Archival Marginalia: Metadata as Discursive Practice and Epistemic Redress in Diasporic Audiovisual Heritages

Researching the film and media histories of migrant and diasporic communities presents significant archival challenges due to both the complex nature of audiovisual media and the historical neglect by memory institutions. While critical archival scholarship has emphasized proactive acquisition and appraisal to counter archival absences, this article argues that equal attention must be paid to the role of metadata practices. Building the concept of “archival marginalia,” the article proposes a framework for understanding archival metadata as a site of epistemic redress, drawing from decolonial and reparative archival theories. It highlights the under-explored realm of reparative description in audiovisual archives and presents a case study from the DE-BIAS project at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, focusing on the postcolonial Surinamese community in the Netherlands. The article advocates community-led, social-justice-oriented reparative work that reclaims marginalized perspectives and transforms archival knowledge production.