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.
Theatre has been present in my life for as long as I can remember. Honestly, I remember finding it by accident. As a kid, till today, I have always been into dancing. From classical ballet to Ukrainian Folk and South African Gumboot, performing on stage has been one of my favourite ways to express myself and show respect and admiration for different cultures and performative traditions. When I was around 13, I started taking theatre classes along with ballet because I had been cast in my academy's end-of-year presentation, which required reading a couple of lines. Since then, I have been very attached to the dramatic arts. Now that it's teachers' appreciation week in the US, I thought of giving a shoutout to the professors who have helped me this far!
Honestly, it was only when I left my home country, Brazil that I began being serious about theatre. As I did the International Baccalaureate (IB) in high school, I was lucky to have the best professor ever for my Theatre Higher Level class. Lucas Olscamp was an alumnus of my school, and because of his own connection to our mission of intercultural education and performance, I had the opportunity to learn more than I could have ever imagined.
When choosing where to apply for college, Lucas was really helpful – he not only wrote my recommendation letter as my IB advisor, but also looked into every theatre department I was considering to make sure I was making the right decision.
The transition to college theatre is something I am still learning to navigate. Classes, auditions, productions… all of that take a different form at Dartmouth. Nonetheless, I have been extremely lucky with the professors I encountered so far.
My final presentation for THEA10.68!
As part of the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble, I take classes every weekend taught by the incredible John Heginbotham and Rebecca Stenn. As part of the theatre department, they are mainly responsible for the dancing and choreographing aspects of it, which highly interests me.
Moreover, in the winter term, I had the privilege of taking THEA10.68 with Prof. Analola Santana, who is a reference in academia for her studies of Latin American performance. In this class, we analysed the political role of drama throughout the continent, highlighting the experiences of Latinx theatre-makers both down the border and in the diaspora. This class not only made me more interested in minoring in Theatre, but also deepened my understanding of my own culture and its reflection on the stage.
Prof. Santana!
Had it not been for Lucas, John, Rebecca, and Analola, I have no idea what I would be studying right now. Even though theatre is not my main academic interest at college, it has always been a big part of who I am, and I am very grateful to be able to keep up with this here in Hanover :)
Academics can be challenging at Dartmouth. But there are lots of groups across campus here to support you through your academic journey. Read on for my experience asking for help and a few organizations that might be helpful to you!
Every Dartmouth student is required to demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English. Here's my experience navigating the language requirement!
