LibGuides: Latin American Studies: Reference sources

What are reference sources?

Reference sources are resources used to locate basic information and secondary literature.

There are many types of reference sources, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, handbooks, guides, and style manuals.

They are a fantastic places to begin your research, especially if you are exploring a new topic.

Reference sources can help you to:

define your topic in general terms
find background information, including themes and key points
identify keywords and alternative terms for conceptualising your subject, and for database searching.

Reference Sources

The Companion to Latin American Studies by Philip Swanson
ISBN: 9781134643097
Publication Date: 2003
This companion gives a concise and accessible overview of the discipline. Covering a wide range of topics, from colonial cultures and identity to US Latino culture and issues of race, gender and sexuality, this book goes beyond conventional literary companions and situates Latin America in its historical, social, political, literary and cultural context.
A Companion to Latin American History by Thomas H. Holloway, editor
ISBN: 9781405131612
Publication Date: 2008
The Companion to Latin American History collects the work of leading experts in the field to create a single-source overview of the diverse history and current trends in the study of Latin America.
A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture by Sara Castro-Klaren, editor
ISBN: 9781405128063
Publication Date: 2008
Written by more than thirty experts in cultural theory, literary history, and literary criticism, this reference work places major authors in the complex cultural and historical contexts that have compelled their distinctive fiction, essays, and poetry. This text provides the historical background to help the reader understand the people and culture that have defined Latin American literature and its reception. Each chapter also includes short selected bibliographic guides and recommendations for further reading.
The Cambridge Companion to Modern Latin American Culture by John King, editor
ISBN: 9780521631518
Publication Date: 2004
These essays analyse history and politics from the nineteenth century to the present day and consider the heritage of pre-Columbian and Colonial Latin America. There is a particular focus on narrative as well as on poetry, art and architecture, music, cinema, theatre, and broader issues of popular culture. A final chapter looks at the strong and rapidly expanding influence of latino/a culture in the United States.