Background and mission

On the 20th October 1992, on the occasion of an international congress at Groningen University about the Culture and Colonization of North-America, the foundation of the Centro de Estudios Mexicanos (CEM) was announced. Only a half year later, on the 31th of March 1993, the Centre was officially inaugurated by his excellence Mr. Ezequiel Padilla, Mexican Ambassador in the Netherlands. The CEM aims to promote research and education related to Mexican language and culture. Besides linguistics and literature, fields of interest are the disciplines of anthropology, history, economy and geography. The Centre aims to collaborate with different academic disciplines and institutions within the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands as a whole, as well as with similar disciplines and institutions in Mexico. For the latter, the CEM has signed several agreements of cooperation with different Mexican institutions of higher education.

The Centre strives to achieve a regular exchange of ideas, teachers, researchers. students, and artists in order to realize publications, conferences and exhibitions. Within the Netherlands the CEM plays a coordinating role in the exchange with Mexican institutions, as well as in the organization of an annual symposium of scholars of Mexico. In Groningen, the collaboration with the Centre d'Etudes Canadiennes and the Department of American Studies has to be mentioned. This cooperation opens up the possibility to study certain themes across national borders, like the indigenous cultures in North-America, Mexican migrants in the United Stades, and the meaning and role of NAFTA. The Centro de Estudios Mexicanos is part of the European Languages and Cultures Department of the University of Groningen (RUG) and enjoys the support of the Mexican Embassy in the Netherlands.