 Background
CIA — The World Factbook
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
| More than 260 of the world's nations are studied through their geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, transnational issues, maps, and flags. Hyperlinks lead the user to Notes and definitions, Field listings (which compare different countries on specific criteria), and Rank order. |
Global Gateway: World Culture and Resources
http://international.loc.gov/intldl/intldlhome.html
This Library of Congress site provides resources on world culture, including audio and video files. Click on Portals to the World, then on the name of your country, for links to electronic resources from around the world. |
National Geographic
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/index.html
This site includes photos, videos, daily news stories, world music, and travel. The National Geographic Map Machine offers maps for nearly everywhere, viewable by population, climate, conservation, topography. |
 Phrasebooks: "a few good words"
| Want to get to know people better by speaking some of their language? Your instructor may be able to help you with this, but you can also help yourself. First, while you're here, use the online sources to learn basic words and sounds. Then go to your friendly neighborhood bookstore for a Berlitz phrasebook to tuck into pocket or pack for your trip. Like magic, you're bilingual! |
Foreign Languages for Travelers
http://www.travlang.com/languages/
| Be sure to scroll way down on the TravLang web page, and you'll find basic words, numbers, shopping/dining, travel, directions, places, time and dates for eighty languages. Phonetic notation and non-Roman characters for Asian languages are also given. |
BBC—Languages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/
| The British communications network broadcasts online language courses including sound in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Greek, and less extensive material in Chinese, Japanese, and other languages. Multilingual radio and TV programs are available; the news, in 33 languages. |
If you'd like to write in another language, numerous desktop computers in the Hedberg Library will let you type accents in French, German, or Spanish, as well as create Chinese or Japanese characters. Just letters, though, no translations!
 Fine arts, or big "C" culture
The fine arts—art, music, architecture, and even literature—are sometimes called big "C" culture and represent the output of individual artists, often members of the elite. Small "c" culture, on the other hand, comprises the shared values, customs, and behaviors of an entire society.
Art History Resources on the Web
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html
| This extensive site provides online images of art works, arranged chronologically and geographically, in addition to listing museums and galleries by country. |
Grove Dictionary of Art Online
http://www.groveart.com/
| Grove Dictionary of Art Online contains 45,000 articles on the fine arts (painting, sculpture, and architecture) and the decorative arts, in addition to 130,000 searchable images and links to other web sites. To search Grove from off-campus, you must have a current Carthage ID and a proxy installed on your computer. The paper equivalent of Grove is available in the Hedberg reference area: Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner. 34 vols. New York: Grove, 1996. Ref N 31 D554 |
Grove Music Online
http://www.grovemusic.com/index.html
| This important work contains over 45,000 articles, images, music examples, and links, with increased coverage of world, jazz, popular and twentieth-century music. To search Grove from off-campus, you must have a current Carthage ID and a proxy installed on your computer. The hardcopy version is available in the Hedberg reference section: New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. by Stanley Sadie. 2nd ed. 29 vols. New York: Grove, 2001. Ref ML 100 N48 2001 |
NAXOS Music Library
http://carthage.naxosmusiclibrary.com/
| This 150,000 track sound library includes World / Folk and Chinese music among the genres on the lefthand menu. The service is available on campus only. Music is streamed in wma format, and Windows Media Player 9/10 is recommended. Please logout of Naxos when you are finished. |
National Anthems
http://www.aresearchguide.com/anthems.html
National Anthems provides links to some fifteen music URLs, with formats ranging from MIDI to MP3. |
 Small "c" culture
Small "c" culture, also termed popular culture,
social life and customs,
or civilization, which anthropologist Ruth Benedict calls "our social legacy,...regulates our lives at every turn." Popular culture manifestations include mass media, clothing, cooking, and entertainment forms such as sports and literature. This section contains both general and discipline-specific resources. |
Countries and Their Cultures, ed. Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. 4 vols.
| This component of the Gale Virtual Reference Library focuses on cultures and countries around the world, specifically what is and is not shared culturally by the people who live in a particular country. Entries contain descriptive summaries of the country in question, including demographic, historical, cultural, economic, religious, and political information. |
Encyclopedia of World Cultures, ed. David Levinson. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, c1991-c1996. 10 vols. Ref GN 307 E56
| This ten-volume work gives information on the history, location, religious beliefs and practices, arts, socio-political organization, language, economy, family, and kinship relationships of more than 1,500 national, ethnic, and folk cultural groups, both present and past. |
Greenwood's guides/handbooks to popular culture and Routledge's cultural encyclopedias also provide useful information on individual countries.
Museum of International Folk Art
http://www.moifa.org/
Crafts, the art of the people, play a vital role in the daily life of many of the world's cultures. The museum's collections include ceramics, basketry, metalwork, glassware, textiles, masks, costumes, and toys. |
Ethnomusicology, Folk Music, and World Music (Univ. of Washington)
http://www.lib.washington.edu/music/world.html
An enormous collection of hyperlinks, this site emphasizes the folk side of world music history and analysis and includes some streaming and downloadable audio in different formats. Most of the resources on this list are accessible to all, but licensed databases are restricted to the Univ. of Washington community. |
Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 15 vols
| This component of the Gale Virtual Reference Library focuses on the role of religion within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture. |
The Food Timeline: Food History Reference & Research Service
http://www.foodtimeline.org/index.html
The most delicious part of a people's culture—food commentary and recipes—takes many forms. This unusual database charts the historical emergence of each foodstuff into human cuisine, the dishes in which it began to be used, and how it was prepared. |
Many food history articles by famed writer Raymond Sokolov, originally published in Natural History, can now be read in fulltext through Academic Search Elite and InfoTrac OneFile. (A proxy is required for off-campus access.) Hardcopy/microfilm is also available in the Hedberg Library collection.
Don't forget to check the Time-Life cookbooks for China, France, Russia, Latin America, and the Caribbean in the general TX section of Hedberg Library and Carthage's netLibrary electronic cookbooks. (To use the latter off-campus, you must first set up a netLibrary user account on a Hedberg computer or else use a proxy.) |
...and some good advice from Uncle Sam 
Your Trip Abroad [Department of State Publication 10542, Bureau of Consular Affairs]
http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/brochures/brochures_1225.html
Have a safe, enlightening, and enjoyable trip!
Maintained by Tina Eger
24 December 2006
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