Hi, my name is Brandon and I'm a '25 from just outside of Chicago. I study Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies, and am involved with multimedia journalism and videography on campus. I am passionate about documentary filmmaking and using film as a tool to present lived human experiences in subjective visual, aesthetic, and sonic terms. In my free time, I love to spend time with my cat, follow the Chicago Bulls, and study Arabic. 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!
I love to make and watch documentaries, so taking ethnographic film was a great way to look at filmmaking in academic, anthropological terms. We watched and analyzed many documentary films throughout the course, considering factors like documentary ethics, filmmaking style, and multi-media approaches. We also did a lot of critical media analysis, looking at how the medium of a piece of work impacts the message it is trying to convey. Additionally, we were able to work on and submit our own short documentary films as final projects for the course.
As week 5 comes to an end, I've realized that I'm in the thick of the fall term. And what better time to share what a busy day looks like at Dartmouth? In this post, I'll share what a day on campus looks like for me; despite the unexpected things that happen in Hanover, hopefully this can give an idea about what a sophomore's day looks like!
Today (Wednesday), I woke up at 6:30am. This has become pretty standard to me, as I have to teach Arabic drill every morning at 7:30, Monday through Thursday. As a result, I've been forced to become a morning person; and I actually like it! Once I got to drill and set up my classroom a little bit, I spent 30-45 minutes dictating words, phrases, and letters to beginning Arabic students in order to help with pronunciation. If you want to hear more about language drill at Dartmouth, check out my post on it!
After drill, I love going to Collis Cafe for a breakfast sandwich with sausage. Collis has the best selection for breakfast; usually I just go for the breakfast sandwich, but if I'm feeling healthy and nutritious I'll take a banana. Since my friend teaches Spanish drill and we have a morning class together, we grabbed breakfast together for 20 minutes before our Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy class at 8:50am.
In my philosophy class, we have a midterm paper due in the coming days; in class, I try to take attentive notes to review for my paper. But, to be honest, understanding abstract concepts from thousands of years ago isn't really easy at 9 in the morning! However, being my first philosophy class at Dartmouth, I've really enjoyed it.
After philosophy, I have to get to my Arabic class at 10:00am pretty quickly; I've had the same Arabic professor since my first term here, and since many of us in the class went to Morocco together it's a great environment to learn and enjoy the language. After Arabic, my classes are done for the day!
In preparation for my philosophy midterm, I went to office hours after Arabic in order to clarify some things I was unsure of before writing the paper. I had a short break before meeting with my research advisor at 1:00pm, so I went to grab lunch at the HOP. The HOP is the place for comfort food on campus; burgers, quesos, chicken tenders, the list goes on.
I spent about an hour and a half talking with my research advisor; we are exploring the topic of taboo and respectability politics in the Middle East, and there was a lot of material to discuss after I read some books since our last meeting. As it happened, my professor from Morocco was visiting campus for a day, so after my meeting with my advisor me and some other Arabic students went to spend some time and catch up with him! This ability to connect with professors both in and outside of the classroom is one of the greatest benefits of Dartmouth's undergraduate focus.
At this point, it was about 5pm and I was exhausted! I spent the rest of the day alternating between doing work, grabbing dinner, playing League of Legends, and writing this blog post! I tend to go to bed pretty early, usually 11pm – this is pretty uncharacteristic on campus, but since I have to wake up pretty early I make sure to give mercy to my body.
Overall, these days are definitely pretty busy for me; however, doing all this work gives a sense of fulfillment, and I'm happy to share it with prospective students on the blog!
It's hard to believe that it has been a year since I wrote my first end-of-fall-term reflection. It felt like only yesterday that I stepped into my dorm room this September, eager to reunite with my friends.
Applying early to a university can be overwhelming and confusing. As someone who did not apply to Dartmouth through early decision, here are a couple tips that I could have used when thinking about applying early to a school!
