December 6, 9am Pacific
The MENA project team is excited to invite you to its first webinar on Friday, December 6, 9:00 - 10:30 am PST. MENA became a new official race and ethnicity checkbox option in the U.S. government’s federal forms in 2024, and it represents people with cultural roots and immigration backgrounds from a large region with complex historical and cultural connections. Thus, besides the MENA, this project is expected to be relevant and helpful for understanding other cultural identity categories such as Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African (AMENA), South Asian and North African (SWANA), biracial, and multiracial, including those people who may be negotiating belonging ambiguity with intersectional identities. The webinar is for graduate students, practitioners, and educators working with MENA individuals and communities. We also welcome those from other mental health professional communities beyond counseling and counselor education.
This webinar will:
Define the diverse MENA identities and highlight related themes from the literature.
Discuss the significance of this project in developing cultural humility and creating culturally sustaining teaching and counseling practices while working with MENA individuals and communities.
Model a community learning and support space for the implications of the current national and global crises and collective trauma for well-being, relationships, and professional development in our field and beyond (with a special focus on how we can engage in critical and non-divisive conversations about anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab hate, Islamophobia, and antisemitism).
Engage the webinar participants in identifying the pressing needs of practitioners and educators who work with MENA individuals and communities to create our future webinars and select guest speakers.
Presenters:
Dr. Elif Balin, Associate Professor, San Francisco State University. Link to bio.
Dr. Shadin Atiyeh, Assistant Professor, Wayne State University. Link to bio.
Dr. Dana Isawi, Assistant Professor, Northern Illinois University. Link to bio.
Dr. Waleed Y Sami, Assistant Professor, City College of New York. Link to bio.
Note: This project is partially sponsored by the Network for Antiracist Teaching in Counseling (NARTIC).
Register: Zoom link
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIodemspzMtH9JZsjZ6hpyHEqUF29kgjrTW