Welcome!
The University of Illinois Library has a wealth of materials on popular culture from around the world. This guide will help you access physical and digital resources ranging from music recordings to streaming films to scholarship on popular music, TV, film, video games, sports, comics, and more. Be sure to visit the International Comics tab above to explore the Library’s extensive holdings in comics from around the world.
How to Use This Guide:
This page has search tips for finding popular culture materials in the library, and recommendations for resources on international popular culture generally. Each of the Area Studies pages has resources that focus on that region, with links for both University of Illinois resources and web resources. You’ll find video clips, streaming music, and plenty of scholarly materials.
Can’t find what you need?
Contact Mara Thacker, Global Popular Culture Librarian, any other Area Studies librarian, or use the Ask a Librarian chat box to your right.
Image: yas640 on Pixabay
Getting Started - Search Tips
General Popular Culture Search Terms
To get started searching in the library catalog or a database, use the general search terms below or the more specific topic terms in the sections to the right, and add the country, region, culture, or language you're looking for. In the library catalog, use the drop down menu to the right of the search bar to choose keyword or subject search. (A subject search will return more relevant results.)
- Popular Culture
- For example:
- Popular culture -- China
- Chinese popular culture
- Popular Culture and Globalization
- Mass media and culture
Refining Your Catalog Search
Looking for specific kinds of materials (e.g. films, sound recordings) in the catalog? Choose "Advanced Search" under the search bar and select the formats you want to limit your search to.
Browsing
Use the links on the right side of the page of your search results to narrow what you see by language, topic, or region.
General Resources
Journals
Databases
- Project Muse This link opens in a new window Full-text articles from more than 200 scholarly journals in history and the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences. Disciplines covered include literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others. A brief bibliographic description of each title is given. Searches can be conducted across the full text of all journals in the database.
Books:
From Kung Fu to Hip Hop by
Explores the revolutionary potential of Bruce Lee and hip hop culture in the context of antiglobalization struggles and transnational capitalism.
ISBN: 0791469913Publication Date: 2007-02-15
The Popular and the Public by
The Popular and the Public brings together a range of international scholars to examine how popular culture has shaped the public sphere, providing an alternative space for political debate in 19th and 20th Century India, Africa and Europe.
ISBN: 9781905422876Publication Date: 2009-08-01
The Routledge Companion to Global Popular Culture by
Research on popular culture is a dynamic, fast-growing domain. In scholarly terms, it cuts across many areas, including communication studies, sociology, history, American studies, anthropology, literature, journalism, folklore, economics, and media and cultural studies. The Routledge Companion to Global Popular Culture provides an authoritative, up-to-date, intellectually broad, internationally-aware, and conceptually agile guide to the most important aspects of popular culture scholarship.
ISBN: 9781136175961Publication Date: 2014-12-05
Search Terms
For works about films and the film industry, add the country or nationality you're interested in to the following search terms and choose subject search:
- Motion pictures
- Motion picture industry
To find the films themselves, try these and select "movie" under the format filters to the right in the library catalog:
- Feature films + country or language
- Fiction films + country or language
- Foreign films + country or language
Research Resources:
- Film Study Reference Guide: World CinemaSuggested titles from the Library catalog on cinema from all over the world.
- FIAF International Film Archive Database This link opens in a new windowContains: International index to film periodicals, 1972- ; International index to television periodicals, 1979- ; List of periodicals indexed; Treasures from the film archives; International directory of film and TV documentation collections; and Bibliography of FIAF members' publications.
- Directory of World CinemaThe Directory of World Cinema book series explores film traditions from around the world. Current holdings include volumes on Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia, China, East Europe, Finland, Latin America, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, Iran, UK, Belgium, and Brazil.
- World Cinema on KanopyIllinois students have access to hundreds of international films streaming on Kanopy. Get started here.
Books:
Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures by ISBN: 9780520276741Publication Date: 2014-03-26Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures is the first book to collect manifestoes from the global history of cinema, providing the first historical and theoretical account of the role played by film manifestos in filmmaking and film culture. Focussing equally on political and aesthetic manifestoes, Scott MacKenzie uncovers a neglected, yet nevertheless central history of the cinema, exploring a series of documents that postulate ways in which to re-imagine the cinema and, in the process, re-imagine the world.
