San people

The San people (or Saan), also known as Bushmen or Basarwa, are members of various indigenous hunter-gatherer people of Southern Africa, whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. There is a significant linguistic difference between the northern people living between the Okavango River in Botswana and Etosha National Park in northwestern Namibia, extending up into southern Angola; the central people of most of Namibia and Botswana, extending into Zambia and Zimbabwe; and the southern people in the central Kalahari towards the Molopo River, who are the last remnant of the previously extensive indigenous San of South Africa.

From the 1950s through the 1990s, the San switched to farming because of government-mandated modernisation programs. Despite the lifestyle changes, they have provided a wealth of information in anthropology and genetics. One broad study of African genetic diversity completed in 2009 found that the San were among the five populations with the highest measured levels of genetic diversity among the 121 distinct African populations sampled. The San are one of 14 known extant "ancestral population clusters," that is, "groups of populations with common genetic ancestry, who share ethnicity and similarities in both their culture and the properties of their languages."

SAAN

The South Asian Awareness Network, almost always referred to by its initialism SAAN and pronounced sän, is a non-profit group at the University of Michigan which holds one of the most prominent conferences on South Asian issues for undergraduate students in North America. Its mission goals include "educating participants and raising awareness about issues affecting South Asians that are often overlooked or not discussed, inspiring young South Asians to become leaders by promoting activism, encouraging unity, and maintaining a network of South Asians in across the nation."

SAAN was founded in 2001 by several University of Michigan students who felt that there was great demand on campus for a content-driven conference on issues of importance to the South Asian community in America ranging from humanitarian work in South Asia to increased political participation in the United States. From the initial conference in 2001 which was a campus-only affair, the SAAN conference has grown into a nationally renowned conference which draws over 500 participants annually from across America. Speakers from past conferences have included CNN Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta, Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi, actor and White House spokesperson Kal Penn, and Trinity College professor Vijay Prashad.

SAAN (disambiguation)

SAAN (South Asian Awareness Network) is an American student organization.

SAAN may also refer to:

See also