Collins Memorial Library: FREN 480: French in the Americas: Background Sources

Getting Started

Tertiary sources are excellent starting points! They consist of information synthesized from primary and secondary sources. These resources give you succinct overviews of your topic, explain scholarly arguments, point out interesting questions, and refer you to especially key sources.

Select two of the resources featured below to begin gathering background information. What people, events, social movements, or political developments can you identify that are related to your selected time period? What additional resources to they point you to? Make a list of at least 3 topics, names, or ideas that you will continue to research.

Recommended Subject Encyclopedias

France and the Americas: culture, politics, and history by Will Kaufman (Editor); Bill Marshall (Editor)
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 9781851094165
Publication Date: 2005
A unique, multidisciplinary encyclopedia covering the impacts that French and American politics, foreign policy, and culture have had on shaping each country's identity.
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture by Jay Kinsbruner
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
Publication Date: 2008
Provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary view of Latin American history and culture from prehistoric times to the present. Covers cultural issues and includes numerous biographical profiles of important figures in politics, letters and the arts.
Encyclopedia of United States-Latin American Relations by Thomas Leonard
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
Publication Date: 2012
No previous work has covered the web of important players, places and events that have shaped the history of the United States' relations with its neighbours to the south. From the Monroe Doctrine through today's tensions with Latin America's new leftist governments, this history is rich in case studies of diplomatic, economic and military cooperation and contentiousness.
Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450 by Thomas Benjamin, editor.
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
Publication Date: 2006
Includes over 400 articles covering Western colonialism, from the Portuguese voyages of Prince Henry the Navigator in the fifteenth-century to the making of feature films about British colonialism in India in the twenty-first-century.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought by F. Abiola Irele (Editor); Biodun Jeyifo (Editor)
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 9780195334739
Publication Date: 2010
This encyclopedia offers a comprehensive view of African thought, covering the intellectual tradition on the continent and throughout the diaspora. All major trends in African philosophy, political theory, and religion will be covered, as well as significant historical figures and social movements.
Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History by Colin A. Palmer
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 9780028658162
Publication Date: 2005
Covers all aspects of the African-American experience from 1619 to the present day. Using biographies, historical essays, and thematic pieces, many written by foremost scholars, it addresses a wide array of subjects in over 2,300 articles to define in one source the cultural roots, participation in American life, and current condition of the African-American community..
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism by Patrick L. Mason
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 9780028661957
Publication Date: 2013
Examines the anthropological, sociological, historical, economic, and scientific theories of race and racism in the modem era. Delves into 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.
Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, 2nd ed. by William Hardy McNeill (Editor)
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 9781933782652
Publication Date: 2010
Provides an integrated view of the history of our global community from a 21st-century perspective, with a focus on environmental and social issues. Examines connections and interactions made over time (and across cultures and locales) through trade, warfare, migration, religion, and diplomacy.
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World by Peter N. Stearns
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 9780195176322
Publication Date: 2008
Delves into the period from 1750 to the present, providing special attention to social, economic, cultural and political topics applicable to the time.

Country Information

Europa World
Online version of the Europa World Yearbook, covering political and economic information from over 250 countries and territories. Includes comparative statistical information, directories and maps.
World FactBook
Provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for world entities.

Literary Sources

The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature by F. Abiola Irele; Simon Gikandi
Call Number: PN841 .I74 2004 v. 1-2 Print Books
ISBN: 9780521594349
Publication Date: 2004
This history offers new perspectives on African and Caribbean literature. Chapters address the literature itself, the practices and conditions of its composition, and its complex relationship with African social and geopolitical history.
Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900-2003 by Daniel Balderston (Editor); Mike Gonzalez (Editor)
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 9780415306867
Publication Date: 2004
Draws together entries on all aspects of literature including authors, critics, major works, magazines, genres, schools and movements in these regions from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day.
The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French by Peter France (Editor)
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
Publication Date: 1995
Surveys literature in French from all over the world, identifying writers from many countries, intellectual and cultural movements, and literary and theatrical genres.
Historical Dictionary of French Literature by John Flower
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 9781538168578
Publication Date: 2022
Contains more than 500 cross-referenced entries on individual writers and key texts, significant movements, groups, associations, and periodicals, and on the literary reactions to major national and international events such as revolutions and wars.

Additional Reference Resources

ABC CLIO eBooks This link opens in a new window
This eBook Collection contains encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and guides from ABC-CLIO, Greenwood Press, Libraries Unlimited, and Praeger.
Gale eBooks
Contains the full-text of several Gale reference works related to the study of literature and history.
Oxford Reference
Contains the full text of more than three dozen Oxford encyclopedias related to the study of literature and culture, and much, much more.
African American Studies Center (Oxford)
A collection of full text materials focusing on the lives and events which have shaped African and African American history and culture.
Note: Access limited to 3 simultaneous users.
SAGE Knowledge
The social sciences platform for SAGE and CQ Press books, reference materials and other content.
Biography Reference Source
A collection of full-text biographies, including the complete full-text run of Biography Today and Biography.