Library Guides: Africana Studies: Background Information

Overview of Africana Studies

Africana Studies, Black/African-American Studies or Africology (US education), is the multidisciplinary approach to the study of: the anthropological, historical, literary, political, pyschological, theological (religious studies), sociological study of people from the Continent of Africa, the United States, and the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora.

At the University of Notre Dame, "..Academic excellence and social responsibility are the twin pillars of Africana Studies (originally Black Studies) from its beginning in 1968." The Hesburgh Libraries provides the following resources that not only support the undergraduate program in Africana Studies, but resources that can support the information and research needs of graduate students, faculty, visiting scholars, and staff.

Library of Congress Classifications for Africana Studies

The interdisciplinary nature of Africana/African American studies, works will be found in many areas of the Hesburgh Libraries's Collection under a variety of subject headings. Below are some of the Library of Congress Subject Headings that relate to African American Studies. Note: This is not an exhaustive listing. You can find more at this link to the LC Classification Outline.

Africa

Politics and Government
United States
African Diaspora

African Americans

History
Social Conditions
Intellectual Life

Caribbeans

West Indies
French Guiana
Activism

Resources to consider at the beginning the Research Process:

News and Popular Press

Popular press, newspapers and magazines help researchers identify coverage of pivotal moments of events and trace public discourse on various issues that do not reach the level of analysis necessary for scholarly work. However, the results of utilizing these resources can provide leads (keywords, subject words, etc.) to access the Hesburgh Library catalog (books, e-books, peer-review, scholarly) resources.

Accessible archives
Linked to the History Commons database. Can search by Topics (A-Z) i.e. African OR Anerican OR Afro-Caribbean Slavery; Social Justice; Women's Health; Faith and Religion.....
African newspapers, 1800-1922 (from World Newspaper Archive with CRL)
African Newspapers, Series I: Historical Newspapers from the Continent of Africa. African History and Culture news from the 19th & 20th Centuries.
American Religion: Denominational Newspapers
Contains more than 320 historical religious and denominational newspapers from 33 U.S. states, including many major denominations. Articles reflect American religion as a dominant cultural and social force, shaping views on slavery, politics, women's suffrage, Prohibition, westward expansion, and other great issues of the day.
Ethnic NewsWatch
Ethnic NewsWatch is a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. The database now also contains Ethnic NewsWatch: A History, which provides historical coverage of Native American, African American, and Hispanic American periodicals from 1959-1989.

Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847 to 1874 (Library of Congress)
The collection is comprised of 568 issues of three weekly newspaper titles dating between 1847 and 1874: The North Star in Rochester, New York, Frederick Douglass’ Paper in Rochester, New York, and New National Era in Washington, D.C.
Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper (IU-Indianapolis)
Provides access to historically important stories of African-American individuals, organizations, and events in Indianapolis, Indiana in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Readex AllSearch
A streamlined platform for searching across all Readex collections available. The list of cross-searchable collections includes America's Historical Imprints, America's Historical Newspapers, American State Papers, Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports, Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS) Reports, Nineteenth-Century American Drama, U.S. Congressional Serial Set, and the World Newspaper Archive.

Proquest Historical Newspapers
Provides access to 42 Historical Newspapers for research in Africana Studies: Atlantic Constitution, Atlanta Daily World, Baltimore Afro-American, Boston Globe, Chicago Defender, Christian Science Monitor, Cinncinati Inquirer, Cleveland Call and Post, Detroit Free Press (1831-1922), Indianapolis Star, Kansas City Call, Los Angeles Times, Louisville Defender, Michigan Chronicle, New York Tribune/Herald Tribune, Norfolk Journal & Guide, Philadelphia Tribune, Pittsburgh Courier, San Francisco Chronicle and St. Louis American.

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Dictionaries are most often collections of words in one or more specific languages, usually arranged in alphabetical order, providing information like word meanings, usage, etymology, and, when they contain more than one language, translations. Some dictionaries include information more commonly found in encyclopedias. Encyclopedias are collections of information on terms, figures, eras, locations also arranged alphabetically, and, alongside definitions of terms, they also include more in-depth general information on a topic. Encyclopedias can be general or subject-specific.

Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature
This abridged and updated (2011) edition of the acclaimed Oxford Companion to African American Literature presents more than 400 biographies of authors, critics, literary characters, and historical figures, and 150 plot summaries of major works.From Sojourner Truth to Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison to Toni Morrison; contains entries- major works (including synopses of novels) and also incorporates information on literary characters, as well as on character types such as Aunt Jemima and Brer Rabbit. Icons of black culture are addressed, including Muhammad Ali, John Coltrane, Marcus Garvey, Jackie Robinson, John Brown, and Harriet Tubman.

Encyclopedia of Africa
Edited by: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Kwame Anthony Appiah (2010) The articles cover prominent individuals, events, trends, places, political movements, art forms, business and trade, religions, ethnic groups, organizations, and countries throughout Africa. In-depth articles examine contemporary nations of sub-Saharan Africa, ethnic groups from various regions of Africa, and European colonial powers. Two hundred illustrations and demographic sidebars further guide and inform research.
Gale in context. Global issues (formerly Global issues in context)
Focuses on broad issues, such as war, genocide, terrorism, human rights, poverty, famine, globalization, world trade, nuclear proliferation, and global warming, as well as more specific events and topics in the news that are related to these broader issues. Ties together a variety of sources to present an analysis of issues. Portal pages organize and present full-text articles from newspapers, magazines, and academic journals, encyclopedia entries, and primary resources such as podcasts and speeches, videos, maps, images, websites, and statistics.

Oxford Companion to Black British History
Oxford Research Encyclopedias (Browse by Subject)
Oxford Research Encyclopedias provides current, peer-reviewed trustworthy research information. Patrons can browse by subjects that can provide an inter-disciplinary approach to research in Africana Studies.