The Cinema of Small Nations by ISBN: 9780748630929Publication Date: 2007-01-01The Cinema of Small Nations is the first major analysis of small national cinemas, comprising twelve case studies of small national - and sub national - cinemas from around the world, including Ireland, Denmark, Iceland, Scotland, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
Traditions in World Cinema by ISBN: 0748626263The core volume in the Traditions in World Cinema series, this book brings together a colourful and wide-ranging collection of world cinematic traditions - national, regional and global - all of which are in need of introduction, investigation and, in some cases, critical reassessment. Topics include: German expressionism, Italian neorealism, French New Wave, British new wave, Czech new wave, Danish Dogma, post-Communist cinema, Brazilian post-Cinema Novo, new Argentine cinema, pre-revolutionary African traditions, Israeli persecution films, new Iranian cinema, Hindi film songs, Chinese wenyi pianmelodrama, Japanese horror, new Hollywood cinema and global found footage cinema.
Search Terms
To find information about television programs and their production, use the following subject search terms, with the country or language you're looking for added to the term (e.g., Television programs -- Spain). To find DVDs and streaming shows, "movie" under the format filters to the right in the library catalog.
- Television programs
- Television actors and actresses
- Television adaptations
- Television broadcasting
- Cable television
- Television series
- Television producers and directors
- Reality television programs
To find shows in particular genres, add the genre term to the beginning of the search term. For example:
- Science fiction television programs
- Detective and mystery television programs
Books to get you started:
Global Television Formats by ISBN: 0415965446Publication Date: 2011-11-23For decades, television scholars have viewed global television through the lens of cultural imperialism, focusing primarily on programs produced by US and UK markets and exported to foreign markets. Global Television Formats revolutionizes television studies by de-provincializing its approach to media globalization. The chapters in this collection take up the format phenomena from around the globe, including the Middle East, Western and Eastern Europe, South and West Africa, South and East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, North America, South America, and the Caribbean.
Soap Operas and Telenovelas in the Digital Age by ISBN: 9781433108242Publication Date: 2011-05-06This collection brings together original scholarship from an international and trans-disciplinary perspective. Chapters address timely issues, theories, and debates that are inextricably linked to soap operas and telenovelas as global industries, as sites for new audiences, and as hybrid cultural products within the digital landscape. Bringing depth and originality to the subject area, each chapter demonstrates the richness of these genres and their long-term significance as the televisual landscape evolves and becomes increasingly reliant on technological and creative innovations.
Telemodernities by ISBN: 9780822361886Publication Date: 2016-09-02In Telemodernities Tania Lewis, Fran Martin, and Wanning Sun demonstrate how lifestyle-oriented popular factual television illuminates key aspects of late modernities in South and East Asia, offering insights not only into early twenty-first-century media cultures but also into wider developments in the nature of public and private life, identity, citizenship, and social engagement.
The Politics of Reality Television by ISBN: 9780415588249Publication Date: 2010-12-22The book addresses a wide range of topics, including: the global circulation and local adaptation of reality television formats and franchises; the production of fame and celebrity around hitherto "ordinary" people; the transformation of self under the public eye; the tensions between fierce loyalties to local representatives and imagined communities bonding across regional and ethnic divides; the struggle over the meanings and values of reality television across a range of national, regional, gender, class and religious contexts.
Search Terms
Find materials on video games with these search terms (borrowed from the UGL Video Games Research Guide). Add countries and languages to your search term to find the information you want (e.g., Video games -- History -- Japan).
- Computer games
- Computer games -- Design
- Electronic games
- Internet games
- Three-dimensional display systems
- Video games
- Video games and children
- Video games -- History
- Video games industry
- Video games -- Psychological aspects
- Video games -- Social aspects
- Virtual reality
Research Resources:
- Undergraduate Library Gaming IntiativeInformation about board games, video games and gaming consoles in the library, doing research on gaming, and pursuing careers in the gaming industry.
- Guide to Video Games and Gaming Research in the Undergraduate LibraryIncludes suggested databases, search terms, websites, and links to guides on related topics such as artificial intelligence and social media.
