News and Events
How did political shifts in southern Babylonia during the third millennium BCE impact land and social status? For most of this period, independent city-states coexisted, sometimes clashing with each other or with Kish in the north. Eventually, the region unified under the Sargonic dynasty and then the Third Dynasty of Ur. Despite these changes, the land-tenure system stayed stable due to environmental needs, particularly large-scale irrigation. Most arable land was controlled by rulers, governors, and temples, with individual land rights depending on one’s freedom and social status. Society had three main groups: free citizens, who owned land and were conscripted part-time; serflike individuals, who were free but conscripted full-time and rarely had land; and enslaved people, who were unfree and did not possess land. This presentation will explore the continuity and shifts in land ownership and liberty across the Early Dynastic, Sargonic, and Ur III periods.
During this event, we would like to explore the nature and significance of manumission of enslaved people from a global perspective. Drawing on a variety of sources, especially judicial and notarial ones, we will gain insights into the different types of manumission, their procedures, and outcomes. The main question we are interested in and therefore want to focus on is not only the act of manumission itself, but also the period after manumission. What were the conditions and steps for manumission? What did emancipation really mean? What happened to the slaves after manumission? Did manumission lead to freedom or to a different kind of relationship of dependence? How did the relationship between slaves and slave owners develop after the manumission? What role did manumission play in social life and in the shaping of society? What information can we find in our sources on these aspects? What epistemological and methodological approaches do we use to overcome silences in the records?
Bridging Worlds: Exploring the Intersection of Heritage Studies and ArchaeoSciences For two days, more than 15 contributions from 30 researchers worldwide will explore the fascinating and complex intersection of Natural Sciences and Heritage Studies. What does the future hold for these fields? What obstacles must we address? How can we achieve our goals?
The historiography of the Kingdom of Kongo has long emphasized the profound political transformations following the Kongolese Civil War, marked by fragmentation, factional violence, and the expansion of enslavement in response to Atlantic demands. Central to this narrative is the rise of a class of oligarchs, or “entrepreneurial nobles,” who mobilized political titles and discourses of ancestry to assert their influence as local power brokers and intermediaries in the trans-Atlantic trade of goods and enslaved persons. In this presentation, I discuss how Kongolese oligarchs reshaped the vocabulary of slavery, actively participating in the renewal of Atlantic slavery in the late 18th and 19th centuries. This linguistic transformation underpinned a discourse that increasingly divorced the practice of enslavement from its previous moral constraints, embedding these strategies within the broader political and economic contexts that drove the intensification of slavery in the S.A.
This workshop is organised in honour of two medieval historians – Alheydis Plassmann and Björn Weiler – who spent their careers championing comparative approaches to the political culture of high medieval Europe (c. 1000-1300). Compared to earlier centuries, historians tend to remain in their own national academic ‘sub-tribes’ for this part of the Middle Ages, a consequence of the sheer variety and amount of evidence that scholars have access to from the turn of the millennium, but also of a legacy of national historical narratives, inherited from the nineteenth century, concerned with the development of the nation state. The workshop will aim to honour the legacy of these two historians by bringing together established and early-career scholars to consider how we can further our understanding of the relationship between power and dependency in medieval politics beyond a national framework.
In light of recent conceptual discussions on intersectionality and (im)mobility in Forced Migration Studies, the micro-sociology and embodiment of violence in Peace and Conflict Studies as well as precarity and strong asymmetrical dependencies in Dependency and Slavery Studies, the workshop invites selected scholars from these interlinked fields to jointly reflect on the intersections between gender, violence and dependencies.
We cordially invite you to join us for a Special Issue Lunch Talk with the editors Pia Wiegmink and Jutta Wimmler and authors of the Special Issue “Beyond Slavery and Freedom,” published a few weeks ago in the Journal of Global Slavery. It also features work by Sinah Kloß, Ricardo Márquez García, Christian Schwermann, Elena Smolarz & Julia Winnebeck. The Special Issue demonstrates the variety of research done at the cluster. This will be an informal event to discuss openly the content of the contributions, the different approaches to the topic, and the overall framing and we are particularly interested in hearing how other BCDSS researchers rethink the binary slavery/freedom in their work. The introduction to the Special Issue is freely available, but you can also access the individual contributions from within the university network/via VPN. https://brill.com/view/journals/jgs/9/1-2/jgs.9.issue-1-2.xml
Strong Asymmetrical Dependencies: Perspectives from Asia, Past & Present This event addresses the underrepresentation of Asia in labor and slavery studies by focusing on the histories, legacies, and current forms of dependency, slavery, bondage, coerced labor, and forced displacement in Asia. We invite scholars and researchers from all disciplines to submit innovative case studies and contributions on emic perspectives, historiography, memory, archival practices, and digital approaches. The conference will feature paper presentations, thematic sessions, and roundtables, including discussions on the future of the field and digital methodologies. Abstract Submission Deadline: October 31, 2024 Selected Contributions Announced: December 15, 2024 Draft Papers Due: 1 month before the event Funding: Hotel accommodations in Bonn are covered; travel funding prioritizes those without access to travel funds.
