christ Church University’s Golden Jubilee).
• Conference, (2014, 2015) COaST Seascapes: The Cultural Life of Seaside Towns. Turner Contemporary and Canterbury Christ Church university.