The Small Axe Project is an integrated publication undertaking devoted to Caribbean intellectual and artistic work, exercised over three platforms—''Small Axe''; ''sx salon'', and ''sx visualities''—each with a different structure, medium, and practice.
The Project also curates related events, symposia, and exhibitions. The ''Small Axe'' Project is administered by Small Axe Incorporated, a not-for-profit 01(c)3organization established in New York State in 2002, and is funded by
The Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
. David Scott is Director.
David Scott
David Scott is the president of Small Axe Inc., the director of the Small Axe Project, and the founding editor of ''Small Axe'' journal. He teaches in the Department of Anthropology at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. He is the author of ''Formations of Ritual: Colonial and Anthropological Discourses on the Sinhala Yaktovil'' (1994), ''Refashioning Futures: Criticism After Postcoloniality'' (1999), ''Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment'' (2004), ''Omens of Adversity: Tragedy, Time, Memory, Justice'' (2014), and ''Stuart Hall's Voice: Intimations of an Ethics of Receptive Generosity'' (2017). He is also co-editor of ''Powers of the Secular Modern: Talal Asad and his Interlocutors'' (2007), He is currently working on a book project examining the moral imperative of reparations for New World slavery.
David Scott was awarded the
Council of Editors of Learned Journals The Council of Editors of Learned Journals emerged from a series of informal gatherings of editors at the Modern Language Association of America (MLA). The gatherings were concerned with the same issues that are the subject matter of the organizatio ...
(CELJ) Distinguished Editor prize in 2017 for his work as editor of ''Small Axe: A Journal of Caribbean Criticism''."David Scott receives Distinguished Editor prize" ''sx live'', 5 January 2017. Gordon Hutner said, at the Book Review Session arranged by CELJ on 5 January 2017:
Among others praising Scott's work,
Roshini Kempadoo
Roshini Kempadoo (born Crawley, Sussex, England, 1959) is a British photographer, media artist, and academic. For more than 20 years she has been a lecturer and researcher in photography, digital media production, and cultural studies in a variety ...
, lecturer at
University of Westminster
, mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength
, type = Public
, established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster
, endowment = £5.1 million ...
, said: "Small Axe edited and published under Scott’s vision has become one of most relevant intellectual and creative publications for our current political, social and cultural climate. Small Axe continues to reflect the ‘problem space’ of the contemporary global moment."
''Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism''
''Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism'' is a peer-reviewed triannual print journal that was established in Jamaica in March 1997 as a forum for critical writing. It was originally published by
Ian Randle Publishers
Ian Randle (born 7 July 1949) is a Jamaican publisher. He is the founder of an eponymous independent publishing company whose main focus is on English-language readers. He has won awards including the Prince Claus Award in 2012 and the 2019 Boc ...
biannually for the Small Axe Collective. In 1998, the journal moved to
University of the West Indies Press
The University of the West Indies Press (or UWI Press) is a university press that is part of the University of the West Indies.
References
External linksUniversity of the West Indies Press
Press
Press may refer to:
Media
* Print media or ne ...
. The journal moved again in 2000 to
Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...
, and began triannual publication in 2006. ''Small Axe'' has been published by
Duke University Press
Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 Du ...
in March, July and November, since 2009. David Scott is Editor and
Vanessa Pérez-Rosario Vanessa may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Vanessa'' (Millais painting), an 1868 painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais
* ''Vanessa'', a 1933 novel by Hugh Walpole
* ''Vanessa'', a 1952 instrumental song written by Bernie ...
is Managing Editor.
The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, book discussions, and interviews, as well as literary works of fiction and poetry, visual arts, and reviews. The mission of the journal consists in the renewal of practices of intellectual criticism in the Caribbean, as well as an interrogation and expansion of the idea of "criticism". Furthermore, ''Small Axe'' aims to rethink extant conceptualizations of the regional and diasporic Caribbean, and to provide a platform for critical dialogues emerging from and pertaining to the Caribbean.
According to ''
The Caribbean Review of Books
''The Caribbean Review of Books'', or ''CRB'', is a literary magazine based in Port of Spain, Trinidad, reviewing books of Caribbean interest—by Caribbean authors or about the Caribbean—and publishing original fiction, poetry, and other literar ...
'', ''Small Axe'' has become "the leading intellectual journal published in the anglophone Caribbean, while maintaining a decidedly critical stance towards the region's political and cultural establishment."
''Small Axe'' celebrated its 50th issue in 2016.
''sx salon: a small axe literary platform''
sx salon is a twi-annual digital forum for critical and creative explorations of Caribbean literature. Since its initiation in 2010, sx salon has aimed to stimulate and engage aesthetic forms across different literary genres that reflect the changing sensibilities of regional diasporic realities. sx salon publishes literature discussions, interviews, reviews, poetry and prose. Issues appear in February, June and October. Rachel Mordecai, Editor; Ronald Cummings, Book Review Editor;
Danielle Legros Georges
Danielle Legros Georges is a Haitian-born American poet, essayist and academic. She is a professor of creative writing in the Lesley University MFA Program in Creative Writing.Alex Gil and Kaiama L. Glover, Editors. Since March 2020 sx archipelagos continues independently as archipelagos.
Literary competition
The literary competition, launched in 2009, serves as a venue for hearing the voices of emerging Caribbean writers of short fiction and poetry, writing in English, Spanish and French. The competition offers prizes for first and second places in each category. Competition winners are published in ''Small Axe'' the following year.
Martin Munro Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austra ...
and
Vanessa Pérez-Rosario Vanessa may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Vanessa'' (Millais painting), an 1868 painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais
* ''Vanessa'', a 1933 novel by Hugh Walpole
* ''Vanessa'', a 1952 instrumental song written by Bernie ...
, Coordinators.
In 2017, the ''Small Axe'' Literary Competition entered a new phase, accepting entries in Spanish, English, and French, on a three-year rotation for submissions in these language.
The Caribbean Digital
Since 2014, the Caribbean Digital has hosted conferences and symposia related to the practice and history of the digital in relation to changing social and geo-political contours in the Caribbean and its diasporas. The conference is convened and organized by Kaiama Glover, Alex Gil, and Kelly Baker Josephs.
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in EBSCO Academic Search Premier, EBSCO Current Abstracts, EBSCO Current Citations Express, EBSCO Humanities International Complete, EBSCO Humanities International Index, Hispanic American Periodical Index, Humanities Abstracts, Humanities Index, MLA Bibliography, ProQuest Discovery, ProQuest International Index to Black Periodicals, ProQuest Literature Online (LION), ProQuest News and Magazines, ProQuest Periodicals, ProQuest Prisma, ProQuest Research Library and Wilson Omnifile."Small Axe 52 Cover" ''Duke Journals''. Retrieved 8 August 2017. PDF.
Project MUSE
Project MUSE, a non-profit collaboration between libraries and publishers, is an online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books. Project MUSE contains digital humanities and social science content from over 250 university ...