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.
At Dartmouth, the 10-week terms ensure that academics move quickly and intensely; as I start to wrap up week 5, I'm happy to have put some of my initial midterms behind me. At Dartmouth, students often refer to all major assignments/exams as midterms. In this post, I want to provide an insight into what peak exam season looks like at Dartmouth, looking at my own courses for reference!
One of my biggest exams earlier this week was for my Human Functional Anatomy class. Although I'm more of a humanities person, I'm taking this class for my science, lab, and anthropology major credits, so I'm definitely getting a lot of value from it. Also, learning about the intricacy of bones, muscles, and joints in the human body has been interesting, as it helps me understand my body more. Our first midterm was focused on the anatomy of the shoulder, arm, and hand—it was in-person, and the professor split the room up into 14 stations. Each station had its own set of exam questions, and all of us rotated around the room with 2 minutes allotted for each station. The stations had us identify different muscles of models of the arm, compare the bones of humans and primates to point out functional differences and identify how muscles and bones work together to facilitate certain movements of the body. Overall, it was an interesting and new exam experience for me, considering I have not taken many STEM or science courses at Dartmouth.
Another major midterm I am working on is a research proposal for my anthropological research methods course. The course allows students to design their own research projects. My project is focused on first-generation low-income juniors' experiences at Dartmouth, with particular attention to how Dartmouth has shaped their identity and personal development over the past two years. As part of the research proposal, I have to discuss my aims, methodology, background literature, and other sections surrounding my research's details. This is definitely a uniquely structured course, and I'm enjoying it so far!
The last midterm I had recently was for my Arabic class; we had to prepare speeches on co-education in Gulf universities and present them in Arabic to the class. Afterward, we had to ask and answer each other's questions based on our speeches, so it was a really great way to practice the language. I love having opportunities to practice Arabic, so preparing my speech was really enjoyable.
Midterm season at Dartmouth is certainly stressful, but the way professors add creative differences to their midterms keeps it interesting and helpful to intellectual development. Although I occasionally don't enjoy working on midterms, I'm usually glad about the development and practice I get out of them after the fact
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!
