Department of Romance Studies

Film Screening and Discussion with Director Carolin Schmitz

Reading by Jacobo Sefamí, University of California, Irvine

Intercultural and interdisciplinary encounters: Cultural heritage and interculturality

How is Mexico portrayed and what role does the construction of identity play there in the context of the World Cup?

As part of the cooperation between UNAM (Mexico) and the University of Siegen, Prof. Dr. Sandra L. López Varela and Dr. Hans Bouchard were guests of the German Ambassador to Mexico, Clemens von Goetze. Academics from all disciplines who maintain university cooperation between Germany and Mexico were invited.

This invitation was something very special for me, as I myself was able to take part in one of her courses as a Master's student at UNAM with Prof. López Varela in 2014 as part of the ISAP program. It is very motivating to learn that networks can emerge from your studies that bear fruit twelve years later as research collaborations: from exchange students to research partners.

Thanks to the financial support of the Comenius program at the University of Siegen and the focused partnership with UNAM, Prof. López Varela has already been able to enrich many of my seminars in an interdisciplinary way on site. Publications on the World Cup in Mexico and a COIL seminar (Collaborative Online International Learning) are currently in the pipeline, which will focus on international exchange between students on our courses.