• 2025 Fall
  • HST 496 Distinction Thesis in History
  • HST/MES 208 Middle East Since the Rise of Islam
  • HST 301 Practicum in the Study of History

Omar Cheta is a historian of the modern Middle East. His primary research interests are the histories of law and capitalism in nineteenth-century Egypt. His book, How Commerce Became Legal: Merchants and Market Governance in Nineteenth-Century Egypt, was published by Stanford University Press in 2025.

Cheta’s academic publications have appeared in Past & Present, International Journal of Middle East Studies, History Compass and The Oxford Handbook of Modern Egyptian History. His research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society and the Social Science Research Council, among others.

Prior to joining Syracuse University, he taught at Bard College, and was among the team that founded the Economic and Business History Research Center in Cairo. Cheta earned a B.A. in economics from the American University in Cairo, an A.M. in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, and history from New York University.

• Book
  • Cheta, O., How Commerce Became Legal: Merchants and Market Governance in Nineteenth-Century Egypt. Stanford University Press, 2025.
• Journal Articles
  • Cheta, O., Schwartz, K., "A Printer’s Odd Plea to Reform Legal Pluralism in Khedival Egypt." Past and Present, 2021.
  • Cheta, O., "A Prehistory of the Modern Legal Profession in Egypt, 1840s-1870s." International Journal of Middle East Studies , 2018.
  • Cheta, O., "The Economy by Other Means: The Historiography of Capitalism in the Middle East." History Compass , 2018.
• Book Chapter
  • Cheta, O., "Hostages of Credit: The Imprisonment of Debtors in the Khedival Period." In The Oxford Handbook of Modern Egyptian History. Baron, B., Culang, J. (eds.) Oxford University Press, 2024.

Teaching Recognition Award (Middle Eastern Studies Program), Syracuse University (2025)

Appleby-Mosher Grant, Syracuse University (2024 - 2025)

SU Art Museum Faculty Fellowship, Syracuse University (2023 - 2024)

Appleby-Mosher Grant, Syracuse University (2022 - 2023)

Franklin Research Grant, American Philosophical Society (2016)