1This volume is the extended outcome of the Composing Worlds with Elephants conference that took place online 13-15 December, 2020, during the early months of the Covid pandemic. While virtual meetings and events have become commonplace today, such conferences were still experimental and we were fortunate to have had the generous technical as well as financial support from our respective institutions, including the Czech Academy of Sciences, Macquarie University in Sydney, the Technological Life research cluster at School of Geography and Environment from the Oxford University, and the UMR 208 “Local heritage, environment and globalization”(IRD/MNHN) in Paris. In the process of drafting oral presentations to written chapters, we would also like to thank the Fédération Sciences Sociales Suds (F3S) for providing the initial French translations where necessary.

2We would also like to thank all reviewers for generously sharing their time and offering valuable comments, including Sanjay Barbora, Lucy Bates, Geoffrey Benjamin, Bion Griffin, Lynette Hart, Alex Greene, Sarah Jacobson, Peter Kamau, Piers Locke, Ursula Münster, Martin Seltmann, Paul Sidwell, and others. Our aspiration for developing interdisciplinary review processes sometimes involved asking reviewers to offer insights on first drafts that did not strictly align with their chosen field. Their acceptance and interest to review the contributors’ chapters reflect a willingness to go beyond their methodological and conceptual comfort zones, a spirit we admire and effectively helped create a volume for a larger audience.

3One particularity of the volume is the inclusion of three artistic interludes inserted between sections. We are extremely grateful to the filmmaker and artist Carlos Casas, The Real Elephant Collective (TREC), and the photographer Philippe Coste for sharing their work and points of view. The volume has been enriched by their projects. This appreciation also extends to Deborah Schrijvers for her nuanced review of the multi-award winning film Cemetery and to the designer, Shubhra Nayar, from TREC, who articulated the crucial ecological questions raised by the Lantana elephant exhibit developed in tandem with the The Elephant Family.

4Of course, our gratitude also extends to two great elephant experts from different worlds, Vivek Menon and Nigel Rothfels, who graciously dedicated time to read the volume after its completion and whose thoughtful words now beautifully bookend our work.

5We must also give well-deserved thanks to all of the contributors to the volume who, despite having overwhelming schedules and responsibilities, found the time, energy, and impressive insight to craft their respective chapters. Also, we warmly acknowledge the help, forbearance and gentle patience of our editor, Corinne Lavagne, at IRD Editions who also directed Kurt McKean for his close proof-reading of the volume.

6Finally, we would like to extend our appreciation to the publishers, IRD Editions, and their platform model which affords an openness fundamental to fostering multidisciplinarity. We need spaces which accommodate a set of papers of individual scholars with multiple methods, concepts, styles, and citation practices. In addition, we appreciate IRD Editions’ aim to produce texts that are accessible to the Global South, a significant geo-political representative of elephant ranging states. Such a publishing mindset is vital for the fair distribution of knowledge.