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.
After an off-term last spring, I'm back on campus taking classes for sophomore summer! In this post, I want to share what classes I'm taking this term. Summer is typically a time when students take more exploratory classes while enjoying the great weather with friends! Since it's predominantly sophomores on campus, there is the opportunity to make great memories with other members of your class.
One class I'm taking is 'Gender in the Modern Middle East and North Africa,' which looks at gender roles, sexuality, and hierarchies of power more broadly in the Middle East today. Since the class approaches the topic from a historical perspective, a lot of the work is centered around tracking how factors like globalization, imperialism/colonialism, and political shifts have shaped gender roles and identities in the Middle East. As a Middle Eastern Studies and Anthropology major, this class is really relevant to my research interests. A topic like 'gender' plays a massive role in determining the structures, norms, and hierarchies of power in the world that we live in, so developing a better understanding of it helps me to better understand why society operates the way it does.
Another class I'm taking is 'Filmmaking and Visual Culture,' an Anthropology class that analyzes visual culture, such as film, fashion, architecture, and other mediums of artwork and aesthetic expression. The course is also listed with the Department of African and African-American Studies, so most of the content we are studying is related to radical Black thought and how it manifests through visual culture. Due to my interest in digital humanities, I'm really getting into film and ethnographic filmmaking as a way to tell anthropological stories—therefore, taking this class will be a good segue to help me understand how to make compelling films and share stories.
I've also been busy this term since I'm working as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for 'Introduction to Cultural Anthropology' and continuing with my research. Lots of students take 2 courses during the summer to better enjoy the season with their friends. This term, I am taking 2 classes—instead of the typical 3—which has really helped with my time management. If you find you need to 'pull back' and prioritize things outside of class for a term or two, Dartmouth builds in enough space for all students to take a 2-course term. Furthermore, any 4-course terms you take allow you to take an additional 2-course term at some point, which really allows you to shape your termly class schedule based on your individual needs.
I can't wait to get more into these classes and share my experiences with the blog—summer awaits!
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!
