Welcome to the Cluster of Excellence at the
Bonn Center for Dependency & Slavery Studies
"Beyond Slavery and Freedom:
Asymmetrical Dependencies in Pre-Modern Societies"
We are a research cluster within the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. In May 2025, we were awarded a further seven years of funding by the German Research Foundation. Hence, as of January 2026, we will be starting our SECOND FUNDING PERIOD (2026-2032).
We investigate profound social dependencies such as slavery, serfdom, debt bondage, and other forms of permanent dependency across epochs, regions and cultures.
Our focus lies "beyond slavery and freedom", i.e., we aim to overcome the binary opposition of "free" and "unfree".
Instead, we propose the new key concept of "asymmetrical dependency" to explore all forms of bondages across time and space.
BCDSS 2024: A Year in Highlights
Bild © Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies / YouTube
BCDSS 2024: A Year in Highlights
2024 was filled with milestones. Watch our highlights video to see what we accomplished together – thank you for being part of our journey!
Enmeshed & Entwined: FABRICS OF DEPENDENCY
Bild © Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies / YouTube
BCDSS exhibition launches digitally!
What can textiles – coarse cloth or fine silks, work and household linen, clothes in different styles and fashions – tell us about different forms of dependency: enslavement, serfdom, forced labour, or in our own day, factory work in the Global South?
Visit our digital exhibition ‘Enmeshed and Entwined: Fabrics of Dependency/Verstrickt und Verwoben: Texturen der Abhängigkeit’ and let our "quilted narratives" help you explore these and further questions.
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From Complexity to Curiosity7
Oct 06, 2025
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Tracing the ‘Anti-Colonial’: Through the Ethnological Landscape of Museums8
Sep 01, 2025
- More…6
News
Gerda Henkel Funding for New Project with Involvement of BCDSS9
A new international research project has been launched with the involvement of Dr. Eva Marie Lehner and Julia Schmidt from the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS). The project investigates how bureaucratic classifications shaped social hierarchies in southern Africa during the colonial period. The collaborative project titled "Economies of Trust: Digital Infrastructure on the Urban Poor in the Cape Colony" is receiving €253,000 of funding from the Gerda Henkel Foundation. An additional subproject at the BCDSS examines the social networks of single women, further contributing to a deeper understanding of dependency and social relations in colonial contexts.
© BCDSS
Congratulations to Bernardo Bonifácio Ferreira on his research visit to the LCFI!10
BCDSS Visiting Researcher / DAAD Fellow (DAAD/CDEA) Bernardo Bonifácio Ferreira, has been appointed as a Postgraduate Visiting Student at the renowned Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) at the University of Cambridge.
The three-month research visit, scheduled for the Michaelmas Term in October–December 2026, will focus on the project "Informational Self-Determination and Algorithmic Justice: A Comparative Study between Brazil and the United Kingdom." This achievement highlights the interdisciplinary framework to critical contemporary issues of structural dependency and technological power.
© BCDSS
Podiumsdiskussion "Ans Licht gebracht – Herausforderungen und Chancen von Missionssammlungen"11
Am Donnerstag, 23. Oktober 2025, ab 19 Uhr, findet die Podiumsdiskussion "Ans Licht gebracht – Herausforderungen und Chancen von Missionssammlungen" im Kölner VHS-Forum statt. Der Eintritt ist frei.
Die Podiumsdiskussion findet im Rahmen der Ausstellung "Missionssammlungen ausgepackt" des Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Köln statt.
Das Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum ist offizieller Kooperationspartner des BCDSS. Mehr Informationen zu gemeinsamen Projekten sind hier zu finden.
© BCDSS
New Article by Christian Mader12
We are happy to congratulate BCDSS researcher and coordinator of the research group 'The Archaeology of Dependency (ArchDepth): Resources, Power and Status Differentiation', Christian Mader, on the publication of his new article in the Journal of Archaeological Science, titled "Points, patterns, and predictions in archaeological settlement data: site-environment relationships of Paracas and Nasca communities in the Peruvian Andes".
© BCDSS
With Prof. Dr. Kristina Großmann13
Palm oil can be found in nearly half of all supermarket products and is also used as a biofuel. Indonesia and Malaysia supply about 80 % of the world’s demand. Although promoted as a tool for reducing CO₂ emissions, palm oil cultivation drives deforestation, biodiversity loss, and deep social inequalities in Southeast Asia.
In her lecture “Dilemma: Palm Oil!”, BCDSS investigator Kristina Großmann discusses whether certification programs and the concept of a “Just Transition” can help create fairer and more sustainable palm oil production systems.
