Recommended Key Journals
While there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of periodicals that have articles relevant to research on Asian Pacific Americans, the ones listed here are of great importance to the field, and every student should get to know them.
- Journal of Asian American StudiesThis scholarly journal is the official publication of the Association for Asian American Studies. It began in 1998, and we have the entire run available online through Project Muse. Use the hotlink here to connect to the journal. You can search for articles right there at Project Muse, and you will also find them by using America: History & Life.
- Amerasia JournalThis is THE scholarly journal in Asian American studies. It is also the FIRST scholarly journal in this interdisciplinary field. We have online access (click on the link here) back to the first issue, in 1971. You can search for articles in this journal at the journal site (link here) or through the database America: History & Life (put "Amerasia Journal" in one search box).
Alternatives and Augmentations to Wikipedia
Below are the research encyclopedias that all students doing research on Asian Pacific Americans should know about. You should always begin your research by consulting them.
Encyclopedia of Asian American Issues Today by ISBN: 9780313347498Publication Date: 2009College students ARE the main audience for this very current encyclopedia focusing on the social problems confronting Asian Americans today. Essays are organized thematically. Each ends with source notes and a list of recommend readings. This is well worth coming to the library to access!
Asian American History and Culture by ISBN: 9780765680778Publication Date: 2010This 2-volume encyclopedia has immigration histories and cultural essays on 21 Asian American groups. After a 90 p. introductory essay "The Asian American Experience," the other essays are organized around the 21 different groups. Each essay has "further reading," & volume 2 has a huge bibliography.
Encyclopedia of Japanese American History by ISBN: 0816040931Publication Date: 2000Despite its small size, this is a major comprehensive reference tool for studying Japanese American history, a very scholarly work produced under the auspices of the Japanese American National Museum.
Asian and Pacific Islander Americans by ISBN: 9781587658600Publication Date: 2012This is a 3-volume set with more than 480 entries, part of the series Great Lives from History. The editor, Gary Okihiro, of Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, has identified essential biographies, attempting to encompass a broad range of national backgrounds and profiling the most notable names “considered successes in their various fields.” Articles include references for further reading and, occasionally, sidebars on related topics. Black-and-white photos are included for the majority of profiles.
Asian American Society by ISBN: 9781452281902Publication Date: 2014Published with the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS), two volumes of the four-volume encyclopedia feature more than 300 A-to-Z articles authored by AAAS members and experts in the field who examine the social, cultural, psychological, economic, and political dimensions of the Asian American experience. The next two volumes of this work contain approximately 200 annotated primary documents, organized chronologically, that detail the impact American society has had on reshaping Asian American identities and social structures over time. (Publisher)
Asian American Religious Cultures by ISBN: 9781598843309Publication Date: 2015This encyclopedia provides a single source for authoritative information on the Asian American and Pacific Islander religious experience, addressing South Asian Americans, such as Indian Americans and Pakistani Americans; East Asian Americans, including Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Korean Americans; and Southeast Asian Americans, whose ethnicities include Filipino Americans, Thai Americans, and Vietnamese Americans. Pacific Islanders include Hawaiians, Samoans, Marshallese, Tongan, and Chamorro. The coverage includes not only traditional eastern belief systems and traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism as well as Micronesian and Polynesian religious traditions in the United States, but also the culture and religious rituals of Asian American Christians. (Publisher)
Asian Americans by ISBN: 9781598842395Publication Date: 2013Written by leading scholars in their fields of expertise and authorities in diverse professions, the entries devote attention to diverse Asian and Pacific Islander American groups as well as the roles of women, distinct socioeconomic classes, Asian American political and social movements, and race relations involving Asian Americans. (Publisher)
Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife by ISBN: 0313350663Publication Date: 2010Equally instructive and intriguing, the Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife provides an illuminating overview of Asian American folklore as a way of life. Surveying the histories, peoples, and cultures of numerous Asian American ethnic and cultural groups, the work covers everything from ancient Asian folklore, folktales, and folk practices that have been transmitted and transformed in America to new expressions of Asian American folklore and folktales unique to the Asian American historical and contemporary experiences.
The encyclopedia's three comprehensive volumes cover an extraordinarily wide range of Asian American cultural and ethnic groups, as well as mixed-race and mixed-heritage Asian Americans. Each group section is introduced by a historical overview essay followed by short entries on topics such as ghosts and spirits, clothes and jewelry, arts and crafts, home decorations, family and community, religious practices, rituals, holidays, music, foodways, literature, traditional healing and medicine, and much, much more. Topics and theories are examined from cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives to add to the value of the work. (Publisher)
Asian American Leadership by ISBN: 0990730042Publication Date: 2015An authoritative, up-to-date reference guide organized in A to Z fashion covering all the major inter-disciplinary themes related to individual and group leadership in the Asian American communities and beyond. (Credo description)
Which Database Should You Use?
Ethnic Studies is such an interdisciplinary field that you need to really think about the specific topic you are researching carefully to decide the best database to use. Read the descriptions here carefully. If the database link within the text here doesn't work, you can go to the list of databases on the library homepage.
For current issues type information and to search the ethnic PRESS (mostly magazines and newspapers whose audience is people in a specific ethnic group in a specific region), Ethnic Newswatch is the way to go!
If you are just beginning to explore your topic, a good database to explore in is Omnifile.
If your research has a historical angle or cultural life of America angle, you should be sure to explore America: History & Life.
Many, many aspects of ethnic studies research is interdisciplinary and overlapping various social sciences, e.g. sociology, psychology, anthropology, so a great database is Proquest Social Science Premium Collection.
And, if your topic has to do with women in particular, you need to search Women's Studies International, or gender issues more generally, then try GenderWatch.
If you researching an author or literature, then you will need to tackle the MLA Bibliography.
Does your research have anything to do with Art? Then you will need Art Index and maybe Artbibliographies Modern.
How about anything to do with business or entrepreneurship? Then you definitely want to use Business Source Complete.