- Journal: Game StudiesGame Studies is a non-profit, open-access, crossdisciplinary journal dedicated to games research, web-published several times a year at www.gamestudies.org
Books:
Gaming Globally by ISBN: 9781137006325Publication Date: 2012-12-28Video games are inherently transnational by virtue of industrial, textual, and player practices. The contributors touch upon nations not usually examined by game studies - including the former Czechoslovakia, Turkey, India, and Brazil - and also add new perspectives to the global hubs of China, Singapore, Australia, Japan, and the United States.
The Meaning of Video Games by ISBN: 041596055XPublication Date: 2008-02-21Early video game studies scholars were quick to point out that a game should never be reduced to merely its "story" or narrative content and they rightly insist on the importance of studying games as games. But here Steven E. Jones demonstrates that textual studies--which grows historically out of ancient questions of textual recension, multiple versions, production, reproduction, and reception--can fruitfully be applied to the study of video games. It treats video games as cultural forms of expression that are received as they are played, out in the world, where their meanings get made.
Cultural Code by ISBN: 0262034050Publication Date: 2016-02-12How culture uses games and how games use culture: an examination of Latin America's gaming practices and the representation of the region's cultures in games. Video games are becoming an ever more ubiquitous element of daily life, played by millions on devices that range from smart phones to desktop computers. An examination of this phenomenon reveals that video games are increasingly being converted into cultural currency. For video game designers, culture is a resource that can be incorporated into games; for players, local gaming practices and specific social contexts can affect their playing experiences. In Cultural Code, Phillip Penix-Tadsen shows how culture uses games and how games use culture, looking at examples related to Latin America.
Search Terms
Find materials on popular music with these search terms, and add the country or language term you're interested in. While your likely to find more recent recordings on commercial streaming services, you can also find music recordings in the library catalog. Use the filters at the right of your search to limit your format to "music recording."
- Popular music
- Rock music
- Heavy metal (music)
- Rap (music)
- Hip hop
You can find more information about researching music materials on the Music and Performing Arts Library's research guides page. Several are highlighted below.
Research Resources:
- Journal: Popular Music and SocietyPopular Music and Society , founded in 1971, publishes articles, book reviews, and audio reviews on popular music of any genre, time period, or geographic location.
- LibGuide: Intro to World MusicThis libguide, created for Music 133, provides starting points for research on world music in the Illinois library.
- Center for Black Music Research at Columbia CollegeIncludes information about styles and genres, bibliographies and discographies related to black music around the world.
- LibGuide: Finding Individual SongsThis guide will help you find recordings and sheet music for popular music in the Illinois library.
- LibGuide: Rap and Hip Hop Research ResourcesInformation about rap and hip hop all over the world.
Books:
Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World by ISBN: 0826463215Publication Date: 2003-01-3011 volumes, with entries that include bibliographies, discographies and filmographies, and an extensive index.
Routlege Global Popular Music SeriesPublication Date: 2014-2018Includes volumes on Brazil, Turkey, Hungary, France, and Korea, as well as regionally-focused volumes on Latin America and the Low Countries.
Global Linguistic Flows by ISBN: 9780203892787Publication Date: 2008-10-01Located at the intersection of sociolinguistics and Hip Hop Studies, this cutting-edge book moves around the world - spanning Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas and the European Union - to explore Hip Hop cultures, youth identities, the politics of language, and the simultaneous processes of globalization and localization.
Brave Punk World by ISBN: 9781442269842Publication Date: 2017-10-06Punk rock may have started in the United Kingdom and United States but it certainly didn't stay in either country. The genre flew around the globe like a contagion, touching off simultaneous movements in nearly every market imaginable: Japan, Yugoslavia, the Philippines, South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, Mexico, Poland, Burma, Singapore, and Turkey, among countless others.
Search Terms:
For general information on sports around the world, use the subject search term "sports" and the country or language you are interested in. A search for a specific sport may return more relevant results. Related terms you might search include:
- Athletics
- Recreation
- Games
- Team sports
- Individual sports
- Athletes
- Sports injuries
- Sports spectators
- Sports for women (use this construction for any women's sports, e.g. "basketball for women")
Research Resources:
- Guide to Sources in Recreation, Sport, and TourismLinks to databases, suggested journals, search terms, call numbers for relevant topic areas, and web sources.
