Universität Bonn

BCDSS

About Us
Research
PhD / MA Programs
Fellowships
Outreach
Events

About Us Our Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn aims to overcome the binary opposition of "slavery versus freedom". It is a research cluster within the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments. Our cluster of excellence is a joint project of researchers from sociological and anthropological theory, archaeology, Asian and Islamic Studies, religious studies, as well as, theology and German medieval literature, and history. We propose "asymmetrical dependency" as a new key concept including all forms of bondage across time and space.
Research In spite of the diverse forms that human bondage and coercion have taken over time, academic debates in the modern West have primarily focused on the most extreme one: slavery, and in particular, the trans-Atlantic experience of slavery which was closely entangled with the creation of the modern West. It still continues to inform our notions of what freedom and a lack of freedom mean. "Slavery" and "freedom" are ideologically charged terms. We will therefore use a more neutral terminology, and so move beyond the binary opposition of "slavery versus freedom" by suggesting "asymmetrical dependency" – or, more precisely, "strong asymmetrical dependency" as a new key concept, which includes debt bondage, convict labor, tributary labor, servitude, serfdom, and domestic work as well as forms of wage labor and various types of patronage.
PhD / MA Programs Our cluster of excellence provides a graduate school and a fellow program. Three professorships that are implemented by the University specifically for the cluster complement the expertise of the Principal Investigators. A Center for Digital Humanities and our global research network are the most important measures that disseminate the cluster's research results.
Fellowships
Outreach
Events All BCDSS events.

About Us

Overview About Us Our Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn aims to overcome the binary opposition of "slavery versus freedom". It is a research cluster within the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments. Our cluster of excellence is a joint project of researchers from sociological and anthropological theory, archaeology, Asian and Islamic Studies, religious studies, as well as, theology and German medieval literature, and history. We propose "asymmetrical dependency" as a new key concept including all forms of bondage across time and space.
People Get to know our team of principal investigators, of research group leaders and doctoral students, of visiting fellows, associated and affiliated researchers and our managment unit.
Boards & Committees
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Sustainability

People

Overview People Get to know our team of principal investigators, of research group leaders and doctoral students, of visiting fellows, associated and affiliated researchers and our managment unit.
BCDSS Speakers
BCDSS Professors
Principal Investigators The members of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies represent a unique set of disciplines specializing in non-European premodern societies. They have worked with a wide range of societies.
Investigators The members of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies represent a unique set of disciplines specializing in non-European premodern societies. They have worked with a wide range of societies.
Research Group Leaders
Fellows and Guest Researchers Visiting Fellows and Guest Researchers join the Heinz Heinen Kolleg for Advanced Studies (HHK)
Postdoctoral Researchers
PhD Researchers
Management The Management Unit (MU) coordinates the central activities of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies including the management of administrative services, budgeting and accounting, as well as media and public relations. In addition, the MU is involved in the recruitment and promotion of young scientists and the organization of academic and non-academic relations. The services of the MU support the everyday work of researchers as well as national and international collaborators.
Alumni Find more information about the Alumni of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies.

BCDSS Professors

Overview BCDSS Professors
Prof. Dr. Julia Hillner Prof. Dr. Julia Hillner is Clusterprofessor at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Claudia Jarzebowski Prof. Dr. Claudia Jarzebowski is Clusterprofessor at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Pia Wiegmink Prof. Dr. Pia Wiegmink is Clusterprofessor at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Christoph Witzenrath

Principal Investigators

Overview Principal Investigators The members of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies represent a unique set of disciplines specializing in non-European premodern societies. They have worked with a wide range of societies.
Prof. Dr. Christoph Antweiler Prof. Dr. Christoph Antweiler is Principal Investigator at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Martin Aust
Prof. Dr. Matthias Becher Prof. Dr. Matthias Becher is Principal Investigator at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Jan H. Bemmann Prof. Dr. Jan H. Bemmann is Principal Investigator at the BCDSS
Prof. Dr. Martin Bentz Prof. Dr. Martin Bentz is principal investigator at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Berges Prof. Dr. Ulrich Berges is a principal investigator at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Elke Brüggen
Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann is speaker of the BCDSS
Prof. Dr. Thomas Duve
Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Nikolai Grube
Prof. Dr. Marion Gymnich
Prof. Dr. Julia A. B. Hegewald
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Kinzig
Prof. Dr. Ludwig D. Morenz
Prof. Dr. Karoline Noack
Prof. Dr. Judith Pfeiffer
Prof. Dr. Martin Schermaier
Prof. Dr. Winfried Schmitz
Prof. Dr. Christian Schwermann
Prof. Dr. Rudolf Stichweh
Prof. Dr. Konrad Vössing
Prof. Dr. Bethany J. Walker
Prof. Dr. Michael Max Paul Zeuske
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Zöllner

