Xoán Paredes

Xoán M. Paredes (Galician: [ʃo̯aŋ paˈɾeðe̝s]; born in 1975) is a Galician geographer, teacher and ordained druid.

Paredes is a licenciado in Geography by the University of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), where he studied under the direction of Carlos Ferrás. He completed his MPhil thesis at University College Cork (Ireland), under the supervision of Patrick O'Flanagan.

During his stay in Ireland (1999-2010), Paredes worked as a teaching and library assistant at UCC, and collaborated regularly with the Irish Centre for Galician Studies and the Department of Education.[1]

He currently teaches social sciences, English and Portuguese,[2] while he remains involved in a number of grassroots organisations and projects. He is a former member of the Galician Institute for Celtic Studies. Paredes has been responsible for the organisation of academic seminars and conferences and he is a regular name in the discussions about Celtic Galicia.

Dr Maria Dovigo (left), Xoán Paredes (centre) and Prof. Francesco Benozzo (right). Pitões das Júnias (Montalegre) conference on Celtic culture, Portugal, April 2016.

Research

Paredes has conducted research in the fields of spatial planning and cultural geography, with a focus on geolinguistics, Atlantic Europe and cultural landscapes. He has helped in defining the concept of cultural landscape as:

"... the environment modified by the human being in the course of time, the long-term combination between anthropic action on this environment and the physical constraints limiting or conditioning human activity. It is a geographical area – including natural and cultural resources – associated to historical evolution, which gives way to a recognizable landscape for a particular human group, up to the point of being identifiable as such by others."[3]

Like a number of other previous authors such as Otero Pedrayo, Paredes links his native Galicia to a genuinely Atlantic culture despite being part of a Mediterranean state (Spain). In doing so, he identifies a cultural landscape common to Atlantic (namely Celtic) Europe mainly based on the settlement pattern, use and shared perception of the lived space.

Following on John T. Koch's and Barry Cunliffe’s “Celtic from the West” postulates,[4] Paredes supports the Paleolithic Continuity Paradigm, thus coinciding with Francesco Benozzo when locating the origins of Celtic Culture in north-west Iberia.[5][6] Once again, Paredes considers that there is a particular Celtic cultural landscape (although presenting variations in scale) which demonstrates in itself a social and cultural unity and continuity.[7]

Regarding planning and territorial management, Paredes defends a deep restructuring of the Galician official administrative jurisdictions. He considers them to be the result of forced foreign (Spanish) intervention and therefore in disarray with the traditional – and still operating at a popular and psychological level – Galician territorial tiers. His research also criticises the governmental improvisation and lack of strategic planning in Galician territorial implementations.[8][9]

Paredes has also conducted comparative studies between Galicia-North Portugal and Ireland in all of the above-mentioned topics.[10][11][12][13][14]

Selected works

Research

Essay

Personal life

Raised between Galicia and Majorca, Paredes lived in Cork (Ireland) from 1999 to 2010. He now resides in Pontevedra (Galicia).

He is fluent in English, Catalan, Spanish, Galician and Portuguese, where he takes the reintegrationist position with regards to the relationship between modern Galician and Portuguese.[15]

He is a user and avid supporter of free software and Linux,[16] as well as a vocal fan of heavy metal music[17] and Star Trek.[18]

Religious beliefs

Paredes is the current head of the Irmandade Druídica Galaica (Pan-Galician Druidic Fellowship), an officially registered religious organisation.[19][20] He is, therefore, a believer in reconstructionist Druidry, although following an orthodox approach unlike most contemporary neo-druidic groups.

Political views

In his works, mostly in his essays and publications on social media, Paredes is an advocate for social justice and often associates himself with left-wing positions. Likewise, he is a strong supporter of full Galician independence from Spain.

See also

References

  1. ↑ CV&Contacto, personal site (last access August 08, 2017).
  2. ↑ Xoán at Centro de Iniciativas Culturais e Académicas (last access August 08, 2017).
  3. ↑ Paredes, X.M. (2015) "A utilidade do celtismo. Celticidade galaica no S.XXI". Proceedings of Jornadas das Letras Galego-Portuguesas 2012-2014, DTS and SAGA. p. 175-190.
  4. ↑ Cunliffe, B. and Koch, J.T. (2012) Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature. Oxbow books.
  5. ↑ Benozzo, F. and Alinei, M. (2007): "A área galega na prehistoria lingüística e cultural de Europa", in A Trabe de Ouro, no. 71, p. 13-39, Santiago de Compostela.
  6. ↑ (2016) "F. Benozzo: 'A Galiza e Norte de Portugal são a origem da celticidade europeia'", interview with Francesco Benozzo in Diário Liberdade conducted by X.Paredes (last access August 08, 2017)
  7. ↑ Paredes, X.M. (2017) "I can see my hillfort from here", personal site (last access July 30, 2017).
  8. ↑ Paredes, X.M. (2007) "Conclusions", Territorial management and planning in Galicia: From its origins to end of Fraga administration, 1950s – 2004. MPhil Thesis, Dept. of Geography, University College Cork, Ireland.
  9. ↑ (2016) "Galicia precisa dun modelo territorial de aquí a 10, 20, 30 ou máis anos vista", interview with Xoán Paredes in Praza Pública conducted by Marcos Pérez Lema (last access August 08, 2017).
  10. ↑ (2000): “Curiosities across the Atlantic: brief summary of some of the Irish-Galician classical folkloric similarities nowadays. Galician singularities for the Irish”, in Chimera, n. 15, Dept. of Geography, University College Cork, p. 43-49.
  11. ↑ (2000): “Galicia and Ireland: a preliminary comparison of their territorial structure from the perspective of historical and cultural geography”, presentation given at the First Irish Geography Postgraduate Training Consortium, Ballinter House, Navan (January 28-30, 2000).
  12. ↑ (2002): “Galicia and Ireland: cultural and historical similarities”, presentation given at the University of Birmingham by invitation of the Centre for Galician Studies (February 6, 2002).
  13. ↑ (2016): “Irlanda para galeg*s. Uma viagem por um país vizinho”, talk given as part of the Dias de Irlanda event, organised by CICA, Ponte Vedra (March 18, 2016).
  14. ↑ (2016): “O ordenamento do território: uma comparação Galiza-Irlanda. Ordem ou desordem?”, presentation given at the research seminar Estudar e Investigar na Irlanda, organised by Depto. de Xeografía and GIS-T, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela press clip
  15. ↑ (2010) "A dicotomia galego/português e a mesma que a castelhano/espanhol", interview with Xoán Paredes in Portal Galego da Língua (last access August 08, 2017).
  16. ↑ (2014): “Software livre”, interview in Radio Pontevedra (Cadena Ser).
  17. ↑ (2011): "De los Urales a las Kuriles", Asian Metal radio show by Xoán Paredes (10 episodes; total running time 8h 20m), from the extinct Spanish online radio broadcast Volumen Maldito.
  18. ↑ (2015): "E tudo o que peço é uma boa nave e uma estrela para guiá-la", in Diário Liberdade (last access August 09, 2017).
  19. ↑ "Detalle de entidades religiosas", official record from the Spanish Ministry of Justice (last access August 09, 2017).
  20. ↑ (2017) “Galicia and Druidry”, interview in Spectacular Spain (S01 E06), Channel 5 (UK) (first aired 05/05/17), conducted by Alex Polizzi.
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