Draft:Universal Write Publications

• Comment: Sources are UWP, Sage (which markets UWP books), and a web page of "Social Science Space" that has a promising title but turns out to be an interview, published by Sage, of Ayo Sekai (who set up UWP). Not a single cited source is independent of UWP, but an article about a publisher must be soundly based on sources that are independent of that publisher.
  If such sources can't be found, the draft is doomed. I hope that they can be found. If they can, then: Quote: Subjects of its published works relate to reclaiming narratives and producing methodologies that challenge traditional epistemologies. Does this mean Its books reclaim narratives and present methodologies that challenge conventional wisdom? This is of course only a guess, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if I'm wrong. The problem is that what I'm trying to understand here is worded so abstractly and vaguely. Please word to inform, not to impress. Hoary (talk) 00:26, 20 December 2024 (UTC)

• Comment: It starts well, but even in the lead it can't help turning promotional with the "with a mission to reclaim and amplify the intellectual contributions of Black academics within global discourse." From there on it sounds like an average "About" page, complete with Vision & Mission, Impact, and Academic Influence. Sam Sailor 13:57, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

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Universal Write Publications (UWP) is an independent Black-owned academic publisher based in the United States. It focuses on publishing scholarly works by Black and African-centered scholars, with an aim of amplifying Black voices in academia. Subjects of its published works relate to reclaiming narratives and producing methodologies that challenge traditional epistemologies.

History

Universal Write Publications was founded in 2004 by Ayo Sekai, a political scientist and linguist specializing in Black politics and international relations. UWP launched by publishing fiction and children's books, but within three years focused specifically on African-centered scholarship. Many of its early titles, such as African Pyramids of Power and Lynching Barack Obama, were written by Molefi Kete Asante, a philosopher who founded the PhD program in African-American Studies at Temple University, and Asante continues to publish frequently with UWP.

Over the past two decades, UWP has grown its catalog to include peer-reviewed titles such as Illmatic Consequences: The Clapback to Opponents of ‘Critical Race Theory' by Walter D. Greason and Danian Darrell Jerry, Black Women’s Pathways to Executive Academic Leadership: Lessons from Lived Experiences edited by Crystal R. Chambers, and Media Racism: The Impact of Media Injustice on Black Women’s Lives by Marquita M. Gammage.

In 2021, UWP partnered with global academic publisher Sage to sponsor nine new titles in the coming three years to support the growth of UWP. The relationship, which was extended in 2024, was assisted by Asante, who in 1965 had been the founding publisher of the Sage-published Journal of Black Studies. “We are proud of the research published and our 50-year relationship with Dr. Asante," Sage CEO Blaise Simqu was quoted at the time, "and in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement we began having deeper discussions about the importance of Black-owned businesses, and, more precisely, Black-owned publishers."

In 2024 the company announced the launch of its Little Black Book collection, subtitled "Research Methods for the African Diaspora," and edited by Serie McDougal III, professor of Pan-African studies at San Francisco State University. offers research methodologies for studying people of African descent using culturally accurate approaches.