Research Guides: POLS 271: Comparative and Transnational Studies: From Kuala Lumpur to Kansas City (HC): Background Information

Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are a particularly useful resource when doing research. They address the issues involved in a specific question and the debates among scholars. They map out the intellectual terrain succinctly and give you the major landmarks in terms of key authors and significant titles for greater understanding.

Annual Reviews
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Publishes literature reviews by scholars in the field. The articles tend to explore a topic in depth. Use the Advanced Search function to find relevant articles in related fields, as in the examples below:
American Fast Food: Transnational Impacts Pod 5 -"Food and Inequality" (2023) Annual Review of Sociology and "Food: Location, Location, Location" (2019) Annual Review of Anthropology
Chinese and Indian Migration Pod 2 - "Gender and International Migration: Contributions and Cross-Fertilizations" (2013) Annual Review of Sociology; "Locations for South Asian Diasporas" (2001) Annual Review of Anthropology; and , "Modern Trafficking, Slavery, and Other Forms of Servitude" (2018) Annual Review of Sociology and "Race and Racism in Archaeologies of Chinese American Communities" (2022) Annual Review of Anthropology. See also the literature reviews from History Compass below.
Democratizing Knowledge Pod 6 -"Class Position and Political Opinion in Rich Democracies" (2020) Annual Review of Sociology, "Creolization and Its Discontents" (2006) Annual Review of Anthropology and "The Knowledge-Based Economy and the Global South" (2022) Annual Review of Sociology
Haitian Revolution and the U.S. Civil War Pod 3 -"The Politics of Racist Dehumanization in the United States" (2023) Annual Review of Political Science. See also the literature reviews from History Compass below.
Language Diffusion Pod 4 -"Francophonie" (2013) Annual Review of Anthropology, "Social and Cultural Policies toward Indigenous Peoples: Perspectives from Latin America" (2005) Annual Review of Anthropology and "Sociolinguistics of the Spanish-Speaking World" (2020) Annual Review of Linguistics
State-Waged Genocide Pod 1 - "The Aftermath of Mass Violence" (2023) Annual Review of Political Science- See references to Palestine and Palestinians, "Contextualizing Mass Atrocity Crimes" (2013) Annual Review of Law and Social Science, and "Why We Kill: The Political Science of Political Violence against Civilians" (2014) Annual Review of Political Science
Oxford Bibliographies Online
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Annotated bibliographies by top scholars detailing key sources on a range of topics in various fields including political science. Check the entries in the "Related Titles" box for additional information related to your interests. The different subject areas are all under development with new essays added twice a year. Annotated bibliographies related to your project topics include:
"Chinese Indentured Servitude in the Atlantic World" In the Atlantic History section, "Indian Indentured Servitude in the Atlantic World" In the Atlantic History section and "Anti-Asian Racism" In the Latin American Studies section. Pod 2
"Food" In the Sociology section and "Population Determinants of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages" In the Public Health section. Pod 5
"Genocide, Politicide, and Mass Atrocities Against Civilian Populations" In the International Relations section, "Palestine (and the Israel Question)" In the International Law section and "Uyghurs" In the Chinese Studies section. Pod 1
"The Haitian Revolution" In the Atlantic History section, "The Haitian Revolution" In the Latin American Studies section, "Abolition of Slavery" In the Atlantic History section and "Bureau Of Refugees, Freedmen, And Abandoned Lands (BRFAL)" In the African American Studies section. Pod 3
"Language, State, and Empire" In the Atlantic History section, "Anthropology of Language Contact and its Sociocultural Contexts" in the Anthropology section, "Francophonie" In the Anthropology section and "Mesoamerican Languages" In the Linguistics section. Pod 4
History Compass
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This journal publishes literature reviews exclusively. Pertinent examples include:
Ronald Angelo Johnson
"Haiti's connection to early America: Beyond the revolution" (2018)
Robert D. Taber
"Navigating Haiti's History: Saint-Domingue and the Haitian Revolution" (2015)
Catherine Oglesby
"Gender and History of the Postbellum US South" (2010)
Kathleen Belew
"Lynching and Power in the United States: Southern, Western, and National Vigilante Violence" (2014)
Sascha Auerbach
"Recent work on indenture in the British World" (2024)
Tatiana Seijas
"Asian migrations to Latin America in the Pacific World, 16th–19th centuries" (2016)

Dissertations & Theses
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ProQuest Dissertations and Theses is a collection of scholarly research in the Humanities and Social Sciences that consists of 2.7 million searchable citations to dissertations and theses from around the world, and 1.2 million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. Coverage is from 1861 to the present day.

Handbooks and Guides

These kinds of reference books provide overviews that address major issues within a field of study. The authors not only discuss key content but provide a more sophisticated level of analysis and contextualization than you might find in a textbook or introductory study. The authors are chosen for their research areas and deliver authoritative essays. The material they choose to include in their bibliographies are good points of departure.

The Oxford Handbook on Atrocity Crimes by Barbora Holá (Editor); Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira (Editor); Maartje Weerdesteijn (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780190915629
Publication Date: 2022-03-24
Presents an overview of social scientific research focusing on mass atrocities, which include widespread or systematic crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Race by Naomi Zack (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780190236953
Publication Date: 2017-01-02
Provides up-to-date explanation and analyses by leading scholars of contemporary issues in African American philosophy and philosophy of race. As a collection of analyses and assessments of "race" in the real world, the volume pays trenchant and relevant attention to historical and contemporary racism and what it means to say that "race" and racial identities are socially constructed.
The Oxford Handbook of Slavery in the Americas by Robert L. Paquette (Editor); Mark M. Smith (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780199227990
Publication Date: 2010-09-25
Offers authoritative essays on the history and historiography of the institution of slavery in the New World. Includes essays on colonial and antebellum America as well as thematic essays on comparative slavery, the economics of slavery, historical methodology in the field, slavery and the law, for instance.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of political theory
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Examines the ideas of the major political theorists from before Plato to our own times; the main schools of political thought; and some of the main institutions and practices inspired by political thought. Note the selective bibliographies at the ends of articles for further reading.
Oxford African American Studies Center
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Comprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture, coupled with precise search and browse capabilities. Features articles by top scholars in the field, images, primary sources with specially written commentaries, maps, charts and tables, and biographies.
Oxford handbook of political theory
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Forty-five chapters by distinguished political theorists look at the state of the field, where it has been in the recent past, and where it is likely to go in future. They examine political theory's edges as well as its core, the globalizing context of the field, and the challenges presented by social, economic, and technological changes.
Political Handbook of the World
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A collection of comprehensive country profiles containing detailed information on each nation's political history, government, leadership structure, elections, and political party system. Updated every two years. Also included: profiles of intergovernmental organizations, development banks, and the agencies and specialized bodies of the United Nations.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A peer-reviewed, open-access encyclopedia started by the Stanford University Philosophy Department in 1997. The encyclopedia consists of extended articles in all areas of philosophy. Entries are created and updated by experts in the field, and each contains extensive bibliographic references. Entries for some subject areas are still under development. Covers 1997-present, continually updated.

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