Small Axe Project
The Small Axe Project is an integrated publication undertaking devoted to Caribbean intellectual and artistic work, exercised over four platforms—Small Axe; sx salon, sx visualities, and sx archipelagos—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 organization established in New York State in 2002, and is funded by The Ford Foundation, The Reed Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. David Scott is Director, and Nijah Cunningham, Coordinator.
The aim of the Small Axe Project is to promote the expansion and revision of the scope of Caribbean criticism across multiple platforms. The Project aims to rethink the conceptions that guided the formation of Caribbean modernities; namely, race, class, sovereignty, democracy, development, gender, nation and culture. At the same time, the project is concerned with re-conceptualizing the Caribbean as an object of knowledge and study, across its three major linguistic regions—anglophone, francophone and hispanophone.
The current project statement reads:
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. He teaches in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University. He is the author of Formations of Ritual: Colonial and Anthropological Discourses on the Sinhala Yaktovil, Refashioning Futures: Criticism After Postcoloniality, Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment, Omens of Adversity: Tragedy, Time, Memory, Justice, and Stuart Hall’s Voice: Intimations of an Ethics of Receptive Generosity. He is also co-editor of Powers of the Secular Modern: Talal Asad and his Interlocutors, 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 Distinguished Editor prize in 2017 for his work as editor of Small Axe: A Journal of Caribbean Criticism.
Gordon Hutner said, at the Book Review Session arranged by CELJ on 5 January 2017:
''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 biannually for the Small Axe Collective. In 1998, the journal moved to University of the West Indies Press. The journal moved again in 2000 to Indiana University Press, and began triannual publication in 2006. Small Axe has been published by Duke University Press in March, July and November, since 2009. David Scott is Editor and Vanessa Pérez-Rosario 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, 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 anniversary issue in 2016.
Covers
Small Axe covers have been designed by graphic artist Juliet Ali since 2006. The covers have been noted for their striking aesthetic. Some covers have aroused controversy. Small Axe 6 was considered controversial for its parodying of Edna Manley’s sculpture “Negro Aroused”. In March 2000, Small Axe 7, guest-edited by Faith Smith, was rejected by the press for being pornographic. This controversy eventually led to the journal’s departure from University of the West Indies Press.Each cover figures original work from a Caribbean artist. Notable artists featured on the cover of Small Axe include:
Ras Daniel Heartman,
Wendy Nanan,
Lubaina Himid,
Edouard Duval Carrie,
Ingrid Pollard,
Sandra Brewster,
Hew Locke,
Ebony Patterson,
Arthur Simms,
Marlon Griffith,
Lavar Munroe,
Nari Ward, and
Firelei Báez.
Interviews
Notable interviewees featured in the journal include:Stuart Hall,
Richard Hart,
Ken Post,
Robert A. Hill,
Sylvia Wynter,
George Lamming,
Sidney Mintz,
Rex Nettleford,
Patrick Chamoiseau,
Merle Collins, and
Orlando Patterson.
Notable special sections
Small Axe frequently features special sections often published in relation to conferences and symposia in which urgent issues pertaining to Caribbean scholarship are discussed. Notable sections include:''sx salon: a small axe literary platform''
sx salon is a tri-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 and diasporic realities. sx salon publishes literary discussions, interviews, reviews, poetry and prose. Issues appear in February, June and October. Kelly Baker Josephs, Editor; Vanessa K. Valdés, Book Review Editor; Rosamond S. King, Creative Editor.''sx visualities''
Launched in 2016, sx visualities is a digital platform showcasing and debating Caribbean visual practice. Individual and collaborative projects are published annually. Roshini Kempadoo and Daniela Fifi, Managing Editors.The project statement reads:
Caribbean Queer Visualities
Curated by David Scott, Erica Moiah James, and Nijah Cunningham, in 2015, Caribbean Queer Visualities explores the role of "queerness" in Caribbean visual art. CQV has hosted symposia as well as curated exhibitions.A 2016 press release for the symposium reads:
In partnership with the British Council, the CQV has been exhibited at The Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the Transmission Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland, featuring the works of Ewan Atkinson, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Richard Fung, Andil Gosine, Nadia Huggins, Leasho Johnson, Charl Landvreugd, Kareem Mortimer, Ebony G. Patterson, Jorge Pineda.
''sx archipelagos: a small axe platform for digital practice''
A digital platform launched in 2016 that focuses on the digital humanities and its implications for Caribbean scholarship. In the wake of the "digital turn" in the humanities, sx archipelagos seeks to promote creative exploration, debate, and critical thinking about and through digital practices in contemporary scholarly and artistic work in and on the Caribbean. Sx archipelagos engages with scholarly essays; digital scholarship projects; and digital project reviews. Alex Gil and Kaiama L. Glover, Editors.Recent and ongoing projects
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 and Vanessa Pérez-Rosario, 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 schedule for entries is as follows: