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Chicana/o Studies

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Because the concepts of Chicana/o, Hispanic, Latina/o, Latinx, Puerto Rican, DiaspoRican, and Newyorikan are based on ethnicity and nationality and not on race, these terms are constant change. But, in terms of research, what you need to be aware of is that:

 

  • The term more widely used in book catalogs and databases to organize materials on this subject is Hispanic American
  • The term Latino is not used widely for subject classification, but it can be found in the title of books and articles
  • Use quotation marks to search "Hispanic American" as a phrase
  • Both terms Hispanic American and Latino/Latina are umbrella terms, meaning that they represent a wide variety of people and nationalities embedded in one term. If you want to research a particular group or nationality, consider broadening your search by using other terminology that represents the group you want to study.
    • For example, Puerto Rican, Chicano, Mexican American, Salvadorans, etc... This is particularly important when searching databases, since some studies focus on one or two groups.

These tips work in any Database, the UC Library Search box, or Google Scholar. Keep these tips in mind when searching for your topic!

Be aware that current topics (less than two years old) will have fewer academic, scholarly articles than older topics. If you want to find the most recent information about your topic, especially if it is connected with a real event such as social protests, natural and man-made disasters, human rights violations, etc. check any of our Newspapers' Databases.
The library has access to many art databases, but finding information about Chicana/o, Latina/o, or Hispanic-American art can be tricky. However, it is not different from finding scholarly articles about the same topics. The key is using various keywords to capture what you seek.

 

First, you can do a broad search for Chicana/o, Latina/o, or Hispanic-American art or by region/country, e.g., Mexico, Peru, or Argentina art, to identify the artist on whom you want to focus your research. 

If you know the name of the artist you want to research, you can search by the artist's name or the name of a famous piece of art. If the piece is not famous, you may not find much information, so consider changing the piece you want to review. 

Below are some databases that you can use to find out about artists and their art:

 

Multidisciplinary Databases: These databases cover a wide variety of topics, including the arts, so they are a good starting point for your research.
Specialized art databases: These databases provide information about artists and their works. Some of them, like ARTstor and Calisphere, are image catalogs of art pieces, from paintings to murals.
You can search individual journals that focus on Chicana/o Studies. Sometimes these journals may have what is called a special issue where the whole volume focuses on a particular topic, e.g. migration, politics, economics, etc. To find which Chicana/o Studies journals are available online, visit the Journal Search (see link below).

 

Tips using the Journal Search:

  • Type Chicano or Chicana in the text box to see what journals we have with those words in the title
  • If you know the title of a journal, you can search for it and see what type of access we have at the library
Remember to always log in to all databases with your UCSB NETID and password to access licensed resources 

 

Tip: Chicana/o Studies is an inter-and multidisciplinary research field, therefore you can search for Chicana/o Studies topics in other subject databases. For example, you can search a Political Sciences database to search for articles about political issues affecting Chicana/o, Latinx, and Hispanic American populations.

Sample searches could be:

  • "Mexican American" AND Voting
  • Chicana AND Feminism
  • "Puerto Rican" AND Diaspora
These databases do not focus specifically in Chicana/o Studies but you can find studies about Chicana/o, Latina/o, and/or Hispanic American groups but from a different subject perspective (women studies, political sciences, education, etc.). Below are some examples of those databases!
Chicano Studies is a multidisciplinary field, which not only study the experience of Chicana/os and/or Mexican American, but also include studying other Hispanic/Latino groups. Therefore, when doing research it is important to search databases that not only focus on specific subjects such as political sciences or anthropology, but also use databases that do searches across many disciplines. In this page, I list the major multidisciplinary databases that you use as a starting point for your research!
You can search for print and ebooks on Hispanic American/Latino and all the ethnic groups that fall under these umbrella terms from the library website. You can search for books that talk about the "Mexican American" or Chicanos, Puerto Rican, Latinos, Cuban American, Central American, Guatemalan or Brazilian. You can also combine your search with a geographical location, e.g. Mexican American AND California; Salvadorean AND "Los Angeles"

 

Tips: 

  • Go to the Advanced Search and select "Books" under Material Type so your result list only books (print or eBook)!
  • Want to find books about a historical figure?In the Advanced Search, select the option "Title" and type the name of the person you are looking for. That way you will only get research book about them.
  • Can't find a book? Try Melvyl to search for books across all UC campuses and beyond! You can request the book through interlibrary loan
You can also search for primary sources published in book format such as memoirs, autobiographies, correspondence and travel writings.

Tips:

  • Go to the Advanced Search and select "Books" under Material Type so your result list only books (print or eBook)!
  • To find books written by a historical figure, select the option, "Author/Creator" from the left side drop down menu and type the full name of the author in quotation marks. You should then get only books written by them or compilation of their work. E.g. Author/Creator= "Cesar Chavez"
  • Looking for correspondence, autobiographies, or diaries? Select the option, Subject, and type correspondence for the first line and select, "Author/Creator" in the second line, then type the author's name within quotation marks. You can also search for groups of people. For example 
    • Subject= Correspondence
    • Any field= "Mexican immigrants"
  • Travel narratives are a little harder to search on the catalog but my best advice is to use the following subject headings
    • Subject = [Country] + "Description and travel", e.g. Mexico Description and travel
Still need help? Contact me! 

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