What's up! My name is Brandon and I'm a '25 from a small town outside of Chicago. I am passionate about Middle Eastern culture, politics, history, and languages; I'm particularly interested in studying gender/sexuality, politics of exhibition, and counterculture in the Arab Gulf. My current hobbies are reading, playing the mandolin, audio design, eating spicy foods, and streetwear. Please enjoy these snapshots of my life in Hanover!
This was definitely my favorite class of fall term—the readings were heavy, but they all felt incredibly relevant to the coursework. For each class, we read both Jewish and Arab perspectives throughout history. Moreover, Professor Avishai has a vast network of connections with important members of Israeli government, and even figures who we read about in the history books (including former prime ministers!). Overall, that class was a lot of work but very effective in helping me understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Professor Smolin's lectures were always something for me to look forward to. In this intro class, a wide variety of subjects regarding the Arab world were covered. Topics such as culture, Islam, literature, poetry, politics, and history were covered from the pre-Islamic period to the more recent Arab Spring. The readings were fascinating, and the professor also incorporated a wide variety of video resources to accompany the readings. I loved this class!
I found myself regularly engrossed in Professor Fishere's lectures in Arab Political Thought. Tracking the development of political ideologies from the 1800s until today was fascinating, the discussion-based classes helped me get to know tons of my peers.
While in Morocco this summer, I had the chance to take intensive Arabic 21 and Arabic 22. Working with a local teacher, Ilham, I had the chance to study both standard Arabic and Moroccan Arabic .My favorite part of the class was the opportunity to engage with the language in cafes and shops.
Ancient Greek & Roman Philosophy was definitely a class that took me out of my comfort zone. Having never taken a class on philosophy, I had lots of fun studying readings of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Furthermore, I liked that the class focused heavily on group-work, with weekly group meetings and write-ups being a critical component of the class.
This class made me think critically about how we use different media, and how different media use us. I always considered media and technology as tools we use to navigate life, but never thought about the ways that media influence us and perceptions of the self. Taking this course inspired me to be involved more with digital humanities in order to think critically about how different media can alter the meaning of a message.
I had a great spring term living in Kuwait while interning at the American University of Kuwait! Working as an intern with the Oral History Project and International Relations departments, I met many amazing friends and gained experience with oral history and digital humanities. As someone who wants to continue doing research on the Arab Gulf, this experience was incredibly valuable.
Filmmaking & Visual Culture was about the intersection of filmmaking and anthropology, and I really enjoyed the course. The course looked at film through a post-colonial lens, thinking about how it can be used as a tool to tell stories, empower communities, and challenge structural violence. As a final project, we were required to make our own films with the broad requirement that they had to tell some kind of story or narrative. Having this sort of creative freedom was lots of fun: I did a short film project about a farmer in the Upper Valley.
This was the first science course that I had ever taken at Dartmouth, and I actually really enjoyed it. The course was focused on being able to identity the names and functions of the bones and muscles in the human body: we covered a lot of ground in a short 10-week term. In addition to studying human anatomy, we also studied the anatomy of monkeys and chimps, comparing their evolutionary trends to those of humans. We also had the chance to visit the Geisel School of Medicine cadaver lab on multiple occasions to review for exams, which was definitely a unique experience. Overall, I'm glad I took the opportunity to go outside of my comfort zone a little bit with this class!
This term as a Hopkins Center for the Arts Video Fellow, I am on a student team that is organizing a 3-day arts event entirely showcasing multiple forms of student artwork on campus. If you want to learn more about the Hop Fellows program, check out this post I wrote last term! Essentially, the program brings together students with experience in different forms of artistic management (marketing, video, social media, production, etc) to work throughout the fall and winter to put on a 3-day student artist showcase in late February in Sawtooth, a local restaurant in Hanover.
We decided as a group to call the event Hanunder, playing with the town name 'Hanover' where Dartmouth is located. Leading up to the event, we meet weekly on Wednesday nights to work out scheduling, logistics, and marketing campaigns for the event. Since there are 17 total fellows, we also break into smaller groups focused on planning more specific parts of the event (marketing, production, engagement) in order to make sure everything runs smoothly.
As a video fellow, I've been involved on the marketing side oxf things to create Instagram reels and TikTok content to help advertise the event. It has been a great way to work on my videography—for my reels, I interview student artists who will be performing or presenting their work at the event, asking them about their inspirations and how they made their art come together. Not only is it a great way to practice my videography, but it's also fun to meet some student artists that I didn't know beforehand! The event will include a mixture of film, live music, dance, sculpture, painting, and theater, so it will definitely be a great way to bring various art forms together on campus.
As a Dartmouth student, working as a Hop Fellow is one of many campus jobs that I'm able to do. The fact that I'm able to do work that I love and will benefit me in my future career, while also being paid, is incredible! Also, the ability to have this much agency in organizing an entire live show is invaluable, and will definitely be an experience I remember for years to come. Not only is it a great way to practice my video skills, but I'm also learning lots about marketing, production, and networking - this Hop Fellows event is just one example of how Dartmouth's liberal arts focus allows students to acquire interdisciplinary skills while doing something they love, and getting paid for it on top of that!
I can't wait to put on Hanunder this February, and will definitely keep the blog updated with how the event goes!
I have written about being a student worker plenty of times in the past, but I have yet to talk about one of my favorite jobs ever: ticket selling at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
Planning on visiting Dartmouth as a prospective student or an interested person wanting to see our beautiful campus? In this post, I share insider tips to ensure your visit is fulfilled!