🗓 4 November 2025 · 18:00–19:30📍 Altes Rathaus, Gobelinsaal, Bonn🗣 Language: German
© BCDSS
Socare Conference Keynote by Sinah Kloß: "Spectral Bodies, Subtle Power"14
We are delighted to share that BCDSS Research Group Leader Sinah Kloß has been invited as one of three keynote speakers at the upcoming Socare Conference titled "Women in the Caribbean: Fragmentations – Intersections – Entanglements," taking place from October 16–18, 2025, at the Ibero-American Institute PK in Berlin. She will be joined by distinguished scholars Jamaica Kincaid (Harvard University) and Nadia Ellis (University of California, Berkeley).
© GHL
Film screening & public talk of "Enmeshed and Entwined: Fabrics of Dependency" exhibition15
Join us on 8 October 2025 at the Global Heritage Lab (GHL):5-7 pm: Film Screening and Public Talkfrom 7 pm: Reception / Finissage of the “Enmeshed and Entwined – Fabrics of Dependency” exhibition
© BCDSS
CfA: Heinz Heinen Fellowships 2026/202716
The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies is now accepting applications for the Heinz Heinen Fellowship for the academic year 2026/2027.
The fellowships are open to doctoral fellows, postdoctoral researchers, senior scholars, and alternative knowledge producers (journalists, artists, curators, etc.). Fellowships last between 6–12 months and include stipends, travel support, accommodation allowances, and a workspace at the BCDSS.
For this cycle, the focus is on the Methods Lab, a collaborative platform dedicated to developing and critically reflecting on methods to study Strong Asymmetrical Dependencies (SADs) such as slavery, serfdom, and debt bondage. Researchers are encouraged to bring innovative, interdisciplinary, and even experimental approaches, including digital humanities and critical perspectives on AI.
Events
Uni im Rathaus: Dilemma Palmöl!18
Altes Rathaus, ...
06:00 PM - 07:30 PM
Palm oil can be found in nearly half of all supermarket products and is also used as a biofuel. Indonesia and Malaysia supply about 80 % of the world’s demand. ...
Heterarchies and Power Dynamics in Post-Roman Europe19
P26, Seminarraum, 2nd ...
04:45 PM
The workshop is sponsored by the "Transdisciplinary Research Area 5 - Presents Pasts" and the “Bonn Centre for Dependency and Slavery Studies” of the ...
Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture by Christian Cwik20
HYBRID event: On site in ...
04:15 PM - 05:45 PM
Before transatlantic slavery, European colonial powers used contract workers. After Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807/08, they sought new markets, ...
Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture by Randy M. Browne21
HYBRID event: On site ...
04:15 PM - 05:45 PM
Beyond chattel slavery, who really built the global plantation complex?
This lecture takes a global, longue durée approach, challenging the assumption that ...
Contact Us
Managing Director: Sar27ah Dusend27
Email: dependency@uni-bonn.de
Press and PR Manager: Cécile Jeblawei28
Email: pr@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Address
University of Bonn
Niebuhrstraße 5
53113 Bonn
BCDSS Fellowship Programs
Coordination: Laura Hartmann29
Email: l.hartmann@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Address
University of Bonn
Niebuhrstraße 5
53113 Bonn
Links
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/about-us/bcdss2
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/about-us/vacancies-calls
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/about-us/third-mission/diversity-equity-inclusion/home
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/research/publications
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/videos-and-recordings
- https://dependency.blog
- https://dependency.blog/from-complexity-to-curiosity
- https://dependency.blog/tracing-the-anti-colonial-through-the-ethnological-landscape-of-museums
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/social-networks-in-the-colonial-era
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/congratulations-to-bernardo-bonifacio-ferreira
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/podiumsdiskussion-ans-licht-gebracht-herausforderungen-und-chancen-von-missionssammlungen
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/copy2_of_new-article-by-christian-mader
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/uni-im-rathaus-dilemma-palmol
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/bcdsss-sinah-kloss-among-keynote-speakers-at-socare-conference
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/film-screening-public-talk-celebrating-enmeshed-and-entwined-fabrics-of-dependency-exhibition
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/call-for-applications
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/all-news
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/uni-im-rathaus-dilemma-palmol
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/heterarchies-and-power-dynamics-in-post-roman-europe
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/joseph-c-miller-memorial-lecture-by-christian-cwik
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/joseph-c-miller-memorial-lecture-by-randy-m-browne
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events
- https://listen.uni-bonn.de/wws/subscribe/dependencystudies
- https://www.facebook.com/DependencyBonn
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- https://bsky.app/profile/dependencybonn.de
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/about-us/people/management/deputy-managing-director
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/about-us/people/management/press-and-pr-manager
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/about-us/people/management/phd-coordinator