Originally founded in 1983 by Mark W. Delancey (and possibly Victor LeVine, according to oral sources), NAASC regularly sponsored panels at the annual African Studies Association of the USA meetings until 2002. Over the years, it operated under various names, including North American Association of Cameroon Studies, North American Society of Cameroon Scholars, Association of Cameroon Scholars, North American Association of Cameroon Scholars, and Cameroon Scholars Association.

NAASC was revived at the 2014 ASA meeting in Indianapolis by Julius Amin, Dickson Eyoh, and Mark Dike DeLancey, then known as North American Scholars on Cameroon. From 2014 to 2016, Amin, Eyoh, and D. Delancey jointly managed the organization. The bylaws were established in 2015 and officially approved at the 2016 ASA meeting in DC, where D. Delancey assumed the presidency from 2016 to 2018. Following this, the membership adopted the permanent name North American Association of Scholars on Cameroon (NAASC), and in 2016, it became an affiliated organization of the ASA.