African Studies Guide
The African Studies Guide will help researchers to orient themselves with University of Virginia Library holdings related to Africa.
Librarian
Try me first?
-
Africa-Wide Information This link opens in a new windowCompiled by NISC in South Africa, Africa-Wide Information is an aggregation of nearly 50 databases sourced from Africa, Europe and the U.S. This comprehensive database collection integrates content from NISC’s South African Studies, African Studies and African HealthLine databases. Africa-Wide Information provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary information documenting research and publications by Africans and about Africa. This database comprises more than 3.5 million media reports, scholarly articles, books, theses, citations and document abstracts dating back to the 16th century.
-
Sabinet African Journals This link opens in a new windowThe Sabinet Complete Collection is the largest aggregation of African journals, news, and government information. The platform includes over 185,000 articles from 532 African refereed and peer-reviewed journals from 1910 to the present, as well as South African news, and Government, Labor, and Law information.
UVA has access to most content.
Articles/Databases
-
19th Century Collections Online: Europe and Africa, Colonialism and Culture This link opens in a new windowSo many research topics emerged from the colonial conquest and the legacy of slavery in modern South African society—the Anglo-Boer War, imperial policy, and race classification among them—that this volatile corner of nineteenth-century history draws enduring interest from scholars and students. This collection includes monographs, manuscripts, and newspaper accounts covering key issues of economics, world politics, and international strategy.
-
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Large general database of articles from scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers on many topics. Also includes reference books (World Almanac, American Heritage Dictionary), biographies, speeches, images, and other primary source documents.
-
Access World News This link opens in a new windowThis comprehensive news collection is ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, regional, national and international level. Its diverse source types include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos. It currently contains over 9,600 sources from 160 countries.
-
Africa and the New Imperialism This link opens in a new windowUncover the history of European colonization across the African continent in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century through the rare printed works, diaries and journals, correspondence, maps, photographs, and film footage presented within Africa and the New Imperialism.
-
AfricaBibAfricaBib is a collection of Africana social science titles, presented in one easily accessible location on the internet. It is the culmination of over forty years of Africana research.
-
Black South African Magazines This link opens in a new windowBlack South African Magazines is the first and only digital collection of magazines created for Black audiences in Africa from 1937 to 1973. Find over 50,000 pages of extremely rare, yet historically significant magazines, written for Black African audiences. Coverage includes Drum, Zonk!, The Townships Housewife, Hi-Note, and others. Part of Africa Commons.
API available, more information here: APIs for Scholarly Research -
Southern African Films and Documentaries This link opens in a new windowWith content spanning the 1900s to present, Southern African Films and Documentaries offers streaming access to more than a century of African history, politics, and culture. Propaganda films from South Africa’s Information Service and newsreels from African Mirror, showing life under apartheid and major historical events as they unfolded. Documentaries and interviews, sociopolitical documentary, and feature films are all included. Part of Africa Commons.
API available, more information here: APIs for Scholarly Research
-
Africa FocusAn advocacy website for issues in Africa
-
African Journals OnLine This link opens in a new windowCoverage: 1998 - present
Find articles from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals published in Africa on all subjects or browse lists of the journals by subject or by country of publication. Some articles are available in full-text and some journals are open access. -
Africa-Wide Information This link opens in a new windowCompiled by NISC in South Africa, Africa-Wide Information is an aggregation of nearly 50 databases sourced from Africa, Europe and the U.S. This comprehensive database collection integrates content from NISC’s South African Studies, African Studies and African HealthLine databases. Africa-Wide Information provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary information documenting research and publications by Africans and about Africa. This database comprises more than 3.5 million media reports, scholarly articles, books, theses, citations and document abstracts dating back to the 16th century.
-
Apartheid South Africa This link opens in a new window
Apartheid South Africa makes available British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices spanning the period 1948 to 1994.
Section I: 1948-1966
Section II: 1967-1975
Section III: 1976-1980
Section IV: 1981-1988: Resistance, Sanctions and Reform
Section V: 1989-1994: Negotiation, Liberation and Democracy -
Civil Rights and Social Justice This link opens in a new windowHeinOnline’s Civil Rights database brings together a diverse offering of publications covering civil rights in the United States as their legal protections and definitions are expanded to cover more and more Americans. Containing hearings and committee prints, legislative histories on the landmark legislations, CRS and GAO reports, briefs from major Supreme Court cases, and publications from the Commission on Civil Rights, this database allows users to educate themselves on the ways our civil rights have been strengthened and expanded over time, as well as how these legal protections can go further still.
-
Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966 This link opens in a new windowThe documents begin with coastal trading in the early nineteenth century and the Conference of Berlin of 1884 and the subsequent Scramble for Africa. They then follow the abuses of the Congo Free State, fights against tropical disease, Italy’s defeat by the Abyssinians, World War II, apartheid in South Africa and colonial moves towards independence. Together they cover the whole of the modern period of European colonization of the continent from the British Government’s perspective.
