Mazikaa Enterprises is creating spaces of expression for San Diego’s SWANA community ...Middle East

Layan Amkieh often felt the pressure to downplay her cultural and religious identity.

A Syrian woman who spent her formative years moving between multiple countries and continents, she was accustomed to coping in Western spaces where SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) voices were sidelined or erased. 

Now, through Mazikaa Enterprises, she’s working to create a community space and organize events that celebrate and preserve SWANA heritage by fostering connection and authentic self-expression.

From early childhood, Amkieh’s life was fraught with displacement. When she was two years old in 2000, her family left Syria seeking a more promising life. For the next several years, she and her family moved across several Gulf countries, first to Saudi Arabia before eventually settling in the UK.

At 17, Amkieh moved to the U.S. to continue her studies. Although her family was reluctant to send her across the world, she was accepted into SDSU in 2015, where she studied political science, focusing on human rights in the Middle East and Latin America.

Amkieh quickly saw the similarities between Middle Eastern and Latin American politics. That parallel led her to her working in resettlement and immigration, advocating for fair housing and refugee resettlement. 

“I wanted to study what was going on so I could understand why I was where I was and not in my homeland, and why I haven’t been back since”.

After several years in the non-profit sector, Amkieh started organizing events. In December 2023, she threw what she thought would be a small, one-time event. She called it Mazikaa, a stylization of the Arabic word musiqaa (موسيقى), for music. Before it was finished, attendees immediately inquired when the next event would be. Amkieh says she immediately realized its significance.

“There was this sense of responsibility that we are not doing this because people are bored and want something to do,” she said. “But because this is an emotional lifeline for people and a recharge for leaders and community organizers.”

Amkieh said she’s experienced how hard it is for people of the SWANA diaspora to find and cultivate community in San Diego. Like many in the diaspora, she felt pressured to downplay her national, cultural and religious identity.Following the success of that first event, Amkieh started Mazikaa Enterprises with her sister, Nour, to curate spaces where the community could celebrate SWANA cultures. Through monthly gatherings, Mazikaa has given people a chance to connect while highlighting SWANA music and culture, curated for members of the diaspora to preserve and actively practice their heritage. 

Mazikaa has since branched out into three core events:  

Amkieh says that not being tied to one location has been freeing. 

Since 2023, Mazikaa has been held in a variety of locations throughout San Diego, such as Future Is Color in Barrio Logan, Light Bulb Coffee in La Mesa, San Diego Made Factory, Friends of Friends in National City and Bramble Bay in Imperial Beach.

Amkieh argues events like Mazikaa’s play a critical role in humanizing SWANA communities, which for decades have been subject to harmful stereotypes in the U.S.“The less you see people and interact with them, the easier it is for you to create assumptions or even be fed propaganda about them and believe it,” she said. “What we do is reverse that by creating attachment. Because if you experience someone’s culture versus consume it, you’re more likely to connect with them, and now you have a concrete positive memory. That’s the environment we’re trying to promote.”

As tensions continue to rise as the U.S.-Iran War enters its second month, the stereotyping of SWANA communities has also increased due to widespread propaganda and a lack of authentic representation. Despite increased visibility, Amkieh argues that too many Americans are unaware that Christians, among many other faiths, are part of the vibrant, diverse SWANA diaspora. 

To her, the prevailing mood in the U.S. reduces a geographically vast, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and ideologically diverse population to a single stereotyped monolith.

“Right now, we’re defined by pain and by war,” she said. “For many, these spaces have been a lifeline. Living so far from your homeland while witnessing it being actively destroyed and demolished, or worrying about family, friends, or even the land, is a very painful experience.”

Mazikaa’s next event is on April 25, as part of a campaign with San Diego FC, when Mazikaa is set to host its first-ever SWANA tailgate at Snapdragon Stadium. She hopes the collaboration can potentially lead to more visibility — and possibly other events like heritage nights and platforming other talent at shows.

“In our region, football symbolizes hope in many of our countries, because it allows people relief and to do something healthy for their bodies,” Amkieh said. “Tailgating is seen as such an American activity, it doesn’t exist anywhere else. So for us to take our culture and also be hosted at Snapdragon stadium so visibly is such a statement piece and a wonderful opportunity to share our culture.”

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