History 356: Culture and Identity in Latin America

Background Research

In order to select your films and songs, you need to have a broad understanding the arts in your country. There are a number of helpful background sources for you to consult:

• Books - using the Books & More search on the Library's home page
  • search for the word film or music and your country: films AND brazil

You can also review books about music or film in Latin America (links take you to search results):

Latin American and music 

Latin America and film

Analysis/Description

Once you have chosen your songs and understand the context of how and when they were created, you can look for more articles to help you describe the significance of the song.

Select on of the databases listed below, and try a variety of searches about the song title, artist, and possibly genre. 

To find scholars/academics for your film festival panel:

Using the Books & More search on the Library homepage, look for books they've written about the region or the topic of your films, for example:

• You're including the film Y tu Mama, Tambien, which is set in the early 00s, after the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was ousted as the ruling party in Mexico.
• Find a scholar who studies the political parties or that time period, search for: Mexico and PRI
• You find Democratization and Authoritarian Party Survival: Mexico's PRI, by Joy K. Langston, and it was published by Oxford University Press. 
• Look up Joy K. Langston using Google or Duck Duck Go to find our where she currently works. It might take some digging to find the current information!