What is SWANA?

SWANA stands for Southwest Asian and North African. 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” (SWANA-LA).

“We use SWANA to speak to the diversity of our communities and to forward the most vulnerable in our liberation.” (SWANA Alliance)

“Given that this is a rather new term, concrete borders have not been delineated; however, it typically refers to the region from Morocco to Afghanistan (west to east) and does not typically include South Asia. The term SSWANA refers to South & Southwest Asian and North Afrikan and does include South Asia.” (SWANA-LA)

Although the Resource Centers have supported SWANA and Muslim student communities in the past, SWANA Programs at UCSC officially became part of AA/PIRC in 2019 when the first SWANA programs intern was hired. Since then, AA/PIRC has hired two SWANA Student Program Interns and a full-time professional staff member, the SWANA Retention Specialist, who serve both SWANA and Muslim student populations.

Sources: http://swanala.blogspot.com/p/definition-of-swana.html & https://swanaalliance.com/about 

Past SWANA Events