LAS 200 ~ The Life & Times of Latin Americans
Resources for Country Briefing and Cultural Analysis
Fall 2002

For your briefing paper and cultural analysis, you will need access to political, historical, and geographical information on the countries in question, as well as cultural information.  You may also need information on bibliographic citation styles.  Both print and online resources should come in handy.

Countries

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture.  Ref. F1406 .E53 1996 (5 vols.)
In this encyclopedia, entries on individual countries focus on their political history.

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean.  Ref. F1406 .C36 1992
Includes sections on the history, politics and society of Latin American countries.

Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society, and Culture. Ref. F1210 .E63 1997(2 vols.) 
Contains concise, well-written articles on topics of interest to those researching Mexican history.

Country Studies (Library of Congress) – available at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html (some also available in the BSC Library at GovDoc D 101.22:550- )
Excellent book-length studies of countries’ history, culture and politics.

Brief country profiles are also available at the following sites:

Background Notes (U.S. Department of State) – available at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/bgn 

CIA World Factbook – available at http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html Another good source for finding basic information about countries.

Economist Country Briefings http://www.economist.com/countries

Lonely Planet Destinations http://www.

lonelyplanet.com/destinations

Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations (Ref. G63 .W67 2001), Britannica Online (http://www.eb.com:180/ - on-campus access only) and the World Almanac (online through FirstSearch or in Ref. AY67 .N5 W7 2002) also offer fairly up-to-date summary information on countries.  

Culture

Encyclopedia of World Cultures.  Ref. GN307 .E53 1991 (10 vols.)
Includes information on the economic, family, sociopolitical and religious orientations  of different cultural groups around the world.

Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America Ref. E184 .A1 G14 1995 (2 vols.)
American Immigrant Cultures.  Ref. E184 .A1 A63448 1997 (2 vols.)
These two encyclopedias offer information about immigrant groups in the United States.

Culture and Customs of… [Country] (check BSC Library Catalog for call number)
A series of book length studies of the culture and customs of various Latin American countries, put out by Greenwood Press.

Cultural Profiles Project http://cwr.utoronto.ca/cultural

A set of online profiles of life and customs in countries around the world, developed in association with the University of Toronto.

UNESCO Window to Culture http://www.unesco.org/culture/links   

Provides links to ministries of culture and cultural organizations at the national, regional, and international levels.

Maps

Merriam-Webster's Atlas - available at http://www.m-w.com/maps/moremapsnyt.html

Atlapedia Online (political and physical maps) - available at http://www.atlapedia.com/online/map_index.htm

All the World's Maps (includes city maps) - available at http://www.embassyworld.com/maps/maps.html   

Maps of the Americas (from the Perry-Castañeda Library, UT-Austin) - available at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas.html

For further information…

To find more in-depth information on particular countries or cultures, try searching for books in the BSC Library Catalog, available from the Library homepage.  Useful subjects might include the country name plus the words description and travel, history, politics and government, social conditions, or social life and customs.

Articles on your topic may be found by consulting the BSC Library's Indexes & Databases.  Useful databases may include:

HAPI, the Hispanic American Periodicals Index (1970 – present) – which indexes articles and other works appearing in over 400 social science and humanities journals. 

Handbook of Latin American Studies online (1936 – present) – an index to books, journal articles, conference papers, and electronic resources in Latin American Studies.

Social Sciences Full Text (1983 – present) indexes articles from several hundred social science journals, and includes the full text of many of these articles from 1995 forward.

Some of the general indexes and databases may also yield relevant articles, particularly on current situations and issues.

A number of websites serve as gateways to more information on Latin American countries.  Among the best:

Internet Resources for Latin America - http://lib.nmsu.edu/subject/bord/laguia
The University of New Mexico’s guide to numerous information resources for Latin American studies.

LANIC - http://lanic.utexas.edu
The University of Texas at Austin's gateway to "Internet-based information to, from, or on Latin America," in existence since 1992.  Includes links to news sources (some of them in English), as well as historical, political, economic, geographical, and general information for Latin American countries.

Citing your sources

If you have questions about how to cite your sources when you are compiling your bibliography, you may find the following sources useful:

The Everyday Writer (yes, your English handbook) - available on a networked computer near you, or in the Library.  Ready Ref. PE1408 .L86 2001

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 
Ready Ref.BF 76.7 .P83 2001

Purdue University's guide to APA formatting.  Available at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html

APA guide to citing electronic sources.  Available at http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html

If you have questions at any time, feel free to ask a reference librarian for assistance.
E-mail libref@bsc.edu or phone 226-4766 during library hours.