Latino and Latin American Studies



Latin American Studies is the scholarly study and research of Latin American countries and its people. Latin America refers to those countries and territories in the Americas where Spanish and Portuguese are the primary spoken language. Geographically, this area includes Mexico, Central and South America, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.

Latino Studies is the scholarly study and research that focuses on the people of Latin American or Spanish-speaking descent, origin, or culture who were born and reside in the United States. This includes descendants of immigrants from Latin American countries as well as the descendants of Spanish and Portuguese colonists that settled and inhabited portions of the United States historically.

While very similar in wording, there is a geographic and, at times, cultural/sociological difference between a Latin American and a U.S. born Latino. Many institutions do focus their scholarly research by joining these two areas of study as they are very similar in a shared cultural and historical background (Spanish and Portuguese cultural influence). Other related areas of research are Iberian (Spanish) Studies, Hispanic Studies, Chicano Studies, Luso-Hispanic Studies, Mexican American Studies, Puerto Rican Studies, etc.

Selected Purdue University Databases for Latino and Latin American Studies

These PUL databases focus on Latino and Latin American-specific materials:

  • Informe
    Contains full text of journals and selected newspapers and magazines. While the majority of the material is in Spanish there are some English language materials included. Best search results using Spanish keywords.
  • HAPI-Hispanic American Periodicals Index
    Database that contains over citation, book reviews, and links to full text journal articles that focus on Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Brazil, and Hispanics/Latinos in the United States. Content available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Other Databases

The following PUL databases are general, interdisciplinary databases that may contain Latino and Latin American-based materials:

  • Ethnic Newswatch
    Provides over 200 full-text articles from journals, newspapers, and magazines published by ethnic, minority and Native American-based presses in America. Can be searched in both English and Spanish.
  • JSTOR
    Online database that provides access to full-text articles and book reviews in over 47 areas of study.
  • Lexis Nexis Academic
    A popular database of content from newspapers, magazines, legal documents, and other printed sources. Often regarded as the "world’s largest collection of public records, unpublished opinions, forms, legal, news, and business information".
  • Project Muse
    Online database that provides access to full-text articles in over 380 humanities and social sciences scholarly journals.
  • HRAF(eHRAF Collection of Ethnography)
    Full-text, fully-indexed cultural database that focuses on pre-industrial world cultures and immigrant groups found in North America.
  • MLA Bibliography
    Index of periodicals, books, literary criticisms, journal articles, and dissertations with a a focus on modern languages and literature. Includes Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American literature .
  • Anthropology Plus
    Indexes over 2500 journals in social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, archaeology, ethnology, folklore, and interdisciplinary studies.
  • Sociological Abstracts
    Citations and abstracts of articles from an international collection of journal titles. Includes abstracts, dissertations and conference proceedings in sociology and related areas of study
  • Historical Abstracts
    Indexes the world's periodical literature in history and the related social sciences and humanities. This database corresponds to the two companion publications: Historical Abstracts: Part A, Modern History Abstracts (1450-1914) and Historical Abstracts: Part B, Twentieth Century Abstracts (1914 to the Present).
  • PAIS International (Public Affairs Information Service)
    Indexes and abstracts articles in the social sciences and includes international coverage.
  • Proquest Research Library
    Access to a wide array of scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines and newspapers, many in full text. This database covers a wide range of disciplines and areas of study from social science and humanities to business and political science.
  • Social Science Citation Index
    A citation database that covers more than 1,700 of the world's leading social science journals and well as more than 50 additional disciplines. A feature of this database is that it provides information on most cited articles by author and publisher.
  • America: History and Life
    Abstracts selected journal articles, book and media review citations, and dissertations on the history of the United States and Canada for all historical time periods.
  • Sabin Americana 1500-1926
    Searchable full-text of works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Included are books, pamphlets and other documents about North, Central and South America, including accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, Native Americans, and much more. Based on Joseph Sabin's Biblioteca Americana.
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega
    General database with some major Anthropology journals. Combines the Social Sciences Abstracts and the Humanities Abstracts with other databases.) This database provides cover-to-cover indexing for 492 key international English language periodicals in the Social Sciences and 500 English language periodicals in the Humanities. It is updated weekly with coverage from 1983 to the present. Abstracting begins with material in 1994.
  • ERIC
    Sponsored by the US Dept. of Education, this is a bibliographic database that provides access to education-focused research materials and journal articles.

E-Journals (available through PUL)

The following are a sample of the many E-journals provided by Purdue University Libraries (PUL). You can search E-Journals by journal title or keyword/subject terms. Some of these journals, as well as additional journals, may also be available in print and can be found by searching the PUL Catalog under Journal Title.

Some useful terms to search with are the following:

  • Latino
  • Latin
  • Latin America(n)
  • Hispanic
  • Terms specific to Latin American countries, i.e. Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil, etc.

