1st Russian-Mexican Expedition

Dates: 22/10/2009 - 10/11/2009 Organisers: MGDD(U)T, OODI, La RED Place: Mexico Level: International

The 1st Russian-Mexican Expedition was organized in Mexico by the Moscow City Center of Children and Youth Creativity (MGDD(U)T), The All-Russian Movement of Creative Teachers “Researcher” (OODI) and the RED Nacional de Actividades Juveniles en Ciencia y Tecnología (Mexico).

The Russian participants included 10 teenage students of Lyceum 1553 (Moscow), 2 adult  group leaders: Elena Gurvich  (Doctor of Geology and Mineralogy, Director of the Geological Laboratory at the Moscow City Center for Children and Youth Creativity (the group “Geology”) and Alexey Obukhov (Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Head of the Educational Psychology Department at the Moscow State Pedagogical University (the group “ Sociocultural Anthropology”), and Ksenia Salnikova (Expedition Coordinator, Translator).

The Mexican participants included Rafael Flores Hernandes (Biologist, Veracruz University) and the employees of the RED Nacional de Actividades Juveniles en Ciencia y Tecnología Dariela Reyes Morgado and Juan Alberto Guevara (Expedition Coordinator).

The route of the expedition was mapped in the central part of Mexico (the states of Mexico, Puegbla, Hidalgo, Guerrero, Morelos, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Oaxaca).

In the course of the expedition the participants were carrying out investigations in two fields: Geology and Sociocultural Anthropology.

The Geology group was studying the features of the geology and relief of Central Mexico and the volcanoes were the main object of study. The group visited several volcanoes were they could see craters and crater lakes, nappes and pyroclastic materials. Also, the participants studied the karst phenomena: huge karst caves, lagoons with carbonate deposits resembling stromatolites in shape, and more. On every site the participants visited they took samples for further studying.

The dunes on the coast of the Mexican Gulf turned out to be one more interesting object of research. Thanks to the strong northern wind that was blowing there on the day of the Russian delegation’s arrival, the participants could see with their own eyes the formation of bedding of the dunes.

The group “sociocultural anthropology” conducted several independent investigations. The main object of study was one of the brightest Mexican festive occasions Día de Muertos  (“Day of the Dead”). The participants observed how it is celebrated today, its reflections in art, politics, and mass-culture; also they studied its roots in history trying to single out its pre-Columbian, Catholic and modern parts. In addition, the participants studied the world image and the “I in the world” image of Mexican teenagers by using projective methods of research, and also the autho- and heterostrerotypes of Mexicans and Russians in relation to their own and other cultures.

To see all the variety of landscape and monuments of culture and history was also an important part of the expedition. The participants went hundreds of kilometers and saw pine forests, alpine meadows, and the amazing semiarid part of Mexico with its numerous types of cacti. They also visited the mysterious cities of ancient civilizations with their magnificent pyramids, and the beautiful monuments of architecture of the colonial period. All this added a lot to the participants’ general image of Mexico.

Finally, both groups took part in the Mexican national Expo Sciences 2009. As part of the exhibition, there was a conference where the leaders and the participants of the expeditions reported about its preliminary results, and answered the audience’s questions. The conference was opened and greeted by Alexander Leontovich - Director of the Moscow Center of Scientific and Technological Creativity and Roberto Hidalgo – Head of  the RED Nacional de Actividades Juveniles en Ciencia y Tecnología.

Both speakers emphasized the importance of Russian-Mexican cooperation in the development of the creative activity in science and technology among young people. As a result of the conference it was decided to organize similar expeditions every second year both in Mexico and in Russia. And so we are waiting for our Mexican friends here in 2011.