Hagar was established in the 1990s by a group of critical scholars at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. Their purpose was to focus attention on the issues, viewpoints and discussions that emerged from the outside looking in. It was their hope that such peripheral perspectives would shed constructive and illuminating light on the seemingly insoluble conflicts that characterized their "center".

     Hagar has meanwhile emerged as a multi-disciplinary journal for critical scholarship that addresses the intersection between the humanities and the social sciences. Still focusing on a view from the periphery inward, we seek to understand the different ways in which geographic, political and historical realms and identities are constituted, the different modes of power employed in these processes, and the ways in which these vantage points can illuminate central debates and controversies.

     The name and the story of Hagar stands as a metaphor for the journal's multiple perspectives. Hagar, whose name reflects both the Arabic and Hebrew root for Foreigner (Gerim), and Journey (Hijra), represents the possibilities invoked by transcending boundaries, and reflects a vista which affords the ability to notice that which is ordinarily overlooked.

     True to the spirit of the joint social science-humanities faculty at Ben Gurion University which hosts Hagar, we aim to present discussions that incorporate diverse disciplines and methodologies. Submissions from all fields within the social sciences and humanities are welcome. The journal emphasizes the use of clear, jargon free language that makes its articles accessible to a wider audience.

:Editors

Pnina Motzafi-Haller, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Reserch, Ben Gurion University

Michael Feige, Ben Gurion Research Institute,  Ben Gurion University

:Book Review Editor

Iris Agmon, Middle East Studies,  Ben Gurion University