Muslim Student Association
The Muslim Student Association (MSA) at UWM seeks to educate, support, and bring awareness to social issues regarding the Muslim community. Additionally, their goal is to inform UWM students of Islamic culture.
https://uwm.presence.io/organization/muslim-student-association-2 (link to the MSA UWM page)
During this semester, we've been working towards the goal of understanding cultural and/or ethnic identity. I believe this group perfectly depicts those ideas. The MSA proudly represents their culture through the events they hold. For example, they've had a multitude of events (depicted below) that give the org the ability to interact with and listen to guest speakers with important stories to tell, from all cultures.
Additionally, I think there is a close tie between the MSA and the article from the NYT titled “Race Remixed: Black? White? Asian? More Young Americans Choose All of the Above.” (Santora, 2016) This article focuses on the influx of interracial marriages over the last few decades and the increasing number of multiracial people. Additionally, there was a focus on student organizations that allowed those of a mixed race to feel welcome and heard. From my understanding of MSA, their org is very similar to the one in the article. MSA hosts events that are welcome to the public, they have conversations that expand the knowledge of the Muslim community, and they work at promoting an understanding of Muslim culture. This idea fits into the thoughts of the article, showing that being proud of one's identity doesn't have to be shared amongst those who are part of that identity, but by anyone interested in learning and expanding their horizons.
From the NYTimes website, "From left: Shannon Palmer, Japanese/Irish; Vasco Mateus, Portuguese/African-American/Haitian; Laura Wood, black/white.Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York Times" (Santora, 2016)
The MSA's work also promotes cultural identity. One of the reasons for student organizations is to allow people to interact with others like them. There is a feeling of safety and ease when people of a similar group, be it race, culture, religion, or otherwise, are with other people of that ideology. In that way, the MSA does a great job of including those in the Muslim faith and culture to share in the pride of their culture and expand the knowledge of both to those willing to learn.
Saulny, S. (2013, February 5). More young Americans identify as mixed race. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/us/30mixed.html
Instagram. (n.d.). https://www.instagram.com/p/C0NYv2HsVn_/
Facebook. (n.d.). https://www.facebook.com/msauwm/
Muslim Student Association. (n.d.). Panther Presence | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. https://uwm.presence.io/organization/muslim-student-association-2