Cairo Papers emerged in 1977, when a group of scholars in the School of Humanities and Social Science and the Social Research Center at AUC developed the idea of the journal. The aim was to produce a monograph series dedicated not only to demonstrate the relevance of Middle Eastern social science vis-à-vis Western theoretical orientations but also to share with dedicated Western scholars the fruits of indigenous research into issues and problems of differential development in the Middle East. The founding members of the Cairo Papers included Profs. Tim Sullivan, Ali Dessouki, Mark Kennedy, Nicholas Hopkins and Asaad Nadim.

Cairo Papers in Social Science is the American University in Cairo’s long-running English-language journal monograph, published by the American University in Cairo Press.

• A key feature of Cairo Papers is interdisciplinarity, best reflected in the diversity of the research published—spanning the fields of political science, economics, sociology, and anthropology, as well as history, journalism, media studies, gender studies, law, arts, and psychology.
• Located in Cairo, Egypt, Cairo Papers’ scope is the production of critical social science and humanities knowledge in and about the Middle East.
• Cairo Papers is committed to promoting emerging scholars in the region mainly through publications and workshops.
• One of Cairo Papers’ missions is to foster the international circulation of knowledge produced in the region by Arabic-speaking scholars and from outlets with limited access to international circuits of the print economy.
• Cairo Papers is dedicated to publishing and debating knowledge produced through original field-based research that is innovative in its methodologies, creative in its questions, and rigorous in its use of conceptual paradigms.
• Cairo Papers provides a critical venue for engaging with timely events emerging in the region from a critical academic and interdisciplinary perspective.