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.
Last weekend, my friends and I entered the Jones Media Centers' 48-hour video contest! The Jones Media Center is a branch of the library that rents out tech, gear, and software to students for creative and academic projects. They run a 48-hour video contest every year in the fall; students are given a short phrase and an object that must be present in the less than 4-minute-long video. This year's phrase was "Meet me at 3am", and the object was a stationary letter with the phrase "OK LOVE YOU BYE" written in bubble letters at the bottom.
This year, my friends and I formed a team of 6. We collaboratively brainstormed, acted, directed, and later edited the film. One of my friends (a fellow blogger, Chase!) even produced a custom musical score for the film. On Friday at 5pm, Jones held a kickoff where they announced the prompt and object – immediately after, we headed down to Novack Cafe to brainstorm ideas. Between the 6 of us, it was quite difficult to think of an idea to all agree on. However, while hanging out and brainstorming at night, we settled on our final decision: a horror film.
After coming up with our idea, we woke up early on Saturday to start grabbing props and filming. We got some props from Spirit of Halloween and started storyboarding early in the day, and began filming in the evening and late into the night. A large portion of our film was made with camcorders and flashlights in the woods at night, which created an eerie atmosphere for a large section of the film. We also focused a lot on audio and sound design, thinking about how the backing music and sound effects can add to the build-up of tension in the film. If you're interested to see the final product, check it out here!
After filming on Saturday, we spent most of Sunday morning and afternoon, editing, coloring, and doing sound design for the film before submitting it by 5pm. On Sunday night, all of the videos were screened publicly to a sizable audience! It felt really rewarding to see the audience gripped and engaged in our film, and it was also lots of fun to see what the other 14 groups were able to come up with in 48 hours. The video contest is such a great way to bring artists and the community together, and I'm glad Jones is dedicated to running it year-after-year. My favorite part of the experience was being able to combine the creative visions of our entire team into one project within such a short amount of time; we made a lot of memories while putting the film together, and I'm glad that Jones gave us the opportunity to do so!
Most students have to go back to college after Thanksgiving to take their finals, but not at Dartmouth! We have a six-week winter break, known as "winterim!" Let me tell you how I spent my winterim!
As a second-year at Dartmouth, I've embraced leadership roles that foster community, creativity, and support! Here's a look at how each role has shaped my journey.
