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.
If you're considering attending Dartmouth, you've probably heard of the D-Plan. This unique spin on the quarter system allows students to select which quarters they spend on or off campus. At other schools, usually all students have the summer off - however, at Dartmouth, students have the freedom to choose which quarters they spend taking classes and which they don't. This allows students to do internships, work opportunities, and study abroad programs at any point in the year! In this post, I want to give my personal opinion on the pros and cons of the D-Plan and how my experience has been with it so far.
One of my favorite things about the D-Plan is the short length of the quarters. Students typically take 3 classes per term, which I prefer because it allows me to focus on less classes at the same time, allowing me to explore each course more in-depth. I also love that the D-Plan has allowed me to study abroad multiple times without taking up a huge chunk of my time and credits - I was able to study abroad in Morocco studying Arabic during my freshman summer, and later did an internship in Kuwait during my sophomore spring. At other schools, these two experiences likely would've taken up the course of a year, but at Dartmouth I was able to integrate those experiences smoothly into the rest of my college experience. But overall, my favorite thing about the D-Plan is the fact I'm able to center my college plans around my own schedule. If I spontaneously decided that I wanted to take a term off for any reason, I'd be able to do so. Having that freedom and flexibility is something I really appreciate about the D-Plan!
However, sometimes there are aspects of the D-Plan that frustrate me. For many internships during the fall or spring semesters, Dartmouth's short 10-week terms are not long enough to fulfill the time commitment for those internships unless you take back-to-back off terms. So, if you want to do an internship during an off-term that falls outside of the summer, it sometimes falls on the student to design their own internship rather than applying to already existing ones. In addition, while I often love the fact that quarters allow students to focus on less classes at once, they are definitely fast-paced and intense, with midterms sometimes beginning as early as week 3. Finally, I feel that the D-Plan sometimes impacts the ability to maintain friendships. For example, it's common that different D-Plans between me and my friends have resulted in me not being on campus at the same time as them for over a year. This also can pose a challenge for continuity in clubs and student organizations, as it's difficult to establish a leadership structure when people are constantly coming and going off campus.
The D-Plan is certainly a unique aspect of Dartmouth, and overall reaffirms my decision to choose Dartmouth. There are definitely pros and cons to this system, which are important to weigh when deciding whether or not to attend Dartmouth!
In addition to blogging, I work as a Fellow for the Tucker Center, which focuses on promoting spiritual and ethical life on campus. As part of this role, I'm leading the Interfaith Alternative Spring Break Trip. Read on to learn more about my work!