Investigators

Overview Investigators The members of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies represent a unique set of disciplines specializing in non-European premodern societies. They have worked with a wide range of societies.
Dr. Dennis Mario Beck Dr. Dennis Mario Back is an Investigator at the BCDSS.
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia Binter
Prof. Dr. Christian Blumenthal
Prof. Dr. Béla Bodó
Prof. Dr. Jan Dietrich Jan Dietrich is an investigator at the BCDSS
Prof. Dr. Lewis Doney
Prof. Dr. Sabine Feist Prof. Dr. Sabine Feist is an investigator at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Feuser
Prof. Dr. Kristina Großmann Prof. Dr. Kristina Großmann is an investigator at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Birke Häcker
Prof. Dr. Judith Hahn
Prof. Dr. Britta Hartmann
Prof. Dr. Adrian Hermann Prof. Dr. Adrian Hermann is an investigator at the BCDSS.
PD Dr. Dorothea Heuschert-Laage PD Dr. Dorothea Heuschert-Laage is an investigator at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Christian Hornung Prof. Dr. Christian Hornung is an investigator at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Carla Jaimes Betancourt
Prof. Dr. Anna Kollatz
Dr. Petra Linscheid
Prof. Dr. Hermut Löhr
Prof. Dr. Sabine N. Meyer Prof. Dr. Sabine N. Meyer is an investigator at the BCDSS.
Prof. Dr. Birgit Münch
Prof. Dr. Karin Peters
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Magdalena Pfalzgraf
Prof. Dr. Dr. Jochen Sautermeister
Prof. Dr. Markus Saur
Dr. Kirsten Maria Schäfers
Prof. Dr. Lisa Schipper
Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter
Dr. Gül Şen
Prof. Dr. Alice Toso
Dr. Veruschka Wagner
Prof. Dr. Matthias Weller

Research Group Leaders

Overview Research Group Leaders
Dr. Sinah Kloß Dr. Sinah Kloß researcher and coordinator of Research Group "Marking Power: Embodied Dependencies, Haptic Regimes and Body Modification".
Dr. Christian Mader Dr. Christian Mader researcher and coordinator of the Research Group "The Archaeology of Dependency (ArchDepth): Resources, Power and Status Differentiation"
Dr. Raquel Razente Sirotti Dr. Raquel Razente Sirotti is research group leader of the research group
Dr. Jutta Wimmler Dr. Jutta Wimmler is research group leader at the BCDSS
Dr. Julia Winnebeck Dr. Julia Winnebeck is a research group leader at the BCDSS.

Fellows and Guest Researchers

Overview Fellows and Guest Researchers Visiting Fellows and Guest Researchers join the Heinz Heinen Kolleg for Advanced Studies (HHK)
Prof. Dr. Ana Lucia Araujo
Dr. Isabela Fraga
Dr. Anne Haeming
Prof. Dr. Evelyn Hu-DeHart
Prof. Dr. Sean Kelley
Dr. Kumar Mahabir
Prof. Dr. Chioma Daisy Onyige
Dr. Aleksander Paradziński
Prof. Dr. Lotte Pelckmans
Dr. Henriette Rødland
Prof. Dr. Konrad Schmid
Amelia Spooner
Nicholas Michael Sy
Prof. Dr. Nathaniel Umukoro
Dr. Christine Whyte
Dr. Katherine Burns
Juan Alejandro González Nestares
Prof. Dr. Sophia Labadi
Prof. Dr. Martin Bentz
Prof. Dr. Ludwig Morenz
Prof. Dr. Konrad Vössing
Dr. Klara Boyer-Rossol
Rachael Chan
Ezequiel M. T. Costa
Mariana Kelly da Costa Rezende
Prof. Dr. Paulo Cruz Terra
Prof. Dr. Ann R. David
Sara Eriksson
Dr. Ritesh Kumar Jaiswal
Artur Silva Lins
Prof. Dr. Behnaz Mirzai
Dr. Edilson Nunes dos Santos Junior
Prof. Dr. Tâmis Peixoto Parron
Prof. Dr. Jean Pfaelzer
Prof. Dr. Jamie Wood