-
Decolonization: The Politics of Independence in former Colonial Territories This link opens in a new windowDecolonization: Politics and Independence in Former Colonial and Commonwealth Territories brings together material from within former British colonies and Commonwealth nations, alongside some from former French and Portuguese territories, to provide valuable primary source material created for local audiences by local actors during a period of enormous global change.
-
Eldis - Africa South of the SaharaEldis documents and communicates knowledge on and about Africa on the web.
-
European Colonialism in the Early 20th Century: French Colonialism in Africa, 1910-1930 This link opens in a new windowPart of Gale Primary Sources: Archives Unbound, this collection comprises correspondence, studies and reports, cables, maps, and other kinds of documents related to U.S. consular activities in Africa. Highlights include the beginning of an anti-colonial movement and problems along the Moroccan-Algerian border.
-
European Colonialism in the Early 20th Century: German Colonies and Mandates in Africa, 1910-1929 This link opens in a new windowPart of Gale Primary Sources: Archives Unbound, this collection comprises correspondence, studies and reports, cables, maps, and other kinds of documents related to U.S. consular activities in Africa from 1910-1929.
-
European Colonialism in the Early 20th Century: Italian Colonies in North Africa and Aggression in East Africa, 1930-1939 This link opens in a new windowPart of Gale Primary Sources: Archives Unbound, this collection comprises correspondence, studies and reports, cables, maps, and other documents related to U.S. consular activities and Italian Colonies in North Africa and aggression in East Africa. U.S. Consulates were listening posts reporting on the activities of the Italian colonial governments and later the mandate authorities, and the activities of the native peoples.
-
European Colonialism in the Early 20th Century: Portuguese Colonies in Africa, 1910-1929 This link opens in a new windowPart of Gale Primary Sources: Archives Unbound, this collection comprises correspondence, studies and reports, cables, maps, and other kinds of documents related to U.S. consular activities from 1910-1929 in Africa. U.S. Consulates were listening posts reporting on the activities of the Portuguese colonial government and the activities of the native peoples.
-
Evangelism in Africa: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1835-1910 This link opens in a new windowPart of Gale Primary Sources: Archives Unbound, the records of the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the Presbyterian Church provide valuable information on social conditions in developing nations and on efforts to spread the gospel during the nineteenth century.
-
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowFind articles about the history of the world from 1450 to the present, published in over 2,000 journals from many countries. Includes book reviews. Does not include articles about the US or Canada. For these see America: History & Life.
-
Index Islamicus This link opens in a new windowSearch for books and articles in periodicals about Islam and the Muslim world. Also includes reviews.
-
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to millions of journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. The Archive Journal Collection is included.
API available, more information here: APIs for Scholarly Research -
Liberia and the US: Nation-Building in Africa, 1864-1918 This link opens in a new windowThis series consists of correspondence and telegrams received and sent by the United States’ diplomatic post in Liberia. The topics covered by these records include all aspects of relations with Liberia, and interactions of American citizens with the Liberian government and people.
-
Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1918-1935 This link opens in a new windowPart of Gale Primary Sources: Archives Unbound, this archive serves as a companion to Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1864-1918. It consists of correspondence and telegrams received and sent by American diplomats, as well as records of American citizens and companies with relations to Liberia. It carries the story from the end of First World War into the interwar period.
-
MLA International Bibliography (Ebsco) This link opens in a new windowLists books plus articles and essays from journals and books on literature, linguistics, and folklore. Before 1956 covered only scholarship published in North America.
-
World Cities This link opens in a new windowWorld Cities preserves the full text of surveys, budgets, statistical records, case studies, planning documents, training manuals, policy guidelines, reports, and news from the world’s top 100 cities by population, capital cities with populations greater than 20,000 people, major cities in the Global South, and cities with particular research importance, such as those dealing with climate change, political instability, or rapid growth.
API available, more information here: APIs for Scholarly Research -
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Project MUSE hosts more than 800 journals and more than 90,000 books covering the humanities and social sciences from nearly 400 leading university presses, scholarly societies, and related publishers.
-
Records of the U.S. State Department: The French Colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1945-1963: Internal and Foreign Affairs This link opens in a new windowThese files are the definitive source of American diplomatic reporting on political, military, social, and economic developments in French Africa, and contain various materials from U.S. diplomats.
-
Sabinet African Journals This link opens in a new windowThe Sabinet Complete Collection is the largest aggregation of African journals, news, and government information. The platform includes over 185,000 articles from 532 African refereed and peer-reviewed journals from 1910 to the present, as well as South African news, and Government, Labor, and Law information.
UVA has access to most content.