Research Guides: Latin American Studies Resources: Getting Started

Bibliographies

Bibliographies are lists of resources on a particular topic selected and described by experts. Many of the resources here give a peer-reviewed overview of the topic and provide links to relevant resources.

Oxford Bibliographies
Literary guide to significant sources on a variety of subjects. Works as an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia.
Handbook of Latin American Studies
Primary database for research on Latin America, indexing books and articles on Latin America in the social sciences and humanities. Covers the principal research worldwide and is especially strong in its inclusion of Latin American publications, articles, etc. Includes abstracts. Includes unpublished volumes in draft form.
Coverage: 1935 to present.

Bibliografía Mesoamericana
The Bibliografía Mesoamericana provides a comprehensive and continually updated bibliographic dataset of the published literature pertaining to the anthropology of Mesoamerica. Content includes archaeology, ethnography, ethnohistory, art history, linguistics, physical anthropology, and other related disciplines.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias are collections of short essays that provide a concise and reputable overview of a topic. They are a great place to start exploring research ideas or getting the background information you need to start your research.

Oxford Reference
Reference sources published by Oxford University Press. Dictionaries, subject reference works, language reference sources and key titles in the Oxford Companion series. Some examples are: the Oxford-Duden German dictionaries, A Dictionary of Psychology, A Dictionary of Zoology, The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, A Dictionary of Writers and Their Works, Oxford Companion to Western Art, Oxford Companion to U.S.History, Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford Companion to Philosophy, and The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, etc.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History
The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History is a comprehensive digital research encyclopedia that describes Latin America's peoples and experiences from pre-Columbian to contemporary times. Its essays make the region's compelling past come alive by using the latest analyses, and by taking advantage of opportunities not available to traditional printed encyclopedias, such as incorporating sights and sounds, and offering links to original sources.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures is the first comprehensive reference source to chronicle Pre-Hispanic, colonial, and modern Mesoamerica, defined as the lands stretching from Mexico to the southern tip of Central America. With more than 600 articles, it is invaluable for those interested in the rich heritage of this land. Encompassing the great civilizations of the pre-Columbian era (including the Olmec, Aztec, and Maya peoples) up through the colonial and postcolonial periods, the Encyclopedia covers art, archaeology, religious studies, anthropology, history, and historiography of the region in fully cross-referenced, signed articles by the leading scholars in the discipline.
Encyclopedia of Race & Racism
Examines the anthropological, sociological, historical, economic, and scientific theories of race and racism in the modern era. Explores the historic origins of ideas of race and racism and explores their social and scientific consequences. Includes biographies of significant theorists, as well as political and social leaders and notorious racists. Includes entries on the Bracero program, Chicano movement, Aimé Césaire, Mestizaje, Indigeneity, Mayan Genocide, and many other topics relevant to Latin American, the Caribbean, and Latinx Studies.

General Histories

General Histories can give you an authoritative overview of particular relevant topics in Latin American Studies and suggestions for further research and reading.

Cambridge History of Latin America
The Cambridge History of Latin America is the first authoritative large-scale history of the whole of Latin America - Mexico and Central America, the Spanish-speaking Caribbean (and Haiti), Spanish South America and Brazil, from the first contacts between the native peoples of the Americas and Europeans in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries to the present day. An important feature of The Cambridge History of Latin America is the bibliographical essays which accompany each chapter. The essays from Volumes I–IX, revised and updated, are brought together in Volume X: Bibliography.
Oxford Handbook of Central American History
he Oxford Handbook of Central American History offers critical analyses of major themes in the historiography of this seven-nation region of Latin America. Essays written by leading scholars of Central America engage both the neophyte’s search for basic orientation and context, and the experienced scholar’s interest in evaluative critiques of the historical literature. Individual chapters interpret the histories of each of the seven countries, but most focus on themes that cut across national boundaries, beginning with the history of the region’s extraordinarily diverse natural environment, and continuing with the indigenous peoples, the Spanish conquest and colonial rule, and the independence process. Other chapters interpret economic history, US relations, the armed forces, the Cold War, religion and literature, illuminating Central America’s regional coherence within Latin America while emphasizing its diversity within and across national boundaries.