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Created: September 2007

ARTH 489B: African Arts in the Atlantic Diaspora

Research resources compiled and Web page developed by Joan Stahl, Branch Manager, Art and Architecture Libraries

Course Instructor: Dr. Shannen Hill

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OVERVIEW Art history of the African diaspora is diverse in approach and practice. This course examines two threads. The first thread was driven by resistance to dominant political powers and is ritualistic. Resistance in the Atlantic slave trade (c. 1450-1870) required elements of subversion, accommodation, and transformation. In the Americas, Africans had to devise new strategies and tactics to ensure the continuity and vitality of their cultural and artistic heritages in the face of hegemonic forces that threatened to eradicate them. The religions of Umbanda, Candomble, Palo Monte, Santeria, and Vodou all have strong African components, and several meet and mix with European and Native American belief systems. The second thread of African diasporic art studied here has been driven by individual desire to establish and maintain a presence in global art movements. Since the mid-twentieth century, artists from Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti have continued to explore how African aesthetics inflect meaning across the Atlantic and how, in turn, that meaning magnifies Africa’s global presence. Post-colonial inflections on modernism and post-modernism are studied here.

SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF LIBRARY INSTRUCTION CLASS The University of Maryland Libraries have many resources that will help with research for ARTH 489B. Library research is a key component in learning. This class will provide students with an understanding of key research tools and review basic skills for searching the Library's online catalog for books and using subject-specific electronic databases for journal articles and book chapters.

If you need additional information, please contact Joan Stahl or speak with a Reference Librarian at the Art Library.


OUTLINE

Navigating the Library

Physical Library Navigation: The University of Maryland Libraries have eight branches on the College Park campus. The College Park library system is part of a larger state-wide consortium (USMAI) from which you may borrow material. Inside each library you will find:

  • Reference/Information Desk for help; when not available use the Ask us now!live online reference service.
  • Circulation/Reserve Desk to request a reserve book
  • Circulation Desk to check out or return a book
  • Stacks (regular size books)
  • Folio (large books)
  • Periodicals (magazines)
  • Public Computers for research

Virtual Library Navigation: most research is begun online. You must know how to search the catalog for a book, how to renew books online, how to request items from other USMAI libraries, and beyond.

Research Skills: the most basic research skill is knowing how to search the catalog for books and magazines, then how to read the catalog record so you can go to the library to get it.

  • Finding Books, Journal Titles, Videos, and Other Materials
    Visit the University Libraries' Homepage (http://www.lib.umd.edu), and click on Catalog. Next, conduct a basic search, advanced search, multi-campus search, or journal title search (newspapers and magazine titles are included). Be sure to use the pull down menus for methods of searching (word/s anywhere, title, author, subject, or call number). To customize your search, click on advanced search. Next, use the pull down menus to limit your search by format, language, location, collection, or year(s).

  • Finding Databases, Journal Articles, and Electronic Journals
    Visit the University Libraries' Homepage (http://www.lib.umd.edu), and click on Research Port. Conduct database searches for journal articles under subject categories, such as Art and Art History, General/Multidisciplinary. Search Electronic Journals by journal title, and then by topic within the journal.

  • Locating Known Citations, Journal Articles
    The most efficient way to locate the journal/magazine article (when you have the citation from another source - not when you are using a database) is to use the Full Text Finder

    From the homepage, using the left side search box, type in: full text finder.Be sure to search under the title of the JOURNAL/MAGAZINE NOT the title of the ARTICLE. Click on Find Article

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Databases

  • Anthropological Literature
    Comprehensive international resource for the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and related interdisciplinary research. Covers articles published from the late 19th century to the present.

  • AnthroSource
    Developed by the American Anthropological Association, AnthroSource brings 100 years of anthropological material online to scholars and the public. Coverage includes a complete electronic archive of all AAA journals thorugh 2003 plus current issues for 15 of the AAA's most critical peer-reviewed publications.

  • Art Abstracts and Art Index Retrospective 1929-1984
    An index to English and foreign-language (French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch) periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins; indexes selected book reviews and reproductions of works of art; limited full-text.

  • ARTbibliographies Modern
    Covers all aspects of modern and contemporary art from the late 19th century to the present including painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic arts, photography, performance and installation art, computer and electronic art, conservation and crafts.

  • ARTstor
    Repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images, from across many periods and cultures. Architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, and other forms of visual culture are represented. Provides tools to actively use images for scholarship, teaching, and learning. Remember to enable pop-ups.

  • ATLA Religion Index
    Provides abstracts and indexing for articles, essays, and book reviews in over 1550 journals and multi-author works dealing with religious and theological scholarship. International in scope and language coverage. Covers all types of religions.

  • Bibliography of the History of Art
    An index to periodical articles 1973 to present, covering art of Late Antiquity to the present; European focus. Citations, but not full-text.

  • Digital Dissertations
    The authoritative source for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses. Includes authors from over 1,000 graduate schools and universities. Full text is available from 1997 to the present.

  • Grove Art
    Includes the full-text of the 34-volume 1996 print edition of the Dictionary of Art, withonline updates and links to images in museum collections worldwide. Provides access to 45,000+ scholarly articles and links to 40,000+ images (Art Resource; Bridgman Art Library; Art Image Collections)

  • Historical Abstracts
    Information on articles, books, and dissertations about non-U.S. and non-Canadian history from 1450 to the present. Covers more than 2000 journals in 50 languages. Includes links to full text of selected journal articles.

  • International Index to Black Periodicals
    Includes current and retrospective bibliographic citations and abstracts from over 150 scholarly and popular journals, newspapers and newsletters from the U.S., Africa and the Caribbean. Indexing 1902 to present, full-text coverage of 40 core Black Studies periodicals 1998 to present.

  • JSTOR
    Electronic archive of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Includes complete runs of journals with full-text of all articles published prior to the most current five years.

  • WorldCat
    Union catalog of books, serial publications, media, visual materials, musical scores, and archival materials in libraries worldwide.


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Other UM Libraries Resources

  • Ask us!
    Librarians are available to help you in-person, by phone, by email, or by live chat.

  • Citing Sources Using the MLA Handbook

  • Guides to Information Resources
    Online guides to information resources, produced by librarian subject specialists.

  • RefWorks
    RefWorks allows users to build an online personal database of citations, manage those references, and generate in-text citations and bibliographies in various citation styles.


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Web Sites: A Sampling