Place and race: sanctuary, asylum and community belonging

Abstract

This chapter describes the history and mission of Mary Seacole House, an alternative community mental health resource centre in Liverpool. We draw on the findings of a recent participatory action research project involving the members of Mary Seacole House to illustrate important matters of identity associated with space and place. Although these have arisen in a particular
place that, arguably, has some unique characteristics, we believe there are more general lessons for wider considerations of the uneasy relationship between race1 and psychiatry. We focus on individual and collective experiences of racism and mental health for people attending Mary Seacole House and explore how these are bound up with wider struggles in the local black community.