Postdoctoral Researchers

Overview Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Vitali Bartash Vitali Bartash is a postdoctoral researcher at the BCDSS.
Dr. Vitali Byl
Dr. Benjamin Etzold
Paul Graf Paul Graf is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Dr. James M. Harland
Dr. Emma Kalb Postdoctoral Researcher at the BCDSS
Dr. Josef Köstlbauer Dr. Josef Köstlbauer is a postdoctoral researcher at the BCDSS.
Dr. Eva Marie Lehner Dr. Eva Marie Lehner ist postdoctoral researcher at the BCDSS.
Dr. Mercy Mashingaidze Mercy Mashingaidze
Dr. Rapti Siriwardane-de Zoysa
Dr. Elena Smolarz Dr. Elena Smolarz is a postdoctoral researcher at the BCDSS.
Dr. Jessica van 't Westeinde
Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele

PhD Researchers

Overview PhD Researchers
Mary Aderonke Afolabi-Adeolu Mary Aderonke Afolabi-Adeolu is a doctroal candidate at the BCDSS.
Boluwatife Akinro
Turkana Allahverdiyeva Turkana Allahverdiyeva is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Dita Auziņa Dita Auziņa is a doctroal candidate at the BCDSS.
Maja E. Keller (née Baum) Maja E. Baum is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Bahar Bayraktaroğlu Bahar Bayraktaroğlu is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Joseph Biggerstaff Joseph Biggerstaff is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Giulia Cappucci Giulia Cappucci is doctoral candiate athe BCDSS.
Claire Conrad Claire Conrad is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Issouf Dosso Clara Hedtrich is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Adam Fagbore Adam Fagbore is a doctoral candidate.
Zeynep Y. Gökce Zeynep Y. Gökce is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Nolwenn Guedeau Nolwenn Guedeau is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Honey Hammer Honey Hammer is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Henriette von Harnier Henriette von Harnier is a doctoral researcher at the BCDSS.
Clara Hedtrich Clara Hedtrich is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Samuel Huckleberry Samuel Huckleberry is a doctoral candidate.
Ayesha Hussain Ayesha Hussain is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Mauro Armando Adelino Manhanguele
Leon Kaplan Clara Hedtrich is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Luvena Kopp
Amalia S. Levi Amalia S. Levi is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Susana Macías Pascua Susana Macías Pascua is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Ricardo Márquez García Ricardo Márquez García is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Danitza L. Márquez Ramírez Danitza L. Márquez Ramírez is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Karolyne Mendes Mendonça Moreira
Stanislav Mohylnyi Stanislav Mohylnyi is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Lena Muders Lena Muders is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS
Subin Nam
Lisa Phongsavath Lisa Phongsavath is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Jahfar Shareef Pokkanali Jahfar Shareef Pokkanali is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
David Ponwitz David Ponwitz is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Christine Mae Sarito Christine Mae Sarito is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Diego Schibelinski
Julia Schmidt Julia Schmidt is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Nabhojeet Sen Nabhojeet Sen is a doctroal candidate at the BCDSS.
David Smith David Smith is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Taynã Tagliati Taynã Tagliati is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Tamia Viteri Toledo Tamia Viteri Toledo is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Nataliia Voitko Clara Hedtrich is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS.
Lukas Wissel Lukas Wissel is a doctoral candidate at the BCDSS:

Management

Overview Management The Management Unit (MU) coordinates the central activities of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies including the management of administrative services, budgeting and accounting, as well as media and public relations. In addition, the MU is involved in the recruitment and promotion of young scientists and the organization of academic and non-academic relations. The services of the MU support the everyday work of researchers as well as national and international collaborators.
Managing Director
Deputy Managing Director
Project Assistant
Team Assistant (Kuhnert)
Team Assistant (Lehmberg)
Head of Research and Study
PhD Coordinator
eTeaching Coordinator
Digital Tools Coordinator
Press and PR Manager Cécile Jeblawei is the press and pr manager of the BCDSS.
Press and PR Coordinator
Event Coordinator
Translator and Academic Editor
Language Editor
Publications Manager
Exhibition Curator
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator

Research

Overview Research In spite of the diverse forms that human bondage and coercion have taken over time, academic debates in the modern West have primarily focused on the most extreme one: slavery, and in particular, the trans-Atlantic experience of slavery which was closely entangled with the creation of the modern West. It still continues to inform our notions of what freedom and a lack of freedom mean. "Slavery" and "freedom" are ideologically charged terms. We will therefore use a more neutral terminology, and so move beyond the binary opposition of "slavery versus freedom" by suggesting "asymmetrical dependency" – or, more precisely, "strong asymmetrical dependency" as a new key concept, which includes debt bondage, convict labor, tributary labor, servitude, serfdom, and domestic work as well as forms of wage labor and various types of patronage.
Research Areas
Research Groups
Working Groups
Library Resources
Slavery Digital Humanities Slavery Digital Humanities – Websites, Databases, Digital Archives and Collections
Bonn Center for Digital Humanities
Strategic Partners
Publications The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies has different publication series: Monographs and edited volumes aimed at the scientific community, BCDSS Discussion Papers are articles reporting on research results from current projects. They are usually subsequently published in scholarly journals. BCDSS Working Papers report on preliminary research results or contribute to current debates. In addition, we offer you our quarterly newsletter and our cluster magazine DEPENDENT. Both publications provide information about the work of the cluster and give an insight into events and our research projects. sehepunkte is an interdisciplinary review journal and presents not only an ever-changing repertoire of reviews but also discussions of both monographs and edited collections in fields such as the history of medicine, law and art.
Outreach
Conferences
Third-Party Funded Projects Third-Party Funded Projects Connected to the BCDSS and Its Members

Research Areas

Overview Research Areas
Research Area A: Semantics – Lexical Fields – Narratives RA Muster
Research Area B: Embodied Dependencies RA Muster B
Research Area C: Institutions, Norms and Practices RA Muster C
Research Area D: Labor and Spatiality RA Muster D
Research Area E: Gender (and Intersectionality) RA Muster E

Research Groups

Overview Research Groups
The Archaeology of Dependency (ArchDepth): Resources, Power and Status Differentiation
Coerced Circulation of Knowledge
The Concept of Slavery in African History
Marking Power: Embodied Dependencies, Haptic Regimes and Body Modification
Mutual Dependencies and Normative Production in Africa The question of how modern colonial powers came to dominate so many territories, in many cases with so few material resources, was addressed from multiple viewpoints by imperial and colonial historiographies. This scholarship tends to use the concept of indirect rule as a main interpretative key to explaining the maintenance of the colonial possessions established by the so-called “effective occupation” of African territories determined by the Berlin conference of 1884-1885. According to this perspective, the appointment of local intermediaries became progressively controlled by colonial rulers under the rationale that the alliance with individuals who had some legitimacy founded in pre-occupation power structures would facilitate local governance. The performance of these local mediators and intermediaries is usually framed as a dichotomy between collaboration and resistance: either they agreed to collaborate with colonial agents and became instruments of the colonial apparatus, or they resisted colonists' onslaughts, generating a more or less long cycle of violence and coerced domination. This Junior Research Group assumes that dependency relations established in such a context, although strongly asymmetrical, were in many ways mutual. By focusing on the legal dimension of the interactions between colonial agents, local intermediaries, and indigenous peoples, the group asks how relations of mutual dependency were constituted and how they produced normativities at a global level. The main goal is to demonstrate that the interaction, recognition, and even creation of local intermediaries by colonial agents implies mutual transformations of traditional and state authorities