Small Axe

This Pride Month, we invite you to check the third iteration of our Keywords project, “Sexualities,” published in Small Axe 74 (July 2024). The authors explore the keywords “patería,” “makoumé,” “kambrada,” “friend,” and “family.”

In March 2025, the contributors convened for a discussion moderated by and , available on our website; link 🔗 https://smallaxe.net/sxprojects/keywords/sexualities-pateria-makoume-kambrada-friend-family

The complete works are available through Duke University Press; link 🔗 https://smallaxe.net/sx/issues/74

Happy Pride Month! 🎉

Over the course of three decades, Small Axe has published numerous works surrounding gender and sexuality in the Caribbean. We have compiled some examples to add to your reading list!

All of these works are available online through ; link 🔗 https://read.dukeupress.edu/small-axe/issue

As summer rolls around, we would like to remind you that The Small Axe Project consists of multiple platforms that accept submissions of various kinds of works, including academic essays, literary work and commentary aligned with our mission.

Check out this post for reference; for all submission details, visit our website 🔗smallaxe.net.

We look forward to reading your work!

Statement regarding the Indictment of Raúl Castro:

On Wednesday, 20 May 2026, US Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro, former president of Cuba […] We in the Small Axe Project condemn this groundswell of aggression, an expression of barbarism and evil […] As Caribbean people we have a real challenge before us: either we submit supinely to these threats and transgressions of our sovereignty and dignity, or we stand up for our right to determine our collective futures.

Read the full statement in our blog; link 🔗 https://smallaxe.net/content/1405

Some stills from the lecture “Restaurar o Futuro” (“Restoring the Future”) delivered by our founder and editor, David Scott, last Tuesday, May 19th, through Culturgest - Fundação CGD, moderated by Liliana Coutinho and Inês Beleza Barreiros.

In the lecture, “Scott invites us to think of restitution not as a mere return, but as a creative movement, a foundation for plural futures, that is, not as the restoration of a lost past, but as new forms of coexistence and shared responsibility.”

Statement regarding U.S. Aggression against Cuba:

We in the Small Axe Project view with alarm and deep dismay the Trump administration’s intensification of threats against the Cuban regime, and what appears to be its preparations for some kind of military intervention. We urgently call upon the leaders of the Caribbean community of nations to vigorously protest this US aggression in the region.

Read the full statement in our blog; link 🔗 https://smallaxe.net/content/1403

SX 79 features a discussion of ‘s book “The Petro-state Masquerade: Oil, Sovereignty, and Power in Trinidad and Tobago.”

The section features essays by J. Brent Crosson and Chelsea Schields, as well as a response by the author, Ryan Cecil Jobson.

The essays are available through Duke University Press; link 🔗 https://smallaxe.net/sx/issues/79

SX 79 Visualities section features a visual essay by titled “Invisible Visibility: Passing Between the Lines.”

The series featured in this visual essay “construct a layered psychology, resulting in works that represent intersectional identity, alienation, and otherness.”

This section and the rest of SX 79 is available through . Link 🔗 https://smallaxe.net/sx/issues/79

The special section of our latest issue, SX 79, focuses on the life and work of Trinidadian scholar-activist Rhoda Reddock, and her powerful impact on Caribbean Feminisms.

It features essays by Kamala Kempadoo, Gabrielle Jamela Hosein, Jocelyne Guilbault, Carole Boyce Davies, and Rhoda Reddock herself.

This issue is now available digitally through ; 🔗 link: https://smallaxe.net/sx/issues/79

Have you checked out SX 79 yet?

This issue features essays by Anasa Hicks, Elizabeth Jackson, Raul Fernandez, Max Gruber, and Jessica Adams.

This issue is out in print and will soon be made available digitally through !