Serials

The Senan Shaibani Cultural Center houses a wide range of journals and serial publications from around the world with a particular emphasis on Middle Eastern studies. The collection includes titles from the United States, Egypt, Iraq, and Palestine. Our center holds physical copies of many publications that cannot be accessed anywhere else in the United States. Please note that our catalog may not always list complete holdings for every serial, so checking the date ranges provided is important. The catalog is continually being updated and may not yet reflect all materials currently available.

General Middle East

Al-ʻArab

• Published by: Anba al-Arab
• Dates held at the center: 1962-1963
• Location in the center: Barbara Harlow Library 
• About: Al-’Arab is a weekly Arabic and English publication issued by Anba al-Arab in Glendale, California. The issues held at the center were edited by Clovis Maksoud, an Arab American diplomat and journalist who also served as an editor for Egypt’s well-known newspaper Al-Ahram.

Arab News and Views

• Published by: Arab Information Center
• Dates held at the center: 1969
• Location in the center: Barbara Harlow Library
• About: Arab news and views was an English-language publication that began in 1955 and continued through the 1960s. It was previously known as Arab News Digest and was published by the Arab Information Center, which operated under the League of Arab States.

Arab Observer

• Published by: National Publications House of Egypt 
• Dates held at the center: 1962-1966
• Location in the center: Barbara Harlow Library
• About: Arab Observer was an English-language weekly magazine, published in Egypt, and is perhaps best known for featuring contributions from the American writer Maya Angelou during her time in Cairo. Founded in 1960 by Zain Nagati, the magazine ceased publication in 1966. It was recognized for its anti-colonial stance and Pan-Arab ideology which were widely promoted by Gamal Abdel Nasser during that period.

Dirāsāt ʿArabiyya/دراسات عربية: مجلة فكرية إقتصادية إجتماعية

• Published by: Dār al-Ṭalīʿa li-l-Ṭibāʿa wa-l-Nashr/ دار الطليعة للطباعة والنشر
• Dates held at the center: 1967-73
• Location in the center: Rif’at al-Sa’id Library and Barbara Harlow Library
• About: Dirāsāt ʿArabiyya is an Arabic-language intellectual monthly magazine focused on economic and social issues in the Arab world. It was first published in 1965 and ceased publication in 2000. The journal is one of the rarer holdings at the Senan Shaibani Cultural Center, with no further information available in online library catalogs, although additional issues are held at the American University of Beirut.

International Journal of Middle East Studies

• Published by: Cambridge University Press
• Dates held at the center: 1978-2009
• Location in the center: Rif’at al-Sa’id Library
• About: The International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES), is one of the most widely recognized peer-reviewed journals in the field, covering scholarship on the Arab world and the broader Middle East. Published in the English-language quarterly, it features research spanning from the seventh century to the present. The journal was first issued in 1970, with Stanford J. Shaw serving as its inaugural editor. IJMES is also notable for its standardized transliteration guidelines for Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and other languages of the region. Additional issues are available digitally through JSTOR and Cambridge University Press.

Middle East Forum

• Published by: Alumni Association of the American University of Beirut
• Dates held at the center: 1960-1972 
• Location in the center: Rif’at al-Sa’id Library and Barbara Harlow Library 
• About: Middle East Forum was an English-language quarterly journal published from 1955 to 1972. It featured political analyses by Arab and American scholars, focusing on the development of the modern Middle East. The journal included substantial coverage of Lebanon and Palestine, reflecting both the political uncertainty of the time and its publication base in Beirut. 

Middle East Studies Association Bulletin

• Published by: Middle East Studies Association of North America
• Dates held at the center: 1976-1998
• Location in the center: Rif’at al-Sa’id Library and Barbara Harlow Library
• About: The Middle East Studies Association Bulletin was an English-language biannual publication of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), issued from 1967 to 2008 before being renamed the Review of Middle East Studies in 2009. The journal covers a wide range of subjects related to the Middle East, including history, politics, law, and culture. Additional issues are available digitally through JSTOR and Cambridge University Press.

The Middle East Journal

• Published by: The Middle East Institute
• Dates held at the center: 1947-1963
• Location in the center: Rif’at al-Sa’id Library
• About: The Middle East Journal is an English-language peer-reviewed publication of the Middle East Institute that began in 1947.The issues held at the center were mainly edited by Harvey P. Hall who served as its editor until 1956, and William Sands who assumed the role of editor following Hall. The journal generally focuses on policy issues and on how the United States and other Western countries interact with the Middle East. Additional issues are available through the Middle East Institute’s digital archive of the journal.

