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 "Strong Asymmetrical Dependency" (SAD) to explore all forms of bondages across time and space.
For more information on SAD, please check our Concept Paper.
A Response From Benjamin Etzold (BCDSS/BICC)
Bild © Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies / YouTube
Dependency Talkshop
Overcoming Violence: Coping Strategies & Support for Refugee Women
How do refugee women navigate a continuum of violence and breaking points of strong asymmetrical dependency? In our latest Dependency Talkshop session, an expert panel shared vital perspectives spanning Germany, East Africa, and the Middle East, highlighting the immense resilience of displaced women.
Find all the interviews here
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!
Dependency Blog
“Whose Prayers Did God Hear?”
Echoes of Questions from Cape Coast Castle and the 2024 World Christianity Conference in Ghana by David Smith
Children and Empire
A Report from Port Arthur, Lutruwita (Tasmania) by Joseph Biggerstaff
Through the Walls of Silence
Building Sensory Narratives and Countering History in Cameron Rowland’s “Amt 45i” in Frankfurt am Main by Sonia Tesfaye, Klaudia İnanç, Adiam Tadele Abadi, Prateeti Mukhopadhyay, Ishita Sarkar
Archives of Empires, Archives of Race
A Reflection on the 2023 Archives, Slavery & Race-Making Summer School by Amalia S. Levi
The World of Colonial Letters
by Mary Afolabi
as of 30.11.2025
News
Annual Workshop of the Working Group (AK) Labour Geography
How do historical dependencies, colonialism, and social reproduction shape contemporary global production?Join scholars, researchers, and activists in Bonn for the upcoming annual meeting of the Working Group (AK) Labour Geography, co-organized by scholars from the Bonn Center for Slavery and Dependency Studies (BCDSS) and Bonn's Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies.
The event aims to bring labour geographers in conversation with labour historians and Dependency and Slavery Studies scholars by focussing on the topic ‘Labour Agency and Strong Asymmetrical Dependency in Global Re/Production Networks’.We strongly encourage participation and active contribution of BCDSS colleagues and PhD students.
Upcoming Conference
Can we only bear witness to what we can bear to witness? How do children act as witnesses in situations of violence and cruelty for which they yet lack the language to describe? In which ways can historical and art historical archives help to understand these processes, and how can children’s testimonies help us to understand the foundational impact of childhood experience upon individual life trajectories and its consequent impact on community building? These, among other, questions are at heart of our conference.
The second edition of the BCDSS Reader is now available
We are pleased to announce the second edition of the Strong Asymmetrical Dependency Studies Reader. This collection brings together key texts for students, teachers and researchers interested in strong asymmetrical dependency.
Who shapes artificial intelligence - and whose interests are revealed in the process?
Artificial intelligence is not neutral. The data it is based on, the systems in which it is developed, and the decisions it influences are shaped by social power dynamics. Women, people of color, and other marginalized groups can be disadvantaged as a result - for example, when patriarchal, capitalist, or colonial structures are embedded in technological systems.
There are growing concerns that AI contributes to greater inequality of opportunity, increasing polarisation, a shift to the right and deeper social injustice. Automated discrimination and oppression, for example in lending or recruitment, usually take place out of sight. They are based on exploitation, surveillance and the enormous consumption of resources.
In her book Feministische KI ('Feminist AI'), business informatics expert Dr Eva Gengler examines these connections, exploring how automated discrimination arises and operates. Drawing on compelling examples, she shows how an intersectional feminist approach can help challenge such forms of discrimination and calls for greater attention to making AI more equitable and responsible.
12 November, Kino in der Brotfabrik, Bonn. 19:30 screening / 21:00 Refreshments & Discussion
Come and join us on Thursday, 12 November 2026, for the screening and discussion of Black faces in white? space (2021), a documentary film by Thabo Thindi!
Black faces in white? space explores the dynamics and complexity of being Black in a country that regards itself as homogeneously white. In doing so, the filmmaker seeks to offer new perspectives on Blackness.
Through striking imagery, director Thabo Thindi portrays the experiences of Black people in institutional settings and takes a critical look at white power structures and colonial legacies.
Vol. 32: New Publication in DSS Series
Congratulations to Stephan Conermann, Ulbe Bosma and Gijs Kessler (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam) on their new publication Households as Coercive Labour Regimes, Volume 32 of the DSS book series.
Upcoming International Workshop
Narratives of trauma and violence are the key theme of Research Area C "Power – Violence – Trauma", at the BCDSS. This upcoming workshop organised by BCDSS principal investigator Ludwig Morenz and PhD Researcher Neema Clement Munisi incorporates this central question with a focus on Africa. A continent, once and for the longest time mistaken as a continent without history, has lately emerged as a space of interest for approaches to archaeology and history that bridge traditional chronologies and temporalities.
We Are Hiring: 3 Research Group Leaders (100%, TV-L E-14, for six years)
The BCDSS invites applications for 2 Research Group Leader positions (100%, TV-L E-14, for 6 years) from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2032.
In addition, the BCDSS, in cooperation with the Bonn Center for Digital Humanities (BCDH), invites applications for 1 Research Group Leader position (100%, TV-L E-14, for 6 years) from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2032.
Events
Narratives on Violence and Trauma in Africa - Workshop
Egyptian Museum, ...
09:00 AM
"From palaeocolonialism to postcolonialism: Narratives on Violence and Trauma” with a distinct focus on Africa through the ages".
This trauma-informed, ...
Public Lecture with University of Hull's Wilberforce Institute
Hybrid: Online and in ...
04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Join the Wilberforce Institute and the BCDSS as Professor William Pettigrew, Dr Nicholas Radburn, and Dr Lila Chambers discuss the Register of British Slave ...
Upcoming Conference on Childrens' Testimonies
IMPULSE Adenauerallee ...
05:00 PM
Can we only bear witness to what we can bear to witness? How do children act as witnesses in situations of violence and cruelty for which they yet lack the ...
Talk by Peter Müller, President of the Court of Arbitration
On site: Auditorium, ...
07:00 PM
Talk by Peter Müller, President of the Court of Arbitration for Nazi-Looted Cultural Property:
On December 1, 2025, the Court of Arbitration for Nazi-Looted ...
Annual Workshop of the Working Group (AK) Labour Geography
IMPULSE, Adenauerallee ...
Whole Day
Conceptualised as Global Commodity Chains or Global Value Chains (GVCs), transnational production within global capitalism has traditionally been analysed ...
Contact Us
Managing Director: Jeannine Bischoff
Email: dependency@uni-bonn.de
Press and PR Manager: Cécile Jeblawei
Email: pr@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Address
University of Bonn
Niebuhrstraße 5
53113 Bonn
BCDSS Fellowship Programs
Coordination: Sarah Dusend
Email: researchandstudy@dependency.uni-bonn.de
BCDSS PhD Program
Coordination: Dr. Laura Hartmann
Email: l.hartmann@dependency.uni-bonn.de
BCDSS MA Programs
Coordination: Sarah Dusend
Email: ma-program@dependency.uni-bonn.de