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.
In my previous blog post, I wrote about traveling with the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact along the Texas-Mexico border in order to learn more about the national refugee crisis and life on the border. Before you read part 2, check out part 1 here. Through sharing my experiences in this blog post, I hope to provide a closer look at this specific program, and a general idea about how winter break trips might be run at Dartmouth.
After Del Rio, we drove down to Eagle Pass for a much-needed rest day. After 5 straight days of programming, we took a day to eat, do laundry, and relax! Personally, I was watching Poland in the World Cup—unfortunately, we went out in the first round of 16 to France. Their team is looking really strong this year; you heard it here first, France will win the 2022 World Cup.
The next day, we went down to Laredo to learn more about film and art on the border. We met with the founder of the Loredo Film Society to talk about storytelling and film in Laredo; she told us about how her organization brings the community together and showed us some documentaries made by Laredo residents! It was a really fun way to be introduced to the community, and I'm excited to see some of the documentaries we watched be fully released.
The following day, we headed to McAllen to talk with Marianna Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center. She shared with us the many environmental impacts the border wall has on local ecosystems; in addition, since her property is actually on the border, the government has been trying to build a border wall on it for the past few years. Unlike her neighbors, she is resistant to the government's request, despite all their attempts to claim it under eminent domain. It was interesting to talk about her experience, and heartbreaking to hear stories about pro-wall advocates who harassed her, spread rumors about her, and even committed crimes and arson on her property.
On our last day, we headed down to Brownsville. We first spoke with La Posada Providencia, a non-profit on the border which houses mirants once they come out of detention centers. Due to our large group size (15!), I'm glad we were able to use our manpower to help the gardeners with some simple tasks that they no longer would have to waste their time on. We next headed to the Harlingen immigration court to sit in on some removal hearings. We finished the day working with Team Brownsville to pack lunches and hygiene kits for migrants.
Overall, the trip was a great way to meet different people and learn more about the refugee crisis happening on the border. It can be easy to feel far-removed from these issues when reading about them on the news; I feel that getting a small look at life on the border will help me to better understand the headlines we read everyday. I wish more people could have these types of experiences because perhaps there would be a little more justice across our systems; however, I hope to use the privilege of going on this trip to engage with my own community in working towards justice for all.
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!
