This entry presents the autobiography of Xan Fernández Carrera, a teacher, researcher, and prominent advocate of Costa da Morte’s culture. In his own words, Fernández Carrera recounts his personal and professional journey, from his childhood in Ponte do Porto to his years teaching in Bergantiños, promoting an innovative pedagogy committed to the local environment. His life journey and love for Galicia led him to deeply explore Costa da Morte, a region to which he has dedicated numerous projects and publications to preserve and share its essence with future generations.
Biographical overview of Xan Fernández Carrera
The chance event of being born in A Piroga (Bamiro-Vimianzo) in the winter of 1951 was due to my parents’ itinerant work. I soon returned to their homeland, to the parish of A Graña (Covelo-Pontevedra), where I spent my childhood and learned my first letters in a rural school. Later, I moved back to Terra de Soneira, to Ponte do Porto (Camariñas), a town my parents chose as their permanent residence. Here, I spent my adolescence and much of my youth. I continued my education and began high school as a private student, which I later completed in A Coruña, where I pursued a teaching degree. After finishing my studies, I started my teaching career in the same city while also furthering my training in Pedagogy. Following a year in Baixo Miño, in Goián (Tomiño), I arrived in Coristanco, at the CP “Alcalde Xosé Pichel,” where I spent my entire professional life, which led me to settle in Carballo, alternating, for family reasons, with Muxía.
My main concern during my early teaching years, particularly upon arriving in Bergantiños, was to seek a new methodology for teaching, one that would break away from traditional schooling. The discovery of Piaget’s psychology, Freinet’s pedagogy, and Paulo Freire’s teachings, along with my involvement in the Cooperative Popular School Movement’s working groups, completely transformed my perspective on education and learning methodologies and brought me closer to a new view of reality and the world.
In this new school, where cooperation, creativity, and research were essential, understanding the students’ environment and creating new teaching materials became indispensable for conducting classes.
