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Resources and services related to specific geographic areas in Africa, Asia, and Europe.
The African Studies Collection includes materials in various formats from all African countries; the Middle East as triangulated by the Zagros Mountains to the east and the Taurus Mountains to the north; Iran and Afghanistan; in the areas of general, theoretical, and comparative anthropology; general history and historiography; and studies of the so-called developing nations that are comparative or general, that is, crossing more than one significant area of the world. Within these general responsibilities, the collection covers the humanities, and social sciences excepting art, music, geography, and certain business fields in all relevant languages and wherever published.
African Specialist: Kimberly Rooney
Middle East Specialist: Andy Spencer
Homepage: African Collection
African Diaspora Studies focus on the interdisciplinary dialogue on the theoretical contours of the African Diaspora. The collection is built to support research and teaching of faculty in the African Diaspora and the Atlantic World Research Circle at the University of Wisconsin. English is the primary language of the materials collected. Monographs, microforms and serials are the primary formats collected.
Subject Specialist: Kimberly Rooney
East Asian Studies in Memorial Library cover the geographic area of China, Japan, North and South Korea and Taiwan. Primarily we support humanities and social sciences from all periods in all formats: East Asian languages & literature, theater & drama, comparative literature, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, history, human ecology, political science, geography, business, applied economics, education, and communication arts.
Subject Specialist: Anlin Yang
Japan Specialist: Yoriko Dixon
Homepage: East Asian Collection
Francophone Studies serves the needs of library users interested in literatures, cultures, and more generally the study of the Francophone world. The Francophone world in this context includes former colonies of France, namely French-speaking countries of Africa, The Caribbean, Québec, the U.S, Southeast Asia, and countries of the Indian Ocean. This collection supports the instructional and research needs and personal interest of the University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty, as well as other users within and beyond the university community. Most materials purchased for this collection are in French. Secondary sources in English are systematically added to the collection. Monographs and serials are the primary formats collected.
Subject Specialist: Kimberly Rooney
This is a unique collection of realia, videos, songs, posters, pamphlets, etc. produced by groups that are challenging inequities bred by globalization (e.g., anti-corporate, environmentalist, nationalist, anarchist, religious, and other groups). It is commonly known as the “Global Counter Current” collection. This collection is entirely supported by the Global Studies Program. Scott Kloeck-Jenson scholars are encouraged to collect materials during their fieldwork to be deposited with the collection upon their return. Emphasis is given to materials from less powerful countries.
Subject Specialist: Laura Martin
Jewish Studies is an interdisciplinary field covering the religion, history, culture, languages, literature, and sociology, of the Jewish people from Biblical times to the present in all lands in which Jews have lived. Memorial Library has material on Judaism and Jewish sacred texts, including the Hebrew Bible and Talmud, Jewish history outside North America, the Holocaust, Israel, and literature in Hebrew, Yiddish and other languages. Material relevant to Jewish Studies is collected in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, German, French, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and other languages.
Subject Specialist: Kevin Kurdylo
Latin American Studies encompass the history, cultures, and affairs of the American territories conquered by the Spanish and Portuguese between the 15th and 18th centuries. It also focuses on all the subsequently independent Spanish-speaking republics, Brazil, and all the Caribbean, taking into consideration each region’s preexisting indigenous cultures. By the same token, Iberian Studies encompass the same study areas for Spain and Portugal from the Early Middle Ages to the present.
This collection includes materials from or about Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian countries in the areas of: literature, linguistics, history, sociology, anthropology, economy, political sciences, religion, cultural studies, women’s studies, and film studies.
Subject Specialist: Laura Martin
Homepage: Ibero-American Studies Collection • Ibero-American Studies and Romance Languages Collections (News/Blog)
Slavic and East European Studies in Memorial Library cover the history, linguistics, literature, economics, political science and ethnic and cultural studies of Russian Eurasia, Belarus and Ukraine and the East European countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic), the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), the successor countries of the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia), as well as Albania, Georgia, Armenia and modern Greece (post AD 1453). Jewish and Romani (Gypsy) culture and history as they relate to Eastern Europe and Russia are also covered.
Central Asian Studies in Memorial Library cover the history, linguistics, literature, economics, political science and ethnic and cultural studies of the countries of Central Asia: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Modern Turkey (post AD 1453) including the Anatolian part of the Ottoman Empire is also covered. The numerous smaller Turkic and Altaic ethnic groups outside of Central Asia proper such as the Gagauz, Iakut, Bashkir, Chuvash, Tatar, and Karachay are covered as well.
Subject Specialist: Andy Spencer
Homepage: Slavic & Eastern European Collection • REECA Web: A Guide to Russian, East European, and Central Asian Collections
The South Asian Studies collection at Memorial Library covers the geographic area of the Indian subcontinent, namely the modern countries of India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh and to lesser extents Bhutan, the Maldives, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the South Asian diaspora. Its focus is in the Humanities and Social Sciences from all time periods. While all major South Asian languages are represented in the collection, the current actively collected languages are English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Pali, Telugu, Tibetan and Urdu. Other significant collections of South Asian material can be found at the Law and Steenbock libraries.
Subject Specialist: Todd Michelson-Ambelang
Homepages: South Asian Collection • Introductory Research on South Asia
The Southeast Asian Studies collection at Memorial Library covers the eleven countries of Southeast Asia, namely, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as the Hmong people of Southeast Asia, and to some extent the diaspora of peoples from SEA, including Southeast Asian-Americans. The collection’s focus is in the humanities and social sciences from all time periods. All major Southeast Asian languages are represented in the collection, with particular strengths in Hmong, Indonesian, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese resources. Other significant collections of Southeast Asian material can be found at the Law, Music, and Steenbock libraries, as well as the Wisconsin Historical Society Library on campus.
Subject Specialist: Larry Ashmun
Homepage: Southeast Asian Studies Collection • Southeast Asia Guide
Western European Studies encompasses the history and society (social sciences) of Western Europe from prehistory through the present. The geographical region includes present-day Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and smaller areas, as well as resources from and about the European Union and other regional organizations. Also included are the history and society of ancient Greece and Rome and the historical Byzantine Empire. Spain and Portugal are not included; these are covered by Iberian Studies. Subjects included are: history, political science, sociology, economics, international relations, anthropology, archaeology, current affairs, ethnic studies, gender studies, and related topics. Literature and other humanities are not included; these are covered by European Humanities, German Language Humanities, and English Humanities.
Subject Specialist: Julianne Haahr