Africana Studies

The following databases listed below can be used to access journal articles and other materials in Africana studies. The databases listed here include both those specific to different areas of Africana research (such as Proquest One Black Studies); and those that cover a broader multidisciplinary subject area (such as Academic Search Premier). Many of the databases focus on different areas of the diaspora or times in history. Read the descriptions to see what is covered in the database. Some databases will link to full-text articles. For the others, press 'Get it @ R' to launch a digital full-text search for the resource.

What are journal articles?

• articles written by scholars in their area of expertise after an intensive process of peer review by colleagues scholars in their field
• articles are published in scholarly research journal
• usually shorter than book lenght studies on a topic and published more frequently than books (journals often publish issues quarterly or annually)
• usually considered secondary sources (sources that analyze primary sources)

MULTI DISCIPLINARY

• Quick Search (*search engine): library's new Google-like search engine that provides fast, relevancy-ranked results through a single search box. At Rutgers, quick search searches all the libraries electronic and physical catalogue and many of our databases
• ProQuest One: Black Studies brings together primary and secondary sources, leading historical black newspapers, archival documents, government materials, video, writings by major American black intellectuals and leaders, and essays by top scholars in Black Studies. The primary focus of the collection is the experience of black people in the United States, but it also includes some materials with a more global focus. Major elements of the collection include:
  • NAACP Papers & records of civil rights organizations
  • Black Literature Index
  • Black Studies Periodicals
  • Historical Black Newspapers
  • Personal papers of key civil rights figures, including Robert F. Williams, Mary McLeod Bethune, Arthur Mitchell, A. Philip Randolph, and Bayard Rustin.
  • U.S. Federal Government Records, including files from the Department of Justice, FBI, and U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
  • Archival collections dating from the 18th - 19th centuries, including Black Abolitionist Papers, Records of Antebellum Southern Plantations, Slave Trade Records, Reconstruction Military
    Government Records, and Freedman’s Savings Bank Records.
  • Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience essays
• JSTOR is a platform for journals, books, images, and primary sources in a wide variety of subject areas in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Though JSTOR materials can often e a bit dated, they have a large digital archive of Black studies journals including The Journal of Negro History, African American Review, Black Scholar 
• Academic Search Premier: a multi-disciplinary database designed for academic institutions. The database offers information in nearly every area of academic studies
• Black Women Writers:  writings by women of African nations and the African Diaspora. The collection consists of over 100,000 pages of fiction, poetry, and essays. These writings reveal the historical, economic, and political conditions affecting Black women; the legacies of slavery and colonialism; how race and class operate in regional contexts; the roles of Black women as intellectuals, nation builders, and influencers of society; and the evolution of Black feminism. (18th-20th centuries)

•  Sabinet African Journals: platform for academic journals published in Africa in a wide variety of subject areas, including business and finance, education, labor, law, medicine and health, science, technology, and agriculture, religion, and social sciences and humanities

HISTORY 

• Historical Abstracts is an index of scholarly literature covering world history from the 15th century to the present. It covers all countries and regions, excluding the United States and Canada. Subjects covered include world history, military history, women’s history, history of education, and more. Resource types indexed include journal articles, magazines, books, and dissertations. The database includes indexing for over 2,300 journals in 40 languages.
• America History & Life: Scholarship on United States and Canadian history from prehistoric times to the present. 1895-present.

• WorldCat: is a shared catalog that allows you to discover materials held by thousands of libraries in North America and around the world. It includes books, journals, archival materials, dissertations, government publications, maps, music, musical scores, audio recordings, videos, and many other types of materials. In total, it includes more than 500 million records.

SOCIAL / POLITICALNSCIENCES: 

• ProQuest Social Sciences Premium: covers anthropology, criminology, economics, education, international relations, library science, linguistics, political science, public policy, social work, sociology, and more. It indexes a wide range of materials, such as journal articles, books, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, reports, government publications, and more. (1871-present)
• Hein Online: legal research collection of laws and regulations, case law, treaties and agreements, scholarly legal and criminal justice journals, government publications, classical legal volumes, and related materials. It covers law in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, (see within, Slavery in America And the World

• Family and Society Studies Worldwide: research, policy, and practice literature in the fields of family science, human ecology, human development, and social welfare. The database has an international perspective, and citations are drawn from a range of social science disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, psychology, health sciences, demography, education, economics, law, social work, and history. Document types include journal articles, books, book chapters, conference papers, discussion materials, government reports, statistical documents, theses and dissertations, and working papers. (1902-present)
• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts: international scholarship in political science, international law, and public administration/policy. It includes journals, books, book chapters, dissertations, and working papers (1909-present)
• Criminal Justice Abstracts: index of scholarship on criminal justice, criminology, and related disciplines from the early 20th century to the present. It covers crime trends, crime prevention and deterrence, forensic sciences, juvenile delinquency, juvenile justice, police and policing, punishment, and sentencing. Resource types indexed include journals, books, and governmental and non-governmental reports.

WOMENS/SEXUALITY STUDIES

• Women's Studies International: women’s studies and feminist research. It is relevant to many disciplines, including sociology, history, international relations and humanities. The database indexes a variety of resource types, including journals, newspapers, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, proceedings, reports, theses, dissertations, NGO studies, websites and web documents, and gray literature (1881-present)

SOUND / MUSIC / MEDIA: 

• RILM: Abstracts of Music Literature: world's largest continuously updated bibliography of music literature. A wide variety of genres and subject areas are included, such as classical, traditional, and popular music, jazz, historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory, instruments, voice, and dance
• Communication & Mass Media Complete: a database of scholarly literature on all aspects of communication studies, including discourse, linguistics, media studies, and rhetoric

EDUCATION

• ERIC - Education Resources Information Center: national online database of education research and information AND includes citations for journal articles, books, research papers, conference papers, technical reports, policy papers, dissertations, theses, and other materials 

BUSINESS: 

• Business Source Premier: business and management topics, including accounting, banking, economics, finance, international trade, marketing, management information systems, and operations management

HEALTH STUDIES: 

• CINAHL: provides comprehensive indexing of the nursing and allied health journal literature. It includes indexing for over 5,000 journals, including publications in nursing and allied health, consumer health, alternative/complementary medicine, biomedicine, and health sciences librarianship

Historical Periodicals Collection contains indexing and digitized periodicals and magazines dating from the early 18th - 21st centuries. It combines the following sub-collections:

• American Periodicals
• C19: The 19th Century Index
• Periodicals Archive Online
• Periodicals Index Online

Relevant publications include Black Camera, Black Art, The Western Journal of Black Studies, Negro History Bulletin, Negro History Review, Religion in Africa, Africa, Black World, Negro Digest and several others. Dates covered: 1802-2005.

JSTOR is a platform for journals, books, images, and primary sources in a wide variety of subject areas in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Though JSTOR materials can often e a bit dated, they have a large digital archive of Black studies journals including The Journal of Negro History, African American Review, Black Scholar