Communities We Support
UC Santa Cruz is proud to be designated as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) by the U.S. Department of Education—a recognition that reflects the presence and contributions of students who identify as Asian and Pacific Islander, who make up at least 10% of our undergraduate population. While AA/PIRC centers the experiences of AA/PI/SWANA students, all students are welcome to engage with our programs, events, and community spaces.
Asian
The term Asian American was coined in the late 1960s at UC Berkeley by students Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee. They were forming a political coalition of people who identified as members of various Asian ethnicities and were interested in creating a pan-ethnic coalition, and chose the term “Asian American” as a self-determined identifier for their multi-ethnic Asian group. They found that this coalition raised the consciousness of their similar lived experiences as minorities in the United States and advocated for equity in their communities. At UCSC, our Asian American programming and events strive to reflect the experiences that include, but are not limited to, the vast array of ethnicities within the East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian diaspora.
Pasifika
Generally referred to as Pacific Islander, Pasifika is an encompassing term that relates to the peoples of indigenous background from Polynesia (which includes Hawaii), Melanesia, and Micronesia. It has roots in New Zealand, where the term was used to describe indigenous migrants from the Pacific diaspora.
We employ the term Pasifika with recognition that Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are distinct from Asian Americans.
SWANA
SWANA is a term that refers to Southwest Asia and North Africa. This term is used to describe the region commonly referred to as the Middle East. SWANA is a “way to distinguish the region in geographical terms, rather than “political terms” as defined by the Western world” [from SWANA-LA].
