LibGuides: Ethnic Literature Course Guide (Lisa Heise): Cultural Contexts

Background Information - Credo Reference Database

Build your understanding of new terms and concepts using Credo Reference database.

Multiculturalism - from The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory
Multiculturalism, which might be defined as a careful attention to and respect for a diversity of cultural perspectives, has been a crucial part of cultural studies throughout the history of the discipline.
Cross-Cultural Communication - from Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications
Our globe consists of population groups who distinguish themselves from other groups of people because of the set of beliefs, values, norms, assumptions, traditions, and expectations that they share with people whom they consider part of their culture.
Cultural Identity
A better understanding of what cultural identity entails can assist toward an increased awareness of oneself and one's place in society.

Online Educational Resources (OER)

Intercultural Communication
Intercultural Communication examines culture as a variable in interpersonal and collective communication. It explores the opportunities and problems arising from similarities and differences in communication patterns, processes, and codes among various cultural groups. It explores cultural universals, social categorization, stereotyping and discrimination, with a focus on topics including race, ethnicity, social class, religion, gender and sexuality as they relate to communication.

Western Library Databases

CultureGrams This link opens in a new window
Discover information about cultures around the world. Use this database to find statistics and data, and learn about the customs, traditions, and daily life of people living in different countries.
Diversity Studies (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
This database focuses on content related to diversity issues in the social sciences and liberal arts from both historical and contemporary perspectives. This collection explores cultural differences, contributions, and influences in the global community found in newspapers, magazines, academic journals, primary source documents, and multimedia. Includes Gale’s visual Topic Finder tool.
Global Issues (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new window
Multiple-topic database that represents international viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues, topics, and current events such as business and technology, the environment and climate change, culture and society, health and medicine, and governments and political systems. Content includes magazine, journal, and news articles, and multimedia. Browse a list of topics from the home page.
Humanities International Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Use this database to find information for assignments and projects related to in the fields of literature, philosophy, the arts, history, and culture, with a special emphasis on literature and the literary arts. Look for ebooks, professional and scholarly journals, magazines, encyclopedia entries and more. Title coverage goes back as far as 1929.
Literary Reference Plus (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Use this database for literature assignments and projects. Information is provided on thousands of authors and their works. Types of sources include literary magazines and journals, literary reviews and criticism, plot summaries and synopses, critical essays, reference books, author biographies, full-text classic novels, book reviews, short stories and poems.
Literature: LitFinder (Gale) This link opens in a new window
A great source to access historical and contemporary literary works and authors, including full-text poems, as well as short stories, speeches, and plays. The database also includes secondary materials like biographies, images, and multimedia. Includes Gale’s visual Topic Finder tool.
Literature Resource Center (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Find biographies, overviews, and reference information, full-text literary criticism, and reviews on nearly 150,000 authors in all fields of literature, from all time periods throughout history and around the world. Content from scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, and multimedia. Includes Gale’s visual Topic Finder tool.
Poetry & Short Story Reference Source (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Full-text classic and contemporary poems, short stories, biographies, essays, lesson plans and learning guides
Pop Culture Studies (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
Content includes magazines, scholarly journals, news sources, and multimedia that analyzes and contributes to popular culture by offering useful information in social science, history, the visual and performing arts, and humanities. Includes Gale’s visual Topic Finder tool.
Religion and Philosophy (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
Covers topics of philosophies and religions in a broad range of topics from theological approaches to social issues. Researchers will gain valuable insight about the impact religion has had on culture throughout history, including literature, arts, and language. Updated daily. Includes Gale’s visual Topic Finder tool.
World History (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new window
A great source for reference and in-depth information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in World History. Access content with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to quality websites. Browse a variety of topics from the home page including events, trends, cultures, societies, governments, political movements, economics, and religion.
World History (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
Access reference sources, scholarly journals, and magazines that provide balanced coverage of events in world history and scholarly work being established in the field. Includes Gale’s visual Topic Finder tool.