Members of ASU's Chicana/Chicano Studies Department have completed the first encyclopedia of Hispanic culture.
The two-volume Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture took three years to complete and contains about 500 entries. It will be on bookstore shelves in October.
"It encompasses just about everything you might want to inquire about Latino culture," said Alma Alvarez-Smith, a doctoral justice studies student involved with the project. "Food, clothing, music, film, politics, sports, religion, arts; it's all in here."
About 100 different experts on Hispanic culture contributed to the ASU-led project, Alvarez-Smith added.
"It was Pandora's box," said Peter Garcia, an assistant professor of the department who contributed about 175 entries on subjects of music, folklore and religion. "Every time we turned around we had to put something else in."
The 1,600-page set was finished in January and is produced by Greenwood Publishing, a Connecticut-based company that specializes in academic and educational texts. It is currently available for advanced purchase on the company's Web site for $157.50. In October, the encyclopedia will cost $175.
Alvarez-Smith said the text is the first of its kind and is especially useful for bridging existing cultural gaps that remain between Hispanic-Americans and American society.
"Today, if you went to a bookstore or library looking for an all-encompassing book on Hispanic cultures, you wouldn't be able to find it," she said. "It will help law enforcement, social services and medical health professionals by teaching them our culture."
Due to the outstandingly wide array of information concerning Hispanic culture, Alvarez-Smith said the book does have its shortcomings.
The entries, which were solicited by sending notices to Hispanic groups, educational establishments and conferences, focus predominantly on issues pertaining to the nations of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
"We did try to look at everything, but we really focus on Mexican-Americans, Cubans and Puerto Ricans because they make up the majority of Hispanics in America," Alvarez-Smith added.
Reach the reporter at christian.palmer@asu.edu.
