Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

Descrizione del progetto

BlackItaly's main objective is to investigate the presence of African sub-Saharan slaves who arrived in the Italian peninsula through the different trajectories of the Atlantic slave trade from the late mid-15th century until the second half of the 19th century, in order to frame in a completely innovative way the perception of slavery and racism in Italian history. By investigating the involvement of merchants, bankers or investors coming from the Italian peninsula in the Atlantic slave system, uncovering the stories of black African slaves living in different cities and provinces of the peninsula, and collecting the main ideas that circulated in favor or against Atlantic slavery and the slave trade, BlackItaly aims at placing the Italian peninsula in a global context and considering the emergence of racial categories as a long-lasting phenomenon, which is closely connected to the Atlantic experience in early modern period and not exclusively to late 19th-century Italian colonialism in Africa and fascism. BlackItaly’s ultimate goal is to create a new framing to understand racism and thus more equitable tomorrows.