Ethnic Studies Specialized Databases
Unique Resource to the Field
Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies is a unique resource for both researchers and students. According to the publisher it aims to offer " ... an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline." Called the "anti-Google" by the Chronicle of Higher Education, these bibliographies try to help students and novice researchers find their way to authoritative information. Each article is reviewed for update annually, and at least 50 new articles are added each year.
Recommended Think Tank to Consult
- Pew Hispanic Center"The Pew Hispanic Center at the University of Southern California was founded in 2001 as a nonpartisan research organization and is fast becoming the premier think tank specializing on US Latinos." (Choice reviews)Its mission is to affect policy issues concerning US Latinos.
Key Journals to Consult
While there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of periodicals that have articles relevant to research on Hispanic Americans, the ones listed here are of great importance to the field, and every student should get to know them.
- Centro JournalThis is a multidisciplinary journal focused on Puerto Rican culture.
- New Mexico Historical ReviewThis quarterly journal publishes "original articles dealing with Southwestern history and culture from the earliest pre-history to the present." Focus is largely what is today the state of New Mexico and the area of northern Mexico.
- Aztlan: a Journal of Chicano StudiesThis has been THE scholarly research journal on Chicano Studies since 1970.
- Bilingual Research JournalThis is the peer-reviewed journal of the National Association of Bilingual Education focusing on K-12 education of language minorities in the U.S. We have online access back to 1997 and print to 1992.
- Latino StudiesThis is an international peer-reviewed journal that only began in 2003 but has quickly gained prominence in the field. We have online full-text access from 2003 (with an embargo on the most recent 12 months) through the Ethnic Newswatch database.
Alternatives and Augmentations to Wikipedia
Below are the research encyclopedias that all students doing research on Latinos/as should know about. You should always begin your research in them.
Celebrating Latino Folklore by ISBN: 0313343403Publication Date: 2012This encyclopedia covers the oral traditions, customs, material culture, architecture, and other aspects of cultural production of the Latino population in the US. The 318 entries are presented in alphabetical order in short and longer essays, and are related to folk foods, speech, theater, saints, religion, celebrations, songs, singers and musicians, instruments, dance, architecture, trades, artists, heroes and anti-heroes, characters, beliefs, ailments and medicine, rites, sacred spaces, art, garments, children's songs and games, 21 Latin American countries, and distinguished scholars or people in folklore production. They serve as a sampling of folklore, rather than a comprehensive treatment, and include topics like alabados, baptism, adobe, chiles, hip hop, Los Lobos, mambo, milagros, romance, and the Virgin of Guadalupe. Appendices contain a table of medicinal plants and lists of films and web resources. (Publisher)
Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History by ISBN: 1558853472Publication Date: 2006The more than 900 entries of this single volume scholarly work by a distinguished professor of history. dictionary fill a distinct gap. Although the focus is on Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans, there is information on other groups, including the population of the Dominican Republic. There are some high-quality black-and-white illustrations, for individuals, specific events, and rare periodicals. Includes a bibliography of both print resources and Internet sites.
Encyclopedia Latina by ISBN: 0717258157Publication Date: 2005-04-01Includes 650 signed articles on a wide range of topics from general (Religion, Stereotypes) to specific (Raza Unida Party, Taos Rebellion, ). There is an entry for each state. Each article has a nice list of further readings and list of related encyclopedia articles. Appendixes include primary documents such as treaties and constitutions. Each volume has a center insert of beautiful color photographs.
Encyclopedia of Hispanic-American Literature by ISBN: 9780816060849Publication Date: 2008Hispanic-American literature has a venerable history, but it has never been more important and popular than it is now. Containing more than 250 entries, Encyclopedia of Hispanic-American Literature includes those authors and works that are an integral part of the high school and college literary canon, as well as those that are historically significant or gaining a reputation in today's literary circles.
Encyclopedia of Latino Culture by ISBN: 1440800987Publication Date: 2014This encyclopedia offers an introduction to the broad roots of Latino culture, including living traditions, rites of passage, folk culture, popular culture, and other forms of shared expression, encompassing high culture, such as art, film, literature, as well as street gangs, lowriders, Santeria, and hip hop culture. Entries are divided into three sections on history and origins, regional practice and traditions, and contemporary forms; most entries are about 2,000 words. The encyclopedia also includes spotlight features on historical and contemporary figures, as well as specific forms of cultural expression. It is illustrated with b&w photos, maps, and historical illustrations. Volume 1 begins with a historical overview of US Latinos, then provides entries on art, family, community, holidays, festivals and celebrations. This volume includes a detailed chronology. Volume 2 contains entries in sections on food, literature, and media, film, TV, and sports, including social media and Spanish language newspapers, radio, and television. Volume 3 offers entries in sections on music and dance, religion and spirituality, and theater and performance. (Publisher)
Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture by ISBN: 0313322155Publication Date: 2004This 2-volume encyclopedia has received mixed reviews. It covers Latino popular culture, Mexican-American, Cuban-American, and Puerto-Rican, in history, literature, and sports; media, film, and art; and music, ethnomusicology, and folklore. The best articles are the longer entries on music topics (e.g., salsa and cumbia) and most entries on Mexican Americans. Still, there is useful information.
