All Events

Join us to the launch of "Versklavung im Atlantischen Raum: Orte des Gedenkens, Orte des Verschweigens in Frankreich und Spanien, Martinique und Kuba (Enslavement in the Atlantic World Sites of Remembrance, Sites of Silence in France and Spain, Martinique and Cuba)", the latest work by Ulrike Schmieder, professor at Leibniz University Hannover. This book explores the memories of Atlantic slavery in museums, public spaces, and historical sites in France and Spain, as well as in Martinique and Cuba. Using oral history methods, it investigates the topography of memory and the social context of remembrance sites.

Walther Maradiegue and Sophia Labadi will discuss the sonic afterlives of heritagization in an indigenous Peruvian community, analyzing a Cañaris protest against the government's denial of their existence and land rights, arguing they challenge state recognition through performance and sound. The protest reenacts Tupac Amaru II’s 1781 execution alongside the state-recognized ‘Danza de los Guerreros Cascabeleros.’

How did racism come to be? Just as race is not a biological reality, racism is not inherent to human nature. It was invented and sustained through historical encounters, economies, and religious traditions—especially in North-South interactions. This presentation compares the history of racism in the U.S. to current developments, highlighting not just divide-and-conquer tactics but also "unite-and-conquer" strategies that reveal deeper complexities and potential solutions.

Join us on April 29th when Theresa Wobbe, BCDSS alumna, will discuss the recently published book “Sklaverei, Freiheit und Arbeit: Soziohistorische Beiträge zur Rekonfiguration von Zwangsarbeit,” edited by herself, Léa Renard, and Marianne Braig. The contributions in this volume systematically draw on Orlando Patterson's sociology of slavery and the European ideal of freedom. Against this background, the authors argue for a socio-historical approach to capture the dynamics of the different dependencies of slavery and labour. Theresa Wobbe will be joined by Claudia Jarzewobski, BCDSS Professor for Early Modern History and Dependency Studies, and Eva Marie Lehner, BCDSS Postdoctoral Researcher. During the book discussion, Theresa Wobbe, Claudia Jarzebowski and Eva Marie Lehner will aim to shed light on the intertwining of labour, freedom, and slavery by examining labour relations based on violence and coercion.

Resilience has been defined by the American Psychological Association as "the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility to external and internal demands." (Kirmayer et al, 2007). This public talk will share insights from research on the history of childhood in plantation societies in the eighteenth century. Children and young adults in plantation societies in the Caribbean routinely experienced and witnessed traumatizing levels of violence as they were employed in industrial working conditions. Less well-documented by historians are the strategies developed in slave societies to respond to these adverse conditions. How did enslaved children navigate the traumatizing social and physical environment of the plantation, and what outcomes emerged after slavery was abolished? Finally, what lessons can we take away from this very challenging chapter in modern history?

We are pleased to invite you to a keynote lecture by Indrani Chatterjee from the University of Virginia as part of the conference Strong Asymmetrical Dependencies: Perspectives from Asia, Past & Present. Chatterjee’s lecture, titled "Intersecting Subjections in South Asian Pasts," will begin with an introduction by Dr. Emma Kalb and will be followed by a reception at 18:00 CET. Please send an email to asiaconference@dependency.uni-bonn.de in order to register for the event.

Organized by the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, this conference aims to address gaps in the study of slavery, bondage, coerced labor, and forced displacement across Asia. We invite scholars from various disciplines to contribute to a better understanding of the history, historiography, legacies, and current forms of these dependencies from an Asian perspective. We seek innovative historical case studies and contributions on topics like emic terminologies, memory, archival practices, and digital approaches. The conference will also explore the value and implications of adopting an "Asian perspective" in advancing scholarly dialogue and interdisciplinarity. Please send an email to asiaconference@dependency.uni-bonn.de in order to register for the event.

How did jailing function in Ming China? This talk, based on Ying Zhan's book, rethinks the patrimonial bureaucratic system through the lens of vulnerability and dependence. It explores how bureaucrats experiences of jailing revealed the state's reliance on the patriarchal family, their complex relationships with lower classes, and how women used these crises to assert agency. By integrating comparative prison studies and family history, she will examine the social impact of jailing and the role of patriarchy in the Chinese bureaucratic empire.

What do we do with the wounds of a people and a nation? Like the doubting disciple who longed to touch Jesus's side, we must confront wounds, understanding their stories and the healing they signal. How does Black theology help us interpret the legacy of the Middle Passage, the GI Bill benefits denied to Black veterans, or the plight of shackled Black women inmates giving birth? Through Black theology and a womanist lens, this lecture explores why memory is crucial for healing and justice.

Join Jean Pfaelzer for the reading and discussion of her book "California, A Slave State" with Damian Pargas (Professor of the History and Culture of North America), moderated by Luvena Kopp (PhD Researcher and Lecturer). "California, A Slave State" breaks with the common perception of California as a place of endless sunshine, long coastlines, and rich harvests. It does so by exposing the multifold ways in which different forms of slavery and dependency were – and continue to be – constitutive of a state that is one of the largest economies in the world. In an accessible and poetic language, that neither simplifies nor euphemizes this history and its brutality, Pfaelzer uncovers the co-existence of traditional and new systems of bondage in a land shaped by the genocide, indenture, and rape of Native Americans, the coerced labor of captive Alaska Natives, African American enslaved labor, the prostitution of Chinese girls, the unpaid labor of convicts, and ecological exploitation.

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. Accused of using treatments from Senegambian healers, she became a target in a broader struggle over faith and power. Professor Green transports us to seventeenth-century Cacheu, revealing its daily life, culture, and the brutal realities of the expanding slave trade. Through Peres’s case, we uncover a globally connected world where women defied imperial patriarchy, challenging the narratives of European dominance. This talk has been organised by BCDSS fellow Ana Lucia Araujo.

Join us for The International Lunch Seminar titled "Bondage, Resistance, and Violence in Angola, 1600s-1880s: Centering Women in Histories of Slavery," happening on Friday, June 6, 2025, from 12:00 to 1:30 PM at Heussallee 18-24 (room 1.100). Prof. Dr. Mariana P. Candido, Winship Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the Institute of African Studies at Emory University, will discuss the significant roles of women in Angola's history of slavery, focusing on their experiences with bondage, resistance, and violence. This seminar is organized by Ana Lucia Araujo, Professor of History at Howard University and Heinz Heinen Fellow at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies. This seminar will be held in person only. Attendants must email Professor Araujo (see below) no later than May 30 to get the paper. All participants must read the paper and come prepared for discussion.

Amid escalating geopolitical instability, authoritarian retrenchments, and the deepening securitisation of knowledge-making, this conference critically examines how entrenched knowledge dependencies continue to shape practices of future-making—and how more equitable futures might still be (re)imagined. From the weaponisation of AI to the erosion of indigenous, activist, and academic freedoms, and the constraints of donor-driven agendas, we ask: How is knowledge circulation mediated? Under what conditions have alternative epistemic futures emerged—in the longue durée and within present formations?