Sanctuary of Slavery. Relocating Race Through Sound in an Alpine Town

Sanctuary of Slavery is a performance that took place in Schlanders, in the heart of the South Tyrolean Vinschgau Valley,1 in September 2018. It showcased the work of musicians and artists of African origin as well as asylum seekers and refugees residing in the region. Besides bringing to central areas of the alpine town individuals who had been marginalised in refugee houses, the performance successfully created, albeit temporarily, what human geographer Heather Merrill describes as 'Black spaces'. Musical sounds and singing voices – resonating in the library, the Musikpavillon, and the main streets of Schlanders – relocated the discussion about race to its historical context. Through an ethnographic account and a focus on the role of sound in reshaping meaning, the article explores how the social divide based on race and the institutional separation based on the category of 'linguistic groups' interact with work exploitation and the Italian migration policies.