Encyclopedia of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement by ISBN: 0313304254Publication Date: 2000Mexican Americans, like many other Americans, have a long history of struggle for equality and civil rights. Yet only in recent decades has that history begun to be included as part of mainstream American history. Bringing together a wealth of information on the Mexican American struggle for civil rights, this authoritative encyclopedia provides factual up-to-date information on the concepts, issues, plans, legislation, court decisions, events, organizations, and people involved in that long fight. It includes such leading figures as Corky Gonzales, Hector Perez Garcia, Jovita Idar, and Alonso Perales, as well as many secondary leaders, and is rounded out with objective discussions of such topics as leadership, the movimiento, lynching, political exclusion, voting, and stereotyping. Appendices include a chronology and several basic documents critical to an understanding of the Mexican American Civil Rights struggle. (Publisher)
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Literature by ISBN: 0313339708Publication Date: 2008This encyclopedia of Latino literature is a result of a project initiated by the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage organization, and covers a wide range of works from the colonial era to around 1960, with cultural repercussions and observations reaching well into the 21st century. Editor Kanellos (U. of Houston) has brought together entries that include more than just biographical information on hundreds of noteworthy Latino authors. Important themes and topics in Hispanic art and culture are also explored in depth, such as Latino perspectives of life during wartime, aesthetic concepts in Latino literature and even how references to the Virgin of Guadalupe seem to permeate so many different Latin cultures. Contributors from throughout Latin America and the United States also comment upon the influences of different countries such as Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico, and how these cultural foundations affect life in America. (Publisher)
The Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States by ISBN: 1558850740Publication Date: 1994This set is a bit dated now, but it was roundly applauded when published as "... a good model for coverage of other ethnic groups in the US multicultural society." Still, it would be an excellent place to begin reading on anything cultural or historical!
Latinas in the United States by ISBN: 0253346800Publication Date: 2006This is a 3-volume landmark work on the contributions of latinas to the U.S. The scope and depth and scholarship are all noteworthy. In addition to biographies of both the famous and the almost unknown, there are articles on all sorts of ideas (spiritism), events (Watsonville Strike), groups (United Farm Workers), and issues (maquiladoras) examined from the perspective of the Latina experience. All articles are signed and have additional sources.
Latino America by ISBN: 9780313341168Publication Date: 2008This 2-volume encyclopedia has an article for each US state plus the District of Columbia, ranging in length from about 10 pages to nearly 50. You get a historical overview. a list of the state's notable Latinos and information on specific cultural contributions Latinos have made in the state. Includes bibliographies and an appendix with census data for 1870-2000.
Latino American Cinema by ISBN: 0313380368Publication Date: 2012Latino American cinema is a provocative, complex, and definitively American topic of study. This book examines key mainstream commercial films while also spotlighting often-underappreciated documentaries, avant-garde and experimental projects, independent productions, features and shorts, and more. (Publisher)
Latinos in the New Millennium by ISBN: 1107638739Publication Date: 2011Latinos in the New Millennium is the most current and comprehensive profile of Latinos in the United States: looking at their social characteristics, group relations, policy positions, and political orientations. The authors draw on information in the 2006 Latino National Survey (LNS), the largest and most detailed source of data on Hispanics in America. This book provides essential knowledge about Latinos, contextualizing research data by structuring discussion around many dimensions of Latino political life in the U.S. (Publisher)
The Mexican American Experience by ISBN: 0313316430Publication Date: 2003This significant work is a collaboration of Matt S. Meier, one of the founders of the Chicano studies movement and a former SCU professor of history, and Margo Gutiérrez. This is a work of serious scholarship, providing both basic and comprehensive coverage of the history of Mexican Americans.
Notable Latino Americans by ISBN: 0313291055Publication Date: 1997Profiles 127 U.S. Latinos who have made important historical or recent contributions to American society. Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, and others of Spanish, South American, Central American and Caribbean heritage more than one-third of them women represent all 50 states and 35 fields of endeavor, including business, government, the performing arts, fine arts, literature, education, social service, and sports. (Publisher)
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States by ISBN: 0195156005Publication Date: 2005A multivolume encyclopedia on the history and experience of Latinos and Latinas in U.S. society since the early Colonial period. It includes more than 700 signed articles organized around 7 areas, each with a separate editor. Articles are of of 3 types: thematic essays on broad topics, issue essays on more specific topics and 200 biographies.
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.
Although its greatest strength is its indexing of periodicals FROM and about Latin America, research on Hispanic Americans should include HAPI, Hispanic American Periodical Index. This is a database that will lead you to journal articles, books, and other information sources, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, from and about all of Latin America as well as about Hispanics/Latinos in the U.S. There is a checkbox to Limit to citations about US Hispanics/Latinos. They currently include articles from more than 500 journals, and articles go back to 1970.
For current issues type information and to search the ethnic PRESS (mostly magazines whose audience is people in a specific ethnic group), 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 are SOCIOLOGICAL ("... the science of society, social institutions, and social relationships..." according to www.merrian-webster.com/dictionary) in nature or perspective. There is a huge sociology database called, suprisingly, Sociological Abstracts.
And, if your topic has to do with women in particular, you need to search Women's Studies International.
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.