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!
About halfway through each term, I've made a habit of writing a blog post breaking down my classes of the term and what they're like; I think that this detailed look at one specific course load doesn't necessarily represent what Dartmouth is like for all students, but can definitely be one window of insight as to what classes are actually like at Dartmouth. So, in this post, I'll be breaking down my three courses of spring term!
First, I am continuing studying Modern Standard Arabic with Arabic 3. Through this course, I am continuing to expand my vocabulary and grammatical knowledge of Arabic, as well as being exposed to more cultural aspects of the Arab world, such as presentations about holidays and cuisine. The course includes 4 hours of Arabic drill per week, which is a student-ran timeslot where I can actually practice speaking and pronouncing different phrases in the language. Overall, I am amazed at how much Arabic I've learned so far at Dartmouth; it is regarded as one of the most difficult languages for English-speakers to learn, but I find that I am able to understand about 20% of Arabic news channels. To continue improving my Arabic, I watch lots of Arabic TV outside of class. I'm eager to go on the Language Study Abroad to Morocco this summer, where I will have tons of opportunities to improve my Arabic. Overall, I love the language and I am sure that I will continue to study Arabic throughout my four years at Dartmouth.
My next class is my first-year seminar, History of the Arabic Language. First-year seminars are required to be taken by freshmen in either their winter or spring terms, and they do not count towards any additional credits; therefore, it's best for freshmen to take seminar courses in subjects that they are actually interested in. The course focuses both on cultural and linguistic trends of the Arabic language throughout time, and the real substance of the course is writing papers and discussion posts about these trends. This course is lots of fun, as the professor selects readings that are both informative and fascinating. The class is a mix of discussion and lecture, which is really representative of many humanities courses at Dartmouth.
My final class is Arab Political Thought. This is a really intensive course that tracks the development of political theory since the death of the Prophet Muhammad. The course is really intense, with about 100-120 pages of reading per week. However, I'm never left feeling like the readings are a waste of time, and I'm really able to use the content in class discussions with my peers to better my understanding of the subject matter. The classroom is organized with all of the students sitting in a circle, and the professor lets us lead and carry discussions while chiming in every once in a while to guide and inform us. This practice lends itself to a very interesting classroom environment, where I'm really able to learn from both my peers and the professor.
Entering week 5, I'm really happy with the courses I've selected for the term, and I'm eager to share more details of my academic life on the blog.
At Dartmouth, there is an undergraduate requirement for language; after all, it is the liberal arts! Fulfilling this requirement looks different for various people and I will focus on my experience.
On Monday, April 8, 2024, a phenomenal total solar eclipse occurred — and we happened to be within the path of totality. As a result, Dartmouth hosted a variety of eclipse-related events on- and off-campus. Find out how I spent the eclipse!
Traditionally, Dartmouth students take three courses during a term, but I decided to take four courses this term! Learn about course load and the academic system at Dartmouth.
Witnessing an eclipse was one of the most exciting days in my life to date, and a solid reminder of our place in this universe. Read on to hear about it!
