JBNU Department of Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology Sheds New Light on Regional Culture through “Jeonbuk Studies”

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Establishing Fieldwork-based Education… Nurturing Field-oriented Talent to Explore the Life and Culture of Jeonbuk

The Department of Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology at Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) is accumulating significant educational achievements by reinterpreting the value of local social and cultural assets through the “Jeonbuk Studies University Education” project. For the second consecutive year, the department has operated the course “Life and Culture of Glocal Jeonbuk,” which was newly established in the second semester of last year. This course has successfully settled as a fieldwork-based class where students directly explore the cultural identity and regionality of Jeonbuk. Moving beyond theory-centered lectures, the curriculum is designed to help students understand local culture within its actual physical spaces and daily life contexts.

Exploring Regional Identity via Special Lectures and Field Trips

This year’s curriculum featured expert lectures on Jeonju’s food culture, Gunsan’s cultural regeneration, and the utilization of Namwon’s cultural resources, followed by extensive field trips to Gunsan and Namwon. Students witnessed firsthand how local cultural content is produced and reinterpreted. The Namwon trip, themed around “healing,” focused on storytelling tourism cases at the Namwon City Museum of Art and the Jirisan Herb Valley Botanical Garden. It concluded with a talk concert featuring student-led presentations on tourism content planning.

In Gunsan, students explored the theme of “regeneration” by visiting Gyeongam-dong Railroad Village, the Modern Cultural Heritage Street, Urban Regeneration Forests, and Beeraport. They examined the strategies used to transform modern cultural assets into tourism resources. These field visits were integrated with participatory discussions and analytical activities through subsequent talk concerts.

Discovering Potential through Team Projects

Following the fieldwork, students conducted independent investigations in teams to produce reports on discovering lifestyle-based cultural content. Their research analyzed the potential of traditional markets—such as those in Gomso, Jeonju, and Buan—to become tourism resources. They also conducted surveys on representative landmarks like Gwanghanru Pavilion in Namwon and the Iksan Jewelry Museum. This process was particularly meaningful as it encouraged students to view local resources not merely as objects for preservation, but as assets with potential for modern utilization and content creation.

[Photo Provided by Jeonbuk National University]

Professor Lim Kyung-taek, who oversees the course, explained that the curriculum links humanistic inquiry with field experience to help students redefine the meaning of “local” and discover their own identities in the process. He evaluated that the educational significance lies in helping students realize that regions often perceived as being in “crisis of extinction” actually possess diverse possibilities and potentials.

JBNU views this program as a positive success in terms of the modern application of local resources and the nurturing of future talent. The university plans to further expand its “Jeonbuk Studies” educational content to strengthen a model where the region and the university grow together.

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