Development and Prospect of Sea Festival : focused on the Jangbogo Festival

Abstract

Jangbogo festival is a young sea festival, invented by rediscovery and re-interpretation of an ancient mythic hero. This paper examines the background, establishing process and structure of the festival.<BR> This new festival has been created under the change of international economic environment in 1990s, and has some different motives and goals by diverse participants and sponsors. It is necessary for state to displace the nationalistic symbol from militaristic hero to more economic one with globalization, and local government needs a community revitalization event against the community fragmentation crises in 1980-1990s. Because the origin of Jangbogo festival was a mobilization event under the authoritarian regime in 1970s, and new festival has been introduced by local government instead of it, it has some problems in upgrading of participation motives of residents. Most of people has been mobilized by neighborhood-orientation in this case. Some people who participated in the festival, have presented a passive and pessimistic view on the place-marketing effect, but they could enjoy themselves in the self-managed event.<BR> Even Jangbogo festival has a few of obstacles in working out the program and resource mobilization, it would be a good litmus paper to test the possibility of local festival in Korea. The future of this festival is depended on how to get the harmony and balance among political motives of state, economic drives of local government and expressive needs of residents.