Partners in Justice: The Origin Story of a Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Cultural Center

Abstract

This chapter offers a testimonio of leadership, advocacy, and coalition-building through the lens of a cultural center practitioner and scholar. Ramirez-Stapleton chronicles the establishment of the first Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Cultural Center at a four-year California university, situating its creation within decades of student activism following 9/11. Drawing on archival research, practitioner experience, and critical race praxis, the author details the political, institutional, and interpersonal challenges of legitimizing MENA cultural spaces within predominantly white educational systems. The narrative illustrates how cultural centers serve as vital sites of community, resistance, and educational equity while advancing intersectional frameworks of servingness. Through lessons learned as a founding director and partner in justice, the chapter calls for continued investment in identity-based centers as transformative educational spaces rooted in justice, history, and belonging.