Egypt

al-Ahrām al-Iqtiṣādī/الاهرام الاقتصادي

• Published by: al-Ahrām 
• Dates held at center: 1959-1966
• Location in the center: Barbara Harlow Library
• About: Al-Ahrām al-Iqtiṣādī (al-Ahrām Economic) is an Arabic-language weekly magazine launched in 1958 under the Cairo based news organization, al-Ahrām.It was founded to expand the al-Ahrām publication and inspired by the British publication The Economist, with a focus on economic affairs and political economy. Our holdings of the magazine will offer researchers valuable insights into economic affairs in Egypt and the Arab world during the Nasser era.

Iraq

Al-Naft wa-l-Tanmiyya/النفط والتنمية مجلة تعنى بشؤون النفط والتنمية في الوطن العربي والعالم

• Published by: Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries/منظمة الأقطار العربية المصدرة للبترول
• Dates held at the center: 1976-1980
• Location in the center: Rif’at al-Sa’id Library and Barbara Harlow Library 
• About: Al-Naft wa-l-Tanmiyya (Oil and Development) is an Arabic-language journal focused on issues related to oil and development in the Arab world and beyond. It was founded in Iraq in 1975 and was primarily edited by Abdul Rahman Munif, a well-known Iraqi economist. The journal likely ceased publication in 1981. This journal is one of the rarer holdings at the Senan Shaibani Cultural Center, with no additional information available in online library catalogs.This journal is particularly valuable for researchers studying Iraq’s modernization and economic development before the 1991 Gulf War.

Al-Thaqāfa al-Jadīda/ الثقافة الجديدة: مجلة شهرية ثقافية عامة

• Published by: al-Ḥizb al-Shuyūʻī al-ʻIrāqī/الحزب الشيوعي العراقي
• Dates held at the center: 1969-1997
• Location in the center: Barbara Harlow Library
• About: Al-Thaqāfa al-Jadīda (New Culture) is an Arabic-language bi-monthly magazine published by the Iraqi Communist Party since 1953. Offering valuable insight into Iraqi leftist thought and Marxist intellectual trends, the magazine faced government pushback in its early years yet continues to be published today. After a hiatus in the late 1950s and 1960s, it resumed publication in 1968. Our holdings begin with the issues produced after this hiatus.

Al-Turāth al-Shaʿbī/التراث الشعبي

• Published by: Dār al-Ḥurriyya li-l-Ṭibāʿa/دار الحرية للطباعة
• Dates held at the center: 1969-1981
• Location in the center: Barbara Harlow Library
• About: Al-Turāth al-Shaʿbī (Folklore) is an Arabic-language monthly magazine published from 1963 to 1981 by the Iraqi Ministry of Culture and Information.

International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies

• Published by: Intellect Journals
• Dates held at the center: 2006-2015
• Location in the center: Barbara Harlow Library
• About: The International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies is an English-language, peer-reviewed journal established in 2006 and still in publication today. Founded and first edited by Jacqueline S. Ismael and Tareq Y. It was created to highlight Iraqi culture and provide a counterbalance to the dominant narratives that circulated in international media following the 2003 war. Each issue explores a specific theme related to Iraqi society, culture, and politics. Additional issues are available digitally through the Intellect Discover website

Palestine

Journal of Palestine Studies

• Published by: University of California Press
• Dates held at the center: 1989-2001
• Location in the center: Barbara Harlow Library
• About: The Journal of Palestine Studies (JPS) is the official peer-reviewed journal of the Institute for Palestine Studies. The journal was first published in 1971 and is still running today. It focuses on the humanities and social sciences within the context of Palestine with entries from renowned intellectuals and academics such as Walid Khalidi who founded the Institute for Palestine Studies and historian Illan Pappe. Additional issues are available digitally through the Institute for Palestine Studies website.

Shuʼūn Filasṭīnīyah/ ‏شؤون فلسطينية

• Published by: Markaz al-Abḥāth fī Munaẓẓamat al-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīnīyah / مركز الأبحاث في منظمة التحرير الفلسطينة
• Dates held at the center: 1971- 19?
• Location in the center: Barbara Harlow Library
• About: Shuʼūn Filasṭīnīyah (“Palestinian Affairs”) is an Arabic-language quarterly political, cultural, and economic journal affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; Munaẓẓamat at-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīniyyah / منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية). First issued in 1971 under the PLO’s Palestine Research Center, the journal was edited by prominent Arab intellectuals including Anis Sayigh, Elias Khoury, and Mahmoud Darwish. While the journal faced several hiatuses over the years as a result of attacks and financial challenges, it ultimately returned to print in 2011. Many of the copies held at our center were part of the personal library of scholar Barbara Harlow and informed her research on resistance literature, most notably in her book After Lives: Legacies of Revolutionary Writing, where she discusses Ghassan Kanafani’s contributions to the journal.