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've read my blog in the past, you might be aware that I'm traveling with the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact along the Texas-Mexico border for 10 days during my winter break. As a matter of fact, I'm writing this post from Del Rio!
To kick off my blog series this winter break, I want to provide a look into my trip. Trips like these are incredibly common at Dartmouth; the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact (DCSI) is not only one organization that hosts break trips! In addition, although this is the first year for the DCSI's Texas-Mexican border trip, it will begin to run every year—so, prospective students, you might be going on the same trip soon!
We began in El Paso, where our experience was largely focused on learning from Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR). Organizers were able to tell us about their work, how they got involved, and showed us ways that they connect with community members in the field. Overall, it was really helpful and made me consider ways I can try to be more active in my own community. Also, El Paso has really delicious gorditas!
Next, we headed down to Alpine to do an art tour. Before that, we had brunch with Monica Lozano, a photographer who makes immigration the focus of her art. I'm really glad that she shared her creative process with us—I love how artists find different meanings in the artwork, and it gives me ideas on how I can make my academic projects more creative! Alpine was a lovely small town with a typically bustling tourist economy, but since we came during the slow season we had lots of time to ourselves to check out the street art and various antique shops.
Check out this cool painted cat-food box in Alpine!
Our next stop was near Presidio. Dr. Bryon Schroeder, Director of Center for Big Bend Studies, generously showed us some excavation sites and told us about the rich indigenous histories of many locations near the border. He was able to share a lot about how indigenous remains can be appropriated by museums, and the politics of exhibition at play in these instances. We ended the day with stargazing at Big Bend National Park, which was just beautiful!
We spent the next day driving to Del Rio, which was a six hour journey! Once we got here, we met with BNHR Del Rio, specifically Romina Gonzaler, the head coordinator. She shared her experience working as an organizer—hearing about her dedication to bringing community members together was great, especially because doing so in conservative Del Rio can be quite challenging.
The trip is only halfway over, and I've already felt like I've done so much. Hopefully, this gives an insight into the types of experiences Dartmouth organizations can provide—I'm eager to update the blog next week with the second half of the trip!
SIP, or Social Impact Practicum, is a type of course that is offered at Dartmouth that centers around engaging with local community partners. I have taken two of these courses now and have found them to be enriching and interesting.
For those who want to attend medical school after their undergraduate education, the infrastructure of a "pre-med" track is an important factor when choosing a school to apply to. Here's how the premed experience has been for me at Dartmouth!
