Latin American studies
The Library holds a unique collection of printed material, archives and electronic resources on Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Collections Development Coordinator: Julio Cazzasa
- Email: Julio.Cazzasa@london.ac.uk
The Library holds an extensive and unique collection of printed sources on Latin America and the Caribbean. From its inception, the collection was envisaged as a national resource.
The collection has been developed in close collaboration with the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), University of London, and a wider range of scholars and academics.
It aims to record the history of the region, in particular the second half of the 20th Century to the present, with specific strengths in:
- Colonial history
- Politics
- Anthropology
- Sociology
- Gender studies
- Literature
- Economics
- Environment issues
The depth of the collection is increased with periodicals, political pamphlets, and more than 3000 documentary and feature films. Plus the Cuchisaca Trust Archive, the Central America Photographic Collection and the Latin American Archives of the Catholic Institute for International Relations.
The collection's printed and archive material is complemented by e-resources, including e-books and databases.
More information
Most books are located on the 6th Floor. Most back issues of periodicals and some monographs are shelved in the stacks. These will display the location Stack Service. Please request these through the Catalogue using the Fetch Service.
Find articles through Encore in the Library’s online Catalogue.
You can search multiple journals at once using electronic resources such as HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index or PRISMA (Publicaciones y Revistas Sociales y Humanísticas).
The collection is complemented by an excellent range of Databases. These provide significant and rich digitised material for academic research. New resources, like The Legal Cultures of the Subsoil Database, are regularly added.
Archives
- Latin American Archives of the Catholic Institute for International Relations
- Central America Photographic Collection
- Cuchisaca Trust Archive
The film collection consists of a wide range of feature films and documentaries.
It may be used by all Library users. It is a reference only collection. Most films can found using the Catalogue and requested from the Service Desk, 4th floor.
Older material may not yet be available via the Catalogue but may be found in:
- ISA Library Documentaries [PDF] or
- ISA Feature Films [PDF]
The Latin America Political Pamphlets collection was originally given to the Institute by the Contemporary Archive on Latin America. It originally consisted of 90 boxes, today there are 140 boxes and around 4,000 items.
The materials are mainly pamphlets, posters, reports, miscellaneous journals and ephemera, produced by political parties, guerrilla groups, pressure groups, NGOs, trade unions and governments.
They are predominantly in Spanish and Portuguese, with some English language materials. Every country in the region is represented, there is plenty of material from countries like Chile or Guatemala. Items were catalogued as part of a joint project with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (completed in 2005).
The collection has been enhanced by several donations, amongst these, one from Professor James Dunkerley who gifted 11 boxes of material from Bolivia.
Additional research material is available in Special Collections. Including: Latin America Political Pamphlets, the Goldsmiths’ Library of Economic Literature(Opens in new window) (early travel accounts, items on slavery and early economic literature), and the Heisler Collection(Opens in new window).
Visit the SAS website for more information about the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS).
FARC sign
Project work in South America