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Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics

Alif is an annual bilingual (occasionally trilingual) peer-reviewed journal published by the Department of English and Comparative Literature of the American University in Cairo and De Gruyter Brill. Its first issue appeared in 1981, and it has been appearing continuously since.

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Alif is an annual, thematic, and peer-reviewed bilingual (occasionally trilingual) academic journal, first published by the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo in 1981. Since its establishment, Alif has been a hub of knowledge production and cutting-edge research in the Humanities. Alif is listed on multiple indices and databases, including MLA International Bibliography, SCOPUS, SAGE, Index Islamicus, Project MUSE, and Literature Resource Center (Gale), and is available on JSTOR, EBSCO, and De Gruyter Brill.

Image used for the Alif issue #45 cover page

Alif 45 (2025): "Cultural Perceptions of Animals: Old and New."

This volume brings us “Cultural Perceptions of Animals: Old and New.” The contributors explore how the representation of animals can help shape humans’ understanding of nature and themselves in literature, art, and the sciences. Animals have always figured into human storytelling – written, visual, and oral. How have animals been represented, undervalued, lionized, personified? How do animals open up a nuanced space for representation and embodiment culturally, politically, and socially during times of censorship, enlightenment, scarcity, abundance, and so forth? The following articles take up these questions in English, Arabic, and French, and in settings traversing multiple hemispheres.

How to Order?

Subscription to Alif and all related inquiries can be addressed to our publisher, Brill. Please reach out to Brill's sales department at [email protected].

Some issues may be ordered online from the AUC Press online bookstore; enter "alif" in the search box to obtain a list of available issues.

Issue 44 available in open access here.

Cost per Issue

  • Egypt: EGP 90
  • Abroad:

Individuals: $90 + $30 shipment charges 
Institutions: $180 + $30 shipment charges

Contact Us

Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, Department of English and Comparative Literature

American University in Cairo
AUC Avenue, P.O. Box 74

New Cairo 11835, Egypt
t: +2.02.2797.5107
[email protected]