In his talk "Intersectionality and Asymmetrical Dependencies: Theoretical Explorations and Case Studies in Religion" in the Gender Group Colloquium at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), David B. Smith will explore new possibilities for deploying intersectionality theory in asymmetrical dependency research (ADr).
This workshop offers the opportunity to explore theoretical approaches to intersectionality and their applications in slavery and dependency studies. Guided by four renowned experts in the fields of anthropology (Laurie A. Wilkie, UK Berkeley), theology (Keri L. Day, Princeton), sociology (Zine Magubane, Boston College), and history (Karen Graubart, University of Notre Dame), we will examine how slavery and dependency studies might benefit from a greater emphasis on intersectionality, and how intersectionality theory might profit from research on asymmetrical dependencies. How might the comparative approach employed by researchers at the BCDSS complement classic legal and sociological conceptions of intersectionality that follow along the lines of race, gender, and class? How might both theoretical frameworks be strengthened by a greater emphasis on questions of sexuality, gender identity beyond the binary, (dis)ability, or religious experience in modern and pre-modern societies?
This conference "Romani Feminisms: Intersectionality in the Context of Dependencies" aims to support and elevate the work of Romani women feminists, breaking the barriers that confine Romani feminisms to the periphery of mainstream spaces. The insights and outcomes from the conference will be disseminated by the Romnja Feminist Library, ensuring a broader impact and continued dialogue on these critical issues.
In recent times, research has increasingly focused on the previously often neglected phenomena of transition from violence and war to peacemaking and peace consolidation. The thematic contexts and spatial and chronological contexts of such studies are extremely diverse, as are the terms typically used: Gray areas between peace and war, transformation processes, intermediate worlds, transitions, simultaneity phenomena, reconstruction and post-war periods, Cold War/Cold Peace, "neither/nor", "both/and" - all these paraphrases aim to question the premises of Cicero's classic quote "inter bellum et pacem medium nihil sit" and at the same time accentuate the ideal-typical construct character of "war" and "peace". The aim of the conference is to examine the various transitions from violence/war to peacemaking/consolidation across epochs in a specific area, namely the Rhenish region.
Conference: "Children, Dependency, and Emotions in the Early Modern World, 1500-1800: Archival and Visual Narratives" Throughout history children have been subjected to violence, coercion, forced labor and separation. Children also developed strategies to cope with their oftentimes deplorable living conditions. This conference is interested in the archival, visual, and material traces some of these children have left - aiming at reconstructing social and emotional worlds of children in early modern global history. For the full program, see the link below.
Workshop "How to Understand Colonial History in the Americas through the Category of Dependency? Challenges, Problems, and Perspectives" This interdisciplinary workshop will discuss the applicability of the category of (asymmetrical) dependency to analyzing the colonial period in the Americas. The period is appropriate for this purpose because the relations of dependency rooted in the pre-colonial period and those that emerged during the colonial one overlap in this “hinge period.” Hence, these dependencies laid the ground for the economic, social, and political relations that emerged after the independence of the Latin American countries. From this perspective, we ask ourselves about the current state of research on this topic in Germany and Latin America. Please note, that the workshop will be held in Spanish. Due to limited seating, please REGISTER by June 28th: events@dependency.uni-bonn.de See full program below.
We are carrying on with the "WHO'S GOT THE POWER?" series in cooperation with Förderverein Filmkultur at Brotfabrik, Bonn! Our second film this year, THE EMPTY GRAVE (original: 'DAS LEERE GRAB'), a German-Tanzanian co-production by Agnes Lisa Wegner and Cece Mlay, was launched at the Berlinale Film Festival earlier this year. It addresses the legacy of the German colonial rule in Tanzania: the search for the physical remains of family members, the intergenerational trauma, the quest for justice, the question of any future coexistence. Everyone is warmly welcome to join us for the post-screening talk and reception with drinks and fingerfood in the informal setting of Studio 5. On the panel representing the BCDSS: Mary Aderonke Afolabi-Adeolu, PhD Researcher Boluwatife Akinro, PhD Researcher Dr. Mercy Mashingaidze, Postdoctoral Researcher & Lecturer
How were the lives of indigenous children who worked as domestic servants in colonial Lima shaped by their roles in their masters' households? This talk explores how these domestic environments influenced the social positions of these migrant children through relationships ranging from exploitation to affection. It examines gender differences in their treatment and how these shaped their adult integration into colonial society. The discussion concludes with a comparison to modern child domestic servants, analyzing how dependency, exploitation, and affection have evolved in today's so-called democratic society.
In this roundtable, a curator, an artist, and several researchers from the BCDSS will talk about visuality and dependency. It wants to explore the various ways in which visual cultures relate to ideas, institutions, and practices of bondage and their remembrance.
