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!
If you've read my blog in the past, you know I love to start each fresh term with a brief summary of my classes! I think this is a great way to give a look into the academics of Dartmouth on a more intimate level, as well as a nice way to learn a little bit about me and my interests.
In continuation with my first four terms at Dartmouth, I am taking more Arabic at Dartmouth! This term I'm able to take Arabic 31 (third-year Arabic) due to going on the Morocco LSA this summer. This class is taught in Arabic and places an emphasis on acquiring more vocabulary and grammar in order to improve reading, listening, and speaking skills. There are six people in class, which makes it a great environment for asking questions and tailoring the lesson to whatever areas are weakest for us linguistically. Moreover, continuing with language at Dartmouth has allowed me to become a drill instructor, on which I'll elaborate in a future post! The amount of Arabic I've been able to learn in only a year goes to show the strength of language programs at Dartmouth.
Another class I'm taking is Craft of Fiction, a creative writing class with visiting professor Alaa al-Aswany. An author from Egypt, al-Aswany has written a number of bestselling books in both the United States and the Middle East, including titles such as The Yacoubian Building and Chicago. One of the greatest benefits of a creative writing class like this one is that it's fun! The readings for class are short stories and excerpts of creative writing, which keeps me engaged. In addition, the opportunity to learn from a famous author is incredibly valuable, and I am eager to write more in the class and receive feedback from him.
My last class is Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy. This is a pretty stark departure from the classes I'm normally used to, as I've generally taken classes in the Middle Eastern Studies department. However, I'm really enjoying it; having the opportunity to branch out is exciting. Furthermore, I think that taking a foundational Greek philosophy course will really help my writing and critical thinking, as it is these Greek and Roman ideas that Western knowledge is built on.
Overall, I'm really excited to experience these classes this term; towards the end of the term, come back to my blog and see if I still think so highly of them!
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.
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.
As I approach the halfway mark of my Dartmouth journey this spring, I find myself reflecting on the significance of distributive and world culture requirements in shaping my academic experience.
