Research Guides: *English: Colonial, Postcolonial, and Transnational Literary and Cultural Studies

Key Resources

Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America This link opens in a new window
The wide range of material included in Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America presents a unique insight into interactions between Indigenous Peoples in North America and European colonists from their earliest contact, continuing through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid- to late-twentieth century. This resource contains material from the Newberry Library’s extensive Edward E. Ayer Collection; one of the strongest archival collections on histories of Indigenous Peoples in North America in the world.
Abbreviation: amaihc
Vendor: Adam Matthew Digital Ltd
Coverage: 16th to the mid-20th centuries
Subjects: Anthropology, Cultural Heritage, History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Images, Maps, Newspapers and Newswires
Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new window
The Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) contains 840,000 records on all subjects (especially in the humanities and the social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide. The disciplinary scope of the BAS is in general intended to cover the humanities, the social sciences, architecture and those natural sciences that have strong human components, such as medicine, public health, geology and the environment.
Abbreviation: bas
Vendor: EBSCO
Coverage: 1971-Current
Subjects: Asian Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy & Ethics, Religion
Type: Indexes / Catalogs
Chicano Database This link opens in a new window
Produced by the Ethnic Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley, this index covers a wide range of materials focused on the Mexican-American and Chicano experience, as well as the broader Latino experience of Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Central American immigrants in the United States.
Abbreviation: chicano
Vendor: EBSCO
Coverage: 1960-Current
Subjects: History, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Political Science
Type: Indexes / Catalogs
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Ethnic NewsWatch™ includes current journals, magazines, and newspapers from ethnic and independent presses.
- African American/Caribbean/African
- Arab/Middle Eastern
- Asian/Pacific Islander
- European/Eastern European
- Hispanic
- Jewish
- Native Peoples
Abbreviation: ethnicnews2
Vendor: ProQuest
Coverage: 1973-Current
Subjects: African-American Studies, Asian Studies, Communication, History, International Affairs, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, Russian & Eastern European Studies
Type: E-Journal Collections, Newspapers and Newswires
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Abstracts and indexes journal articles covering countries other than the United States and Canada in the subject areas of history, the social sciences and humanities. The scope of coverage is World History (1450–present) and related areas including culture, diplomacy, economics, international relations and politics.
Abbreviation: hist-abs
Vendor: EBSCO
Coverage: 1964-Current
Subjects: Asian Studies, History, Middle Eastern Studies, Russian & Eastern European Studies, Women's and Gender Studies
Type: Indexes / Catalogs
Latino Literature: Poetry, Drama, and Fiction This link opens in a new window
Latino Literature: Poetry, Drama, and Fiction includes more than 100,000 pages of poetry, short fiction, novels, and more than 450 plays. Nearly all of the content is in copyright, and most of the other items are long out of print or have never before been published. Besides serving as a rich resource for literature scholars, the collection also supports the study of American history, ethnic diversity, immigrations issues, and political history.
Abbreviation: latlit
Vendor: ProQuest
Subjects: Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Literature
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources

Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires Since 1820
Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires seeks to enlarge the scope and enhance the significance of the study of empire by creating a 75,000-page database and archive of documents that views the history of modern empires through women’s eyes. Drawn from libraries, archives, and personal collections around the world, many of these documents are available for the first time. We hope they will provide scholars and students with new perspectives on imperial history as a process of political, social, economic and cultural interactions involving indigenous and imperial people, family life, social networks and civil society as well as governments and armies.

ariel: A Review of International English Literature
Focused on the critical and scholarly study of global literatures in English.
Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies
Dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the history, culture, social structure, politics & economics of both the traditional diasporas & those transnational dispersions which in the past three decades have chosen to identify themselves as diasporas.
Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies
Promotes the study of literature, performing arts, history, and politics of nations which were historically part of the British Commonwealth, and of countries colonized by other European powers.
MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S.
Essays and interviews of interest to those concerned with the multi-ethnic scope of America's literature and thematic issues for members of The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States.
Postcolonial Studies
Explores the various facets--textual, figural, spatial, historical, political, & economic--of the colonial encounter, & the ways in which this encounter shaped the West & non-West alike.

Latino Literature: Poetry, Drama, and Fiction This link opens in a new window
Latino Literature: Poetry, Drama, and Fiction includes more than 100,000 pages of poetry, short fiction, novels, and more than 450 plays. Nearly all of the content is in copyright, and most of the other items are long out of print or have never before been published. Besides serving as a rich resource for literature scholars, the collection also supports the study of American history, ethnic diversity, immigrations issues, and political history.
Abbreviation: latlit
Vendor: ProQuest
Subjects: Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Literature
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources
North American Indian Drama This link opens in a new window
This edition of North American Indian Drama contains 172 plays by 33 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more.
Abbreviation: naid
Vendor: Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company
Subjects: Literature, Theatre
Type: Datasets / Statistics, E-Book Collections, Encyclopedias & Dictionaries, Historical / Primary Sources, Images, Newspapers and Newswires
United Nations Digital Library This link opens in a new window
The United Nations Digital Library includes UN documents, voting data, speeches, maps, and open-access publications as well as bibliographic records for print UN documents starting in 1979.
Abbreviation: unbib
Vendor: United Nations
Subjects: African-American Studies, Asian Studies, International Affairs, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, Russian & Eastern European Studies
Type: Datasets / Statistics, Government Publications, Open Access

Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires Since 1820
Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires seeks to enlarge the scope and enhance the significance of the study of empire by creating a 75,000-page database and archive of documents that views the history of modern empires through women’s eyes. Drawn from libraries, archives, and personal collections around the world, many of these documents are available for the first time. We hope they will provide scholars and students with new perspectives on imperial history as a process of political, social, economic and cultural interactions involving indigenous and imperial people, family life, social networks and civil society as well as governments and armies.