Renowned philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah will give a guest lecture at the BCDSS on "Identities in History," inspired by his latest book "Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity." This book is an outgrowth of four lectures Professor Appiah gave for BBC Radio. His aim was to provide a broad audience with a comprehensive understanding of social identities, drawing on philosophy, history, literature and the social sciences. In his original lectures he examined four specific identities: religion, nationality, race and culture, with the addition of the category of class in the book. In this lecture, he will focus in particular on the relationship between identity and race.
This workshop traces alternative Maroon worlds and worldviews along two specific lines of inquiry, ecology and imagination. Convening scholars from across disciplines (including geography, archaeology, anthropology, literary history and sound studies), we will probe the different environmental and cultural contexts of Marronage. Our goal is to engage with Marronage as an ecological, political and creative practice, underlining how Black ways of engaging with the environment provide a conceptual and practical reorientation to anthropogenic climate change.
This workshop explores the intersection of archaeology and genetics, the power and complexities of archaeogenetics, a field that's reshaping our understanding of the past, using ancient and modern DNA to understand migration, societal structures, and power dynamics in history.
With Sara Eriksson, Sarah Zimmerman, and Natalie Joy, three of this year's BCDSS Fellows will present their personal research projects at the Dies Academicus on 15 May 2024. They will provide interesting insights into their projects and discuss slavery and abolition in different temporal and geographical contexts. Sara Eriksson: "How to do an Archeology of Slavery: A Case Study from Ancient Greece" Prof. Dr. Sarah Zimmerman: "Gender, Slavery, and World Heritage on Gorée Island (Senegal)" Prof. Dr. Natalie Joy: "The Indian’s Cause: Native Americans and the American Antislavery Movement"
Why would someone give a human being as a gift? Who are the giver and the taker? How does the gift-giving affect the life and status of the gifted human? The two-day conference "Humans as Gifts" at the University of Bonn in May 2024 will bring historians and anthropologists together to find answers to these question.
How did elite Arab-Muslim households treat unfree women from 600 to 800 CE? Examining mawlayāt, servile women who were not technically enslaved, this talk examines their scarcity, domestic roles, and social networks. It cautions against uncritical reading of sources, which often convey biased messages. Mawlayāt offer insight into power dynamics in early Islamic society, occupying an intermediate position between enslaved and free.
"Der Müll bleibt. Müssen wir wirklich unaufhörlich natürliche Ressourcen in Konsumgüter umwandeln, die dann schnell entsorgt werden, um Platz für neue Produkte zu schaffen?" Wir freuen uns, Prof. Ulbe Bosma vom International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam wieder bei uns in Bonn begrüßen zu dürfen, nachdem er im letzten Jahr einige Monate bei uns am BCDSS zu Gast war. Alle sind herzlich willkommen. Eintritt ist frei! Bitte melden Sie sich über den Link zur VHS Bonn an (siehe unten). Der Vortrag findet auf Deutsch statt.
The BCDSS invites all interested to this Bilingual International Colloquium. Participants will discuss the multiple ways in which written, visual, audiovisual archives and, of course, art that emanate from the contexts of imperial, slave and colonial expansion, can not only be the object of postcolonial litigation, both academically and politically, but they are also, paradoxically, devices for the construction of new dialogues between academia, society and the State and its public policies in order to imagine actions built collectively with communities, public and private sectors, through the use of archives as exceptional primary sources for the study of African, African American, Latin American, Asian and African societies even European ones for the sake of their signification, appreciation and dissemination.
Continuing our commitment to thought-provoking cinema and dialogue, we kick off our 2024 series with an exclusive preview of the Afrika Film Festival Köln, due this September. We are lucky to be able to feature a pre-launch Screening & Discussion of five Festival films: LIONS by Beru Tessema (2022) OUSMANE by Jorge Camarotti (2021) P.D.O. (PROTECTED DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN) by Sammy Sidali (2021) FLOWERS by Dumas Haddad (2022) SÈT LAM by Vincent Fontano (2023) Join us for our post-screening talk and get-together with BCDSS members: Malik Ade, Mary Aderonke Afolabi-Adelou and Luvena Kopp (moderation) Please register by 2nd May, noon, via: registration@dependency.uni-bonn.de
This workshop aims to shed light on the underlying factors that reinforce the perpetuation of modern-day slavery in Nigeria, with a particular focus on the dynamics of asymmetrical dependency. The analysis begins by examining the historical and socioeconomic antecedents that predispose Nigeria to other forms dependency. These analytical categories such as poverty, corruption, weak governance, and socio-cultural practices have created an environment conducive to the exploitation and enslavement of individuals, particularly women, children, and the less privileged. The complex web of asymmetrical relations and diverse processes of enslavement are reproduced by institutions, beliefs, values and practices that maintain and enforce coercive relationships. The workshop will bring together renowned scholars and PhD students working in the field of asymmetrical dependency to discuss the historical, socioeconomic, and power dynamics at play.