About Mawtini

"Mawtini: Arab American Narratives of Home and Belonging" is a community-led oral history and archiving project that documents and shares the histories, memories, and experiences of Arab Americans living in San Luis Obispo and the Central Coast of California. Mawtini, which means "my homeland" in Arabic, explores questions of home and belonging among one of SLO's most underrepresented communities, and one of the smallest clusters of Arabs in California.

Though California contains the highest number of people of Arab descent in the country (approximately half a million), the histories and cultures of Arab Americans are not usually taught in state schools, colleges, or universities. For decades Arabs have been portrayed in mainstream media, popular culture, and political discourses in the United States in ways that perpetuate harmful stereotypes that dehumanize Arabs and devalue Arab life in the eyes of many mainstream observers. Such dominant narratives seldom reflect the actual experiences, perspectives, or lifestyles of the millions of people who identify as Arab, both in the Middle East and in the United States. They also ignore the many contributions Arab Americans have made to our local and national culture, society, and economy in the US. By spotlighting the real lived experiences of Arab Americans in our community through oral history, we hope to disrupt and reframe the ways that underrepresented groups are perceived in our society. Our project aims to not only uncover and amplify the histories of our Arab American community, but also to explore the many ways our experiences intersect and entwine with those of other immigrant, BIPOC, and marginalized communities in our city.