Eduardo Matos Moctezuma 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences

Statement by Eduardo Matos Moctezuma on being granted the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities

“The Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences constitutes a very great honour for me that I am most grateful for. Mexico and Spain are sister countries that are linked by enduring ties that should be strengthened even more. This award fills me with pride and the names of my teachers –who trained me in the field of anthropology and, in particular, archaeology– come to mind. Digging into the past to bring it into the present has been the task that I have unceasingly carried out throughout my life. Today I observe, with great satisfaction, the fruits of that task, which have allowed me to learn about our own history and how it was linked to the history of other countries such as Spain. I thank the National Autonomous University of Mexico and its rector, Dr Enrique Graue, for having nominated me for such a precious award. I am likewise grateful to the Mexican Academy of the Spanish Language and Don Gonzalo Celorio, its president, for the same reason. My thanks also to my dear and admired friends, academics Pablo Rudomín and Francisco Bolívar Zapata, past recipients of the Prince of Asturias Award, who seconded my candidature. Finally, my gratitude to the Jury who saw fit to name and honour me with this distinction. My thanks to one and all.”

Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
Mexico City, 18th May 2022