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.
This has been a very interesting term for me. As per tradition, on our fifth term at Dartmouth, students are to declare their major. And, well, this week I got my major plan approved! I am officially studying Linguistics modified with Native American & Indigenous Studies (NAIS) as my major, along with a Spanish minor! Being able to modify my major was one of the reasons I chose to come to Dartmouth. I have worked along with Prof. Stanford from the Linguistics department and Prof. Duthu from NAIS to design a plan that would fit best my expectations, both for college and life!
Coming from an Indigenous background, language revitalisation is what mostly drives my interest in Linguistics. The possibility of diving deep into both fields could not be more amazing. I get to keep the somewhat science-y portions of Linguistics that I like, such as phonology and syntax, while still experimenting with the more anthropological and social aspects of NAIS.
As I just got approved for the Linguistics program abroad in New Zealand, this major came at a perfect time. I will manage to not only learn from the best scholars of the area here in Hanover, but also complete two credits in the University of Auckland. The process of declaring a major is fairly simple: once you know what you want to study, all you have to do is design a course of study with all the classes you intend to take to meet that department's requirements. Once that is submitted, the department chair might reach out to you, maybe schedule an appointment to review it, and bam! You have a major!
The Ling major shirt!
In my case, for it being a modified major, I had to go through the consultation process with both departments. But, honestly, it was just a chance to get to know the chairs a little bit better, chat about my ideas, and get their insights on how I can get where I want to be. I even got a t-shirt from the Linguistics department!
Nonetheless, this term, I am taking LING15 - Language Acquisition, NAIS42 - Gender Issues in Native American Life, and THEA16 - Theatre and Society II. All these classes, in away or another, help me get done with my major. And, honestly, that is the beauty of the liberal arts, no? With LING15, I am completing the LING portion of my major, while NAIS42 takes me further into the second portion. THEA16 came in a perfect time, since, although not a theatre major, I am a big fan of Prof. Santana, and truly looked forward to being her student once again. In no world would I have imagined myself taking theatre in a degree path that has almost nothing to do with it.
In addition to blogging, I work as a Fellow for the Tucker Center, which focuses on promoting spiritual and ethical life on campus. As part of this role, I'm leading the Interfaith Alternative Spring Break Trip. Read on to learn more about my work!
Unlike some other universities, many of the STEM lecture classes at Dartmouth require concurrent enrollment in a laboratory section. What is it like navigating that time as a student?
