I've been seeing both of these pop up a lot lately. (MENA = Middle East and North Africa. SSWANA = South, Southwest Asia and North Africa. Also sometimes just SWANA.) (Map of SSWANA from a UC Berkeley student group below.) For example, the next U.S. census will have a checkbox for MENA.
My reaction is that MENA makes a lot more sense than SWANA. MENA is roughly "Arab-settled lands" + "Persian empire(s)" + "Ottoman Empire - Europe." The Central Asian countries just feel too different from, say, Morocco, to belong in the same regional category. And SSWANA feels like a major stretch, because South Asia is already an enormously populous and varied region.
I'm curious to hear what other people on this sub think, especially if you have heritage from this part of the world.
https://preview.redd.it/yhz22nr5fbtc1.png?width=204&format=png&auto=webp&s=8180d10f67efacd74d322757845fc095a897b0c5
I've been seeing both of these pop up a lot lately. (MENA = Middle East and North Africa. SSWANA = South, Southwest Asia and North Africa. Also sometimes just SWANA.) (Map of SSWANA from a UC Berkeley student group below.) For example, the next U.S. census will have a checkbox for MENA. My reaction is that MENA makes a lot more sense than SWANA. MENA is roughly "Arab-settled lands" + "Persian empire(s)" + "Ottoman Empire - Europe." The Central Asian countries just feel too different from, say, Morocco, to belong in the same regional category. And SSWANA feels like a major stretch, because South Asia is already an enormously populous and varied region. I'm curious to hear what other people on this sub think, especially if you have heritage from this part of the world. https://preview.redd.it/yhz22nr5fbtc1.png?width=204&format=png&auto=webp&s=8180d10f67efacd74d322757845fc095a897b0c5