Research Guides: HIST 307: Gender, Race, and Class in the Americas (HC): Background Information

Casta Painting

Miguel Cabrera, Pintura de Castas (Wikimedia Commons)

Visual Resources

Its about Time: Latin American Families: Caste Paintings
This blog presents over 50 colonial Latin American artworks known as casta paintings. This genre was very popular and was often purchased as a series representing couples of different racial or ethnic backgrounds and their children.
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
This catalog of digital images gives access to nearly all the prints and photographs in the collection. Smaller focused collections on the site can be browsed separately.
Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820
Themes of the website are:
Making Sense of the Pre-Columbian, Reckoning with Mestizaje, Political Force of Images, Patterns of the Everyday, The Mechanics of an Art World, and Otherworldly Visions. More material is available on the DVD version.

Background Information

The following sources provide overviews of ideas, people, and branches of study concerning the history of gender, race, and class in the Americas. These background sources are a quick way to find out key information as well as current points of scholarly debate.

When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.

Encyclopedias

Dictionary of American History
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Places an emphasis on social, cultural, and demographic topics, while also covering political, military, and economic developments in American history. Also available in print.
Encyclopedia of Mexico
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"... presents a processual view of Mexican history, society and culture from ancient civilizations to the present day. The primary emphasis is on broad historiographic issues, although the encyclopedia includes many supplementary entries on people and specific events."--Publisher's description.
Encyclopedia of Latin American history and culture
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Provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary view of Latin American history and culture from prehistoric times to the present.
Oxford African American Studies Center: The Online Authority on the African American Experience
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An online combination of encyclopedia articles, essays from Companions, and biographical sketches. A very rich resource with many internal links to enrich your reading.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States
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Handbooks and Companions

A Companion to African American History by Alton Hornsby (Editor); Gretchen Adams (Contribution by); Tunde Adekele (Contribution by); Delores P. Aldridge (Contribution by)
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ISBN: 0631230661
Publication Date: 2005-02-04
Presents a collection of authoritative essays arranged thematically and topically, covering a wide range of subjects from the seventeenth century to the present day. Includes discussions of gender and social class.
A Companion to American Women's History by Nancy A. Hewitt (Editor); Karen Anderson (Contribution by); Juliana Barr (Contribution by); Norma Basch (Contribution by)
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ISBN: 0631212523
Publication Date: 2002-08-16
This collection of twenty-four original essays by leading scholars in American women's history highlights important scholarship on key debates. Covers the breadth of American Women's history, including the colonial family, marriage, health, sexuality, education, immigration, work, consumer culture, and feminism.
A Companion to Latin American History by Thomas H. Holloway (Editor); Adrian A. Bantjes (Contribution by); Judy Bieber (Contribution by); Sarah Chambers (Contribution by); Duncan Green (Contribution by); Robert Irwin (Contribution by); Harold Langfur (Contribution by); Tom Dillehay (Contribution
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ISBN: 9781405131612
Publication Date: 2008-01-29
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 (Contribution by, Editor); Adriana J. Bergero (Contribution by); John Beverly (Contribution by); Elizabeth Boone (Contribution by); Rocio Cortes (Contribution by); Lucia Costigan (Contribution by); Fernando Degiovanni (Contribution by);
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ISBN: 9781405128063
Publication Date: 2008-05-06
Essays about colonial Latin America explore cultural topics involving art, music, and religion as well as literature. See in particular: "Court Culture, Ritual, Satire, and Music in Colonial Brazil and Spanish America" and "The Splendor of Baroque Visual Arts."
The Oxford Handbook of the Atlantic World by Nicholas Canny; Philip Morgan
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ISBN: 9780199210879
Publication Date: 2011-05-19
The essays in this volume provide a comprehensive overview of Atlantic history from c.1450 to c.1850, offering a wide-ranging and authoritative account of the movement of people, plants, pathogens, products, and cultural practices-to mention some of the key agents--around and within the Atlantic basin. As a result of these movements, new peoples, economies, societies, polities, and cultures arose in the lands and islands touched by the Atlantic Ocean, while others were destroyed.
The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History by Jose C. Moya (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780195166200
Publication Date: 2010-11-05
The seventeen original essays in The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History survey the recent historiography of the colonial era, independence movements, and postcolonial periods and span Mexico, Spanish South America, and Brazil.

This volume provides the most complete state of the field and is an indispensible resource for scholars and students of Latin America.

Subject Guide

Margaret Schaus

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Subjects: Africana & Black Studies, Cities, Classics, History, Latin American & Iberian Studies, Political Science, Writing Program