- Research Guide to Latin American and Caribbean SportSources for researching sports in Latin American and the Caribbean, including information about the Illinois library's extensive special collections in this area.
Books:
Sports Around the World by ISBN: 9781598843002Publication Date: 2012-04-06This multivolume set is much more than a collection of essays on sports and sporting cultures from around the world: it also details how and why sports are played wherever they exist, and examines key charismatic athletes from around the world who have transcended their sports. Further reading selections provide direction for in-depth analysis of each event, sport, personality, or issue discussed.
Baseball Beyond Our Borders by ISBN: 9780803276826Publication Date: 2017-03-01Baseball Beyond Our Borders celebrates the globalization of the game while highlighting the different histories and cultures of the nations in which the sport is played. This collection of essays tells the story of America's national pastime as it has spread across the world and undergone instructive, entertaining, and sometimes quirky changes in the process.
Sport, Race and Ethnicity by ISBN: 9781138851078Publication Date: 2015-02-05Readers will find here a stimulating array of papers that capture varied aspects of the sport, race and ethnicity nexus around the world. The journey stretches as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ghana and the USA and, in so doing, it draws on a range of disciplinary approaches that converge or diverge by degrees.
Search Terms:
Use the following genre terms, plus country or language, to find science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other genre materials in the Library catalog. Filter your search by using the links to the right side of the page to find films, books, and other materials.
- Science fiction
- Science fiction films
- Fantasy literature
- Fantasy fiction
- Fantasy films
- Horror fiction
- Horror tales (use for horror literature)
- Thrillers (motion pictures)
- Suspense fiction
- Detective and mystery stories
- Detective and mystery films
For works about these genres, try the following constructions for your search terms. (Note: the term "science fiction" will return both history/criticism of science fiction works and the works themselves).
- Fantasy in literature (motion pictures, television programs, etc.)
- Horror in literature (etc.)
Research Resources:
- The Encyclopedia of Science FictionWith over 17,000 entries by top scholars in the field available for free, this is an indispensible resource for beginning your research on science fiction.
- British Literature: Fantasy LiteratureSearch terms, recommended books, and professional organizations that focus on science fiction and fantasy, primarily in the UK.
- Russian and East European Science FictionGuide created for CWL 117, with links to web resources, recommended library materials, and information on utopias, dystopias, and gender in Russian and East European SF.
- Science FictionGuide to finding science fiction books and research materials in the Illinois library, with links to databases, search tips, and tabs on Afrofuturism and other media.
- Guide to Environmental NovelsA guide to juvenile, young adult, and adult novels with environmental themes, generally focused on pollution. Includes a tab on science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Books:
A Short History of Fantasy (available via iShare) by ISBN: 1904750680Publication Date: 2009-01-01A history of the fantasy form, this work traces the genre from the earliest years with The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey through to the origins of modern fantasy in the 20th century with such acclaimed writers as Terry Pratchett and J. K. Rowling. An exploration of the great variety of fiction published under the heading "fantasy," this engaging study seeks to explain its continuing and ever growing popularity.
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy by ISBN: 0312198698Publication Date: 1999-03-15This huge volume is the first comprehensive encyclopedia of the fantasy field. Not only does it describe the genre authoritatively, but it redefines it, offering an exciting new analysis of this highly diverse and hugely popular sphere of art.
Science Fiction, Imperialism and the Third World: Essays on Postcolonial Literature and Film by ISBN: 1282749463Publication Date: 2010-01-01Though science fiction is often thought of as a Western phenomenon, the genre has long had a foothold in countries as diverse as India and Mexico. These fourteen critical essays examine both the role of science fiction in the third world and the role of the third world in science fiction. Topics covered include science fiction in Bengal, the genre's portrayal of Native Americans, Mexican cyberpunk fiction, and the undercurrents of colonialism and Empire in traditional science fiction.
Guide compiled by Sarah Sahn, Library and Information Sciences Graduate Student, in Spring 2018 as part of a practicum in the International and Area Studies Library.