ENGD62: Transnational Literature

In literary scholarship, "transnationalism" is a widely, though not always consistently used term, which means that the use of synonyms and related terminology is not only helpful, but arguably essential to finding the best research on transnational issues in literature.

Helpfully, "transnationalism" is nevertheless an official MLA Subject Heading, which cna help you in finding materials that are DEFINITELY about "transnationalism". That said, it's recommended that you also take advantage of the subject headings "internationalism" and "globalization" which, while not perfectly synonymous with "transnationalism" per se, will nonetheless be useful for finding relevant scholarship on these broad issues, and how they're dealt with in literature.

Beginning with these three Subject Headings brings up over 6,000 hits in the MLA International Bibliography, which is a good starting point, though keep in mind that other terminology (possibly "postcolonialism", for example) may also be highly useful in the context of the aspect of transnationalism that your paper seeks to address.

Other MLA subject headings that might be of use, depending upon your topic, include "place names", "mapping", "cartography", "diaspora", "migration", "cultural pluralism"... but there are many and varied options, so make sure to use the MLA Thesaurus to help guide you to appropriate terminology!