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Central America

The part of the Americas that links Mexico with the Isthmus of Panama, comprising Belize and the republics of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

It is also an isthmus, crossed by mountains that form part of the Cordilleras, rising to a maximum height of 4,220 m/13,845 ft. There are numerous active volcanoes. The principal river is the Usumacinta, which rises in Guatemala and flows north for 965 km/600 mi, crossing Mexico, and empties into the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico. Central America has an area of about 523,000 sq km/200,000 sq mi, and a population (2001 est) of 28,764,000, comprising mostly Indians or mestizos (of mixed white-Indian ancestry), with the exception of Costa Rica, which has a predominantly white population. Tropical agricultural products, raw materials, and other basic commodities are exported.

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REFERENCES

  • England, Sarah. 2000. “Creating a Global Garifuna Nation? The Transnationalization of Race, Class, and Gender Politics in the Garifuna Diaspora.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis.
  • Hagan, Jacqueline Maria.1994. Deciding to Be Legal: A Maya Community in Houston. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • Hamilton, Nora; Norma Stoltz Chinchilla. 2001. Seeking Community in a Global City: Guatemalans and Salvadorans in Los Angeles. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • Loucky, James; Marilyn M. Moors, eds. 2000. The Maya Diaspora: Guatemalan Roots, New American Lives. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • Mahler, Sarah J.1995. American Dreaming: Immigrant Life on the Margins. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
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From Credo

  • Menjívar, Cecilia2000. Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Portes, Alejandro; Rubén G. Rumbaut. 2001. Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Rodriguez, Nestor P.; Jacqueline Maria Hagan. 2000. “Maya Urban Villagers in Houston: The Formation of a Migrant Community from San Cristobal Totonicapán.” In James Loucky; Marilyn M. Moors, eds., The Maya Diaspora: Guatemalan Roots, New American Lives, pp. 223-30. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • Zentgraf, Kristine Forthcoming. “Why Women Migrate: Salvadoran and Guatemalan Women in Los Angeles.” In Enrique C. Ochoa; Gilda Laura Ochoa, eds., Latinalo Los Angeles: Global Transformation, Migrations, and Political Activism. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
  • Acta Psiquiátrica y Psicológica de América latina (special issue on alcohol in Latin America). 20, no. 2 (1974).
  • Heath, Dwight B.Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol and Culture. Philadelphia: Brunner/Mazell, 2000.
  • Heath, Dwight B., ed. International Handbook on Alcohol and Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1995.
  • Horwitz, José, Marconi, Juan, and Castro, Gonzalo Adis. Bases para una epidemiología del alcoholismo en América latina (Monografía de Acta Psiquiátrica y Psicológica de América latina 1). Buenos Aires: Fondo para la Salud Mental, 1967.
  • Institute of Medicine. Legislative Approaches to Prevention of Alcohol-Related Problems: An Inter American Workshop. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1982.
  • Marshall, Mac, ed. Beliefs, Behaviors, and Alcoholic Beverages: A Cross-Cultural Survey. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1979.
  • Acevedo, Ramón Luis (1982) La novela centroamericana, Rio Piedras, PR: Ed. Universitaria.
  • Beverley, John and Zimmerman, Marc (1990) Literature and Politics in the Central American Revolutions, Austin: University of Texas Press.
  • Liano, Dante (1992) Ensayos de literatura guatemalteca, Rome: Bulzoni.
  • Paredes, R. and Paguada, M. Salinas (eds) (1987) Literatura hondureña, Tegucigalpa: Editores Unidos.
  • Sandoval de Fonseca, V. (1978) Resumen de literatura costarricense, San Juan: Ed. Costa Rica.
  • Sosa, Roberto (ed.) (1993) Diálogo de sombras, Tegucigalpa: Ed. Guaymuras.
  • White, Steven F. (1986) Culture and Politics in Nicaragua, New York: Lumen Books.
  • White, Steven F. (1982) Poets of Nicaragua: A Bilingual Anthology 1918–79, Greensboro, NC: Unicorn Press.
  • Zavala, M. and Araya, Seidy (1995) La historiografía literaria en América Central (1957–87), San José: Ed. Fundación.
  • Zimmerman, Marc (1995) Literature and Resistance in Guatemala, Athens: Ohio University Press, 2 vols.

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