Online Resources and Gateways

The following are a sample of online, publicly available resources that offer further research materials and information on Latino and Latin American Studies and related disciplines:

  • LANIC - Latin American Network Information Center
    A professionally staffed effort located at the University of Texas where full time faculty and trained student assistants seek and evaluate web sites relevant to all aspects of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Organized by country, theme and discipline and available in English, Spanish & Portuguese. Several special projects are included such as Latin American Government Documents Archive (LAGDA), and the Latin American Open Archives Portal (LAOAP) which provides access to conference proceedings, unpublished reports, and similar “grey literature”.
  • HLAS - Handbook of Latin American Studies
    Published since 1936 and edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, this is a bibliography on Latin America consisting of selected works annotated by scholars in the social sciences and the humanities.
  • CLACSO - Latin America and the Caribbean Social Science Virtual Libraries Network, of the Latin America Social Science Council
    One of the most prestigious research organizations in Latin American. This database contains their research reports and various other documents.
  • LAOAP - Latin American Open Archives Portal
    A project of the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project, in collaboration with the Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC), to improve access to social sciences grey literature produced in Latin America. The portal provides access to working documents, pre-prints, research papers, statistical documents, and other difficult-to-access materials.
  • LAPTOC - Latin American Periodicals Tables of Contents
    A searchable online database that provides access to the tables of contents of more than 800 journals published in Latin America, primarily in the humanities and social sciences.
  • LATINDEX
    Latindex is an index of online journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal with links to individual journals.
  • Pew Hispanic Center
    A nonpartisan research organization whose mission is to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the entire nation.
  • CL Net (Chicano/Latino Net)
    Includes access to the leading Latino research library collections, online catalogs, electronic journals, research organizations, statistics and to a museum of Latin American art and artifacts. Also has a community center and employment center related to Latin American issues.
  • CLASE - Citas Latinoamericanas en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades
    This database has been prepared at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) since 1976. It contains journal articles in full text from Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • Center for Research Libraries
    Provides access to more than five million volumes of rarely held research materials found in North American libraries.
  • Library of Congress Hispanic Reading Room
    Serves as the primary gateway for research relating to those parts of the world encompassing the geographical areas of the Caribbean, Latin America, and Iberia; the indigenous cultures of those areas; and peoples throughout the world historically influenced by Luso-Hispanic heritage, including Latinos in the U.S., and peoples of Portuguese or Spanish heritage in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
  • Instituto Cervantes
    A non-profit resource funded by the Spanish government primarily for teachers of Spanish.
  • University of Cádiz Online Journal Collection
    This collection contains full text of all journals published by the University of Cádiz, several of which contain articles on Latin America & the Caribbean.
  • Brazilian Government Document Digitization Project
    This joint Center for Research Libraries/Latin American Microfilm Project effort digitized executive branch serial documents issued by Brazil's national government during the period between 1821 and 1993.
  • Political Database of the Americas
    Includes full text of Latin American constitutions as well as documents on comparative analysis; executive branch; legislative branch; judicial branch; electoral systems and data; political parties; decentralization and local governance in Latin America.
  • Red ALyC (The Network of scientific journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal)
    A journal collection with access to full-text of over 200 journals. In Spanish. The contents of RedALyC are now also available in the public version of the database WorldCat at http://www.worldcat.org

Societies and Organizations

A selection of various societies and organizations for Latin Americanists:

  • MOLLAS(Midwest Organization of Libraries for Latin American Studies)
    A consortium of 13 libraries with Latin American Studies Collections from the Midwest region of the United States. This organization promotes and develops member Latin American Studies resources through cooperative and collaborative projects in the areas of collection development, preservation and access.
  • IUPLR (Inter-University Program for Latino Research)
    A national consortium of university-based centers dedicated to the advancement of the Latino intellectual presence in the United States.
  • CLASP(Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs)
    Promotes all facets of Latin American studies throughout the world. Its specific programs range from the stimulation of research activities and the funding of professional workshops to the encouragement of citizen outreach activities and the development of teaching aids for the classroom. CLASP sponsors workshops at national conventions, develops curriculum materials, and actively promotes increased public and private funding for Latin American studies.
  • LANE (Latin American North East Libraries Corsortium)
    A group of academic and research libraries in the northeastern United States committed to building and maintaining Latin American studies collections. Tools available on the Web site include a union list of newspapers, lists of microform sets, and information on preservation projects.
  • SALALM Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials)
    A non-profit organization founded in 1956 that focuses on the dissemination of bibliographic information about all types of Latin American publications and the development of library collections of Latin Americana in support of educational and scholarly research.
  • Latin American Studies Association
    With over 5,500 members, one of the larges professional associations worldwide for institutions and individuals that foster research in Latin American Studies.
  • Caribbean Studies Association
    An independent professional organization that promotes the multidisciplinary and multicultural aspects of Caribbean Studies. It is a primary association for scholars and researchers focusing on the Caribbean Region (including Central America and the Caribbean Coast of South America).

Libraries and Research Centers

A list of other academic libraries and research centers in North America that have Latino and/or Latin American Studies and related programs:


Content provided by: Marissa Alcorta

Meet your librarian

Your librarian is Robert Freeman. Contact him with any questions or requests.

Contact