MENA or SWANA?

MENA or SWANA

This is a resource post explaining the words MENA and SWANA.

What do they mean?

MENA = Middle East and North Africa.

Image description: screenshot from Google top results for "mena meaning".

MENA the word is an English language acronym referring to regions of Middle East and North Africa.

The countries referred to most often include: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Israel, Egypt, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Libya, Sudan, and with some more countries sometimes included.  

MENA does not refer to one country only, nor does it refer to countries or regions with only ONE religion or ethnicity, as there are many different religions and ethnicities in these regions.

As you can see from the Google result image, MENA as a word has been prominently used by the west.

However, MENA as a term has also been adopted by us folks from and connected to these regions to refer to ourselves. It can be useful online, for example, when you only have a limited number of characters to write and acronyms/short words help save us space. 

Note: MENA is the older word. SWANA is a newer word.

The reason some folks have chosen to stop using MENA to refer to ourselves, and instead use SWANA, is that it's about shedding colonial connotations. 'Middle East' is a colonial and Eurocentric word.

Read on for more.

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What does SWANA mean?

SWANA = South West Asia, and North Africa

Image description: top result from Google search for "swana meaning".

SWANA is a decolonial word for the south west Asian/north African region, in place of Middle Eastern, Near Eastern, Arab world, or Islamic world that have colonial, Eurocentric and Orientalist origins. 

Some of us have chosen to use SWANA in place of MENA, because SWANA does not have colonial connotations, and this is important.

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Language and words change and adapt over time. This post is purely a quick resource to explain what MENA and SWANA mean.

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And:

if you are wondering which term you should use for yourself, I'm not here to tell you which. I've been using both for myself, as SWANA is relatively new and I'm still getting used to it. I've also seen friends and peers use both words, or prefer one over the other. 

The general consensus at this present time is that it's your choice which word you use.

(Also worth noting, I can't use either term when speaking to elders or with people who aren't very Online, as they're unaware of both words. So, I have to bear that in mind.)

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For those of you who aren't SWANA, I would suggest applying some thought and consideration before you use terms like 'Middle East' or 'Eastern'. We would appreciate it!

And now you know what MENA and SWANA both mean, I hope you found this post useful. 

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