Metadata as Radical Care

Many community-led archives have long challenged traditional archival description by prioritizing relational, political, and affective approaches to metadata. While institutional metadata standards emphasize consistency and standardization, they often fail to account for the needs of marginalized communities, reinforcing dominant narratives while excluding alternative forms of knowledge. This paper examines how engaging with archival description as a living, evolving process can instead turn metadata into a tool of radical care. Through case studies of the Sexual Minorities Archives, Transas City, and the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal, this paper explores how participatory and empathy-driven metadata practices resist normative archival frameworks and instead foster networks of care, accessibility, and belonging. These case studies demonstrate that metadata is not merely a technical tool but a political and ethical instrument that can empower historically excluded communities. Ultimately, this paper argues that sustainable metadata practices must centre harm reduction, relational care, and community sovereignty to ensure that archives remain accessible, meaningful, and representative for present and future community users.