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About the Journal

SoulClap is an annual, multi-genre journal that features groundbreaking research about Black Joy and creative writing (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry) inspired by Black Joy. Each issue will be dedicated to a specific domain of Black Joy. The inaugural issue, for example, will be designed around Black Joy and nature. Future domains include: music, faith and spirituality, kinship, and literature. 

The foundation of SoulClap is the creative, academic, and healing power of Black Joy through the eyes of Black students, Black culture, and the Black initiative and entrepreneurial spirit. Although pain is part of the Black experience, this annual publication will serve as a creative and scholarly journal, featuring scholarship, storytelling, interviews that seek to shift the dominant mainstream narrative about African diaspora people away from trauma. This shift is crucial for the emotional, social, physical, and spiritual well-being of Black people.

Editorial sponsorship of SoulClap is provided by The OMNI Institute.

Mission
The mission of SoulClap is to shift the dominant mainstream narrative about African diasporic people from trauma by exploring the creative, communal, academic, and healing power of Black Joy. This shift is crucial for the emotional, social, physical, and spiritual well-being of Black people.

Focus and Scope
SoulClap is an annual, open-access publication that features scholarship, creative writing, and interviews that seek to disrupt the common deficit narrative often associated with the Black experience. SoulClap centers work that addresses lived experiences, research, innovations, theory, and practices of African diasporic people. The inaugural issue will be designed around the theme of Black Joy and nature. Future topics of interest include:

  • Black Joy and music
  • Black Joy and faith/spirituality
  • Black Joy and kinship
  • Black Joy and literature
  • Black Joy and hair

Authors and contributors are encouraged to emphasize the practical applications of their lived experiences as it relates to the annual theme.

Sections

SoulClap publishes work in two primary genres: Creative Writing and Public Interest Communication research. The journal accepts external submissions for Creative Works on the schedule defined in the Submissions guide. Research works are solicited from members of the OMNI Institute.

Published genres include:

  1. Creative Writing
    • SoulClap accepts original, unpublished work from African diasporic writers inspired by, or situated in, Black Joy and nature. We invite work that balances the pain and injustice caused by oppressive systems with joy – especially joy experienced in green and blue spaces. Such pieces might be set, or inspired by, mountains, forests, oceans, rivers, parks, and trails. We are particularly interested in writing that explores these spaces as potential sites of rest, restoration, and resistance.
  2. Research

    • According to the Journal of Public Interest Communication, "Public interest communications is an academic discipline that seeks to help communicators working on social, political, and environmental issues impacting society. It draws from multiple disciplines such as public relations, political science, sociology, social psychology, and marketing--among others--to conduct research that contributes to the best practices for those seeking to create positive change" (2024). The OMNI Institute is proudly creating that change through the development of an entire publication, SoulClap, dedicated to Black Joy scholarship - both creative and academic. 

      While utilizing the principles taught in the University of Florida's Essentials of Public Interest Communications training,  Dr. Omni works closely with undergraduate and graduate level research mentees and interns to host virtual and/or in-person SoulClap Cafes. Each cafe explores various subjects related to Black Joy and the annual theme (i.e. Black Joy and Nature for year one). During the SoulClap Cafe, two volunteers from the community are paired together for a semi-structured interview consisting of three core questions. Space is intentionally left open and honored to allow room for other subjects that may organically evolve from their answers. Upon completion of the interviews, their responses are then supplemented with scholarship found in peer-reviewed articles. The final bouquet of Black Joy is then featured in the annual SoulClap publication for your viewing pleasure

Open Access Policy

SoulClap provides immediate public access to its content on the principle that making creative and scholarly works freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. There are no processing charges, submissions fees, or any other costs required of authors and contributors to submit their work to this journal.

SoulClap contributors grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish but otherwise retain the copyright in any original work that they publish in the journal. As such, readers must obtain permission from SoulClap contributors before sharing or reusing their works for any purpose that is not covered under the Fair Use Doctrine (17 U.S. Code § 107 | https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107)

Because SoulClap contributors retain the copyright in their works, they also retain the right to enter into publishing or licensing agreements with other entities that may be interested in publishing their work in the future. For example, if an author of a poem published in SoulClap wishes to include that poem in a published anthology of their poetry, they have every right to do that. In such cases, the Editors ask that authors credit SoulClap as the publication in which their work was originally published.

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Provisional ISSN Assignments by U.S. ISSN Center, Library of Congress:
Online Provisional ISSN: 3066-1153
Print Provisional ISSN: 3066-1137