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.
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.
News
© BCDSS
CfP: Heterarchies and Power Dynamics in Post-Roman Europe (4th-10th century AD)7
The Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) Present Pasts invites interdisciplinary contributions from archaeology, history, art history, and related fields to uncover the diverse and nonlinear processes that influenced the transition from antiquity to the medieval world.
© BCDSS
New Publication in the Series Dependency & Slavery Studies - Volume 16 Is Out Now!8
The new volume is edited by former BCDSS Fellow Mònica Ginés-Blasi and includes contributions by several BCDSS members.
© BCDSS
Women's Agency in Academia9
Join us on March 10th, 2025, from 14:00-16:00, for what is promosing to be a powerful discussion on overcoming challenges related to gender identities within academic settings. The event aims to highlight the increasing presence of women in academia, demonstrate their strength and resilience in overcoming obstacles, and inspire younger academics who are embarking on their journeys in higher education.
This is an invitation to representatives of all genders. Men are particularly welcome to join the conversation!
With Prof. Dr. Chioma Daisy Onyige and Prof. Dr. Natalie Joy, we have two senior academics at the BCDSS of international calibre, who are happy to share their personal experiences. They will be joined by two equally remarkable researchers and alumnae of the Center for International Development (ZEF): Dr. Rabia Chaudhry and Dr. Dennis Avilés Irahola.
This hybrid event is jointly organised by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery (BCDSS) at the University of Bonn. The event location is ZEF (details below).
Please register for the event if you would like to take part remotely (details below).
© BCDSS
Call for Papers: Special Issue "Slaveries and Human Remains"10
Together with Magali Bessone (University Paris 1 Sorbonne) and Ricardo Roque (University of Lisbon), BCDSS Postdoctoral Guest Researcher Dr. Klara Boyer Rossol is calling for papers on "Slaveries and Human Remains" for their co-edited special issue of the journal Slaveries & Post-Slaveries.
© BCDSS
New co-edited Special Issue on 'Indentured Bodies/Embodiments of Indenture'11
Congratulations to Sinah Kloß and Jennifer Leetsch, researchers at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS), on their co-edited special issue on indentureship and embodiment in the Journal of Indentureship and its Legacies
© BCDSS
BCDSS Hoodies & T-Shirts are here!12
You can now try them on at Niebuhrstraße.
© BCDSS
New Publication "Dependent: Global Perspectives on the History of Resources and Slavery"13
In the volume, edited by Martin Bentz, Nikolai Grube and Patrick Zeidler, seven of our cluster members illuminate "strong asymmetrical dependencies" related to fabrics from a cross-cultural and diachronic perspective. However, they also go beyond the resource of textile and examine the diverse spectrum of human dependency relationships in connection with basic foodstuffs and luxury foods. It is the companion volume to the BCDSS exhibition.
Events
Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture by Jeremiah Coogan16
HYBRID event: On site ...
04:15 PM - 05:45 PM
What if enslaved and formerly enslaved literary workers played a crucial role in the composition of the Synoptic Gospels?
This lecture challenges assumptions ...
Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture by Jeffrey Easton17
Online via Zoom
04:15 PM - 06:00 PM
How did marginalized groups in rigid societies find paths to economic and social mobility? In the Roman Empire, lower-class individuals navigated established ...
Labour, Freedom, Slavery - Sociological and Historical Approaches18
Niebuhrstr. 5
04:30 PM - 06:00 PM
Join us on April 29th when Theresa Wobbe, BCDSS alumna, will discuss the recently published book “Sklaverei, Freiheit und Arbeit: Soziohistorische Beiträge zur ...
Strong Asymmetrical Dependencies: Perspectives from Asia19
University of Bonn
Whole Day
Strong Asymmetrical Dependencies: Perspectives from Asia, Past & Present
This event addresses the underrepresentation of Asia in labor and slavery studies ...
Guest Lecture with Toby Green20
Festsaal at the ...
04:00 PM - 06:30 PM
This talk explores the life of Crispina Peres, the most powerful trader in Cacheu, a key West African slave port, who was arrested by the Inquisition in 1665. ...
Contact Us
Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS)
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Managing Director: Jeannine Bischoff26
Email: dependency@uni-bonn.de
Press and PR Manager: Cécile Jeblawei27
Email: pr@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Address
University of Bonn
Niebuhrstraße 5
53113 Bonn
BCDSS Fellowship Programs
Coordination: Sarah Dusend28
Email: researchandstudy@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Deputy: Laura Hartmann29
Email: l.hartmann@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Address
University of Bonn
Heussallee 18–24
53113 Bonn
Links
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/about-us/third-mission/diversity-equity-inclusion/home
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- https://dependency.blog
- https://dependency.blog/rethinking-unfreedom-in-global-perspective-insights-from-the-innsbruck-conference
- https://dependency.blog/intersectionality-and-historically-informed-dependency-studies
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/call-for-papers-heterarchies-and-power-dynamics-in-post-roman-europe-4th-10th-century-ad
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/new-publication-in-the-series-dependency-slavery-studies
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/discussion-womens-agency-in-academia
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/call-for-papers-slaveries-and-human-remains
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/new-co-edited-special-issue
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/bcdss-hoodies-t-shirts-are-here
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/new-publication-dependent
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/new-article-by-jutta-wimmler
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/all-news
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/joseph-c-miller-memorial-lecture-by-jeremiah-coogan
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/joseph-c-miller-memorial-lecture-by-jeffrey-easton
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/conference
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/call-for-papers
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/guest-lecture-with-toby-green
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