Ei! My name is Antônio Jorge Medeiros Batista Silva (yes—four last names!) and I'm a '25 from Governador Valadares, Brazil. My journey to Dartmouth has crossed two continents, three countries, and over 10 schools—and I'm a strong believer that everyone's path to the Big Green was unique in a way. At Dartmouth, I study Linguistics, Native American & Indigenous Studies, and Spanish. I am passionate about social justice, language-learning, and the oxford comma!
This class is an introduction to the Spanish minor and major courses and, although I did not expect to particularly like it, it not only turned out to be my favourite but it made me start considering a degree in the department!
In this class, we analysed different productions of Latinx American theatre. Prof. Analola Santana was probably the best person I met this year at Dartmouth. Being her student was a very important experience as I try to navigate my potential majors and minors.
In this class, I was able to carve time out of my busy Dartmouth schedule to study and learn my Indigenous language: Krenak. With the help of Prof. Gokke, all students were encouraged to develop a final project that spoke to their community's needs for language learning and revitalisation. It was an extremely important class for me, not only academically, but also for my personal healing process.
I had the honour of spending my sophomore fall in Madrid, taking part in the Spanish FSP. There, Prof. Martín was not only a great professor, responsible for my favourite lecture of the program, but also an incredible company throughout our classes and in-country trips. Great way to wrap up my Spanish minor, honestly!
This was my second class in the NAIS department, and thus it took me one step closer to wrapping up my major. Nonetheless, it was Prof. Powell's genuine charisma and caring personality that made it my favourite of the term!
This course was definitely life changing! Prof. Pochedley, a visiting post-doc of the Potawatomi nation did a great job at keeping the students engaged while teaching us to see the land we inhabit as a source of knowledge and spirituality. In a majority Indigenous classroom, we got to develop individual projects related to our traditional homelands, learning to navigate the world through Native world lenses.
Prof. Gómez is one of those profs I've always wanted to take a class with. His work with the Horror genre in Modern Spanish literatures amazes me, and it was an honour to guide in-class discussions and develop my own research on the themes of science, testimony, and fear.
LING54 is an umbrella course: the actual content of the course may vary each year, but it is the common letter-number code to refer to the course taught abroad by your accompanying Dartmouth Linguistics professor. In this year's Linguistics Foreign Study Program (FSP), LING54 was a 'Language Documentation' class, wonderfully taught by Prof. David Peterson.
Before this class, I had no idea what visual and cultural studies actually encompassed. Every chat with Prof. Broner opened my eyes to a different analysis or method for interpreting literature, and for that, I feel truly lucky! We got to discuss films made by Indigenous women from all over Latin America, exposing the class to distinct ways of interacting with and stewarding the environment.
Last month, I was surprised to open my email inbox and find out that Allen House was taking its house members for a weekend trip in New York City. It felt like a crazy opportunity: although NYC is just about six hours away by bus, it can sometimes be hard to plan a trip by yourself. All the times I've been to the Big Apple, I was with friends who helped me prepare and find places to stay, eat and do fun things. Now, it was no different, but it was the school that was taking us! It was truly an incredible trip!
As I explained in my 'Survival Guide to First-Year Housing', published last year, Dartmouth has a Hogwarts-like system. It means that all enrolled students — both undergraduate and graduate — are assigned to one of the six houses: Allen, East Wheelock, North Park, School, West, and South. There is no selection hat, however! All you get is an email from your house prof, the faculty member responsible for your cluster. I am very lucky to be an Allen House member, where Prof. McCabe is the House professor. I've been meaning to take one of her classes forever now, either in the Education program or the Sociology department. But, so far, sharing these spaces with her has been incredible!
SIX at Broadway!
I was scared that once I became an upperclassman, I would lose touch with my house. It is common that, once you move out of your freshman dorm, you branch out to new friend circles, especially as you get more familiar with clubs, extracurriculars, and the Greek system. Happily, this 24h trip was a chance to reconnect with people I haven't talked to since last year, as well as to explore the city through a whole different angle.
During the trip, we got to go to the Museum of Modern Art, Broadway, and grab dinner at a super fancy restaurant in Manhattan. All paid by Allen House! I don't think I could be more grateful for Dartmouth's housing system, honestly!
