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!
This term, I'm taking a class unlike any other that I've taken at Dartmouth! "Anthropology 18: Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology" is an anthropology course that is completely research and project-based. In other words, instead of traditional exams or essays, the course is fully centered around one student-created research project, and we have ten weeks to bring the project to life and write an analytical paper about it at the end of the course. Throughout the term, the class is designed to guide students through the various stages of their research projects, with checkpoints, check-in sessions, and workshops to provide students support.
Since the class is completely self-led, students are at liberty to choose any topic for their research project. For my project, I am looking at identity formation in first-generation low-income juniors. In other words, I'm interested in how being first-generation and low-income at Dartmouth impacts students' Dartmouth experience and how that affects their personality, values, morals, interests, and other aspects of identity. A lot of my research consists of in-depth interviews with first-generation low-income students, giving me the opportunity to hear about their individual experiences. Once the interviews are finished, I will have to transcribe them and see if there are patterns/relationships between the responses. I'm really excited to see what sort of trends I can find, and I'm also glad that I'll have the opportunity to share my findings with the first-generation office.
A lot of my classmates are doing completely different projects. Many of them are using participant observation as their data collection method, which means that they are spending time carefully observing public places to see how people use them. Other students are doing interviews over Zoom with people from across the country, showing the versatility of what kind of projects students can be involved in. In class, we have the opportunity to learn about each others' projects and give feedback at different stages of the research process. I really enjoy this, as it gives me the opportunity to learn more about what others are doing and learn from their process.
Since the class is primarily self-led, there is a lot of responsibility on me to stay on track and make sure that I'm making steady progress on my project, especially due to the fast-paced ten-week term. This allows me to schedule my project development around my classes, work, and other commitments, but it also can be a challenge to make sure that I'm staying on pace. However, the research skills I'm picking up will be useful in so many different aspects of my life, which is why I'm glad I have the opportunity to take the course.
Overall, I'm glad that I've been able to enjoy a different sort of course this term! As the term wraps up, it's time for me to start constructing my final research paper for the class—it'll definitely be a busy end to the fall quarter!
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.
This is my final term before senior year, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. One thing I am excited about is the classes I am taking this term, so let me tell you more!
This is part two of me "nerding out" about my honors thesis! If you want to learn more about independent projects, theses, or the humanities at Dartmouth, check it out!
