Acknowledgement of Harmful Content:

As a fairly new archival project dedicated to preserving and sharing historical materials related to environmental and animal history, we acknowledge that some of the content within our collections, or those with which they intersect, may at points reflect deeply harmful historical legacies which are foundational to extant, oppressive realities. The lives of historical animals are uniquely intertwined with the marginalization and exploitation of Black, Indigenous, Feminine and Queer individuals, their Kin, and their respective cultures, making the management of historical materials which reflect these realities and make visible others a delicate task.

This site’s cited historical archival materials, and similar materials to which it externally links at other organizations, may contain expressions of prejudice or vilification, outdated scientific biases, racial and gendered stereotyping, or otherwise may reflect discriminatory views of historical authors, scientists, artists, mercenaries, or others involved in imperial projects. Anima recognizes that such content can be incredibly painful to individuals and communities, and, when misrepresented or irresponsibly engaged, is easily brandished as a weapon by which generational wounds are re-opened. While this project’s apparent goal is to make visible animal histories, the shared historical realities of these human and more-than-human communities must be acknowledged.

Where harmful content represents these entanglements, this project will make every attempt to provide clear descriptions in accessible language, numerous citations, and, wherever possible, to center work from scholars of relevant positionalities and field engagement whose work contextualises the struggles of historical people and approaches the entanglements of human communities with more-than-human histories.

This project holds that while these materials may indeed be historical, and while witnessing these aspects may be an act of solidarity to which many scholars feel a deep sense of commitment, the intimacy of bearing witness should be predicated on consent. To lessen the chances of retraumatising the very communities whose historical legacies these acts aim to serve, a link to this page will feature at the heading of all archive entries in which these historical legacies have been detected. Those pages will also feature a link or links to resource pages centering essential voices in the field from the community or communities in question wherever possible.

Most importantly, while we hope that the approaches outlined here will promote reflection on the entanglements between historical injustices, modern ones, and the animals whose lives are represented by archive, it is the greater hope that this project will remain a space committed to adaptation and to change. If you have identified harmful content here, or would like to discuss ways to better situate a community you represent (or, in the case of more-than-human communities, which you feel should be better represented) in our archive, please contact us to discuss its locus within our archive and atlas.

We welcome community conversations which address places within this project where movement towards more responsible archiving is possible, and remain committed to co-cultivating an inclusive space committed to its part in encouraging environmental and animal historians to considerately contextualise their scholarship on these topics with the kinds of details animal lives and their histories uniquely reframe.