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Mawtini, which means “homeland” in Arabic, is an oral history and community building project that was funded by a City of San Luis Obispo DEI High Impact Grant. Our Roots/Our Routes and the Peace Academy of the Sciences and Arts (PASA) were awarded the largest of these grants in 2025. We worked in collaboration with Noha Kolkailah, director of PASA, Dr. Farah Al-Nakib, Associate Professor of History, and Vicki Tamoush, community leader, to produce “Mawtini: Arab American Narratives of Home and Belonging”. Our Roots/Our Routes was proud to partner in launching Mawtini, a project that will continue to grow and evolve over time independently.
Mawtini is rooted in stories of home and belonging centering the voices of our Arab American neighbors here on the Central Coast.
Mawtini: Arab American Narratives of Home and Belonging
A year-long community oral history project, Mawtini culminated in a public launch event and installation at California Polytechnic State University Library, welcoming more than 200 attendees and many more who walked the gallery space post-launch. Through verbatim theater, panel discussions, objects of affection and other interactive features community members were invited to listen deeply, connect across cultures, and learn and grow together. The Mawtini installation was also on display at the SLO City/County Library in April 2026 for Arab American Heritage Month.
If you missed these events it is not too late to engage with the stories. Please visit the Mawtini website and the digital archive to listen to the interviews, hear audio excerpts, explore themes, history, photographs and more.
Enjoy some photos and videos below from the Mawtini community launch event and SLO County Library installation.
Watch and listen to a clip from the Verbatim Theatre performance at the Mawtini community launch event
Our Roots, Our Routes aims to center community voices; to document, support, and uplift communities on their own terms; and to provide the space and incubation needed for these ideas and stories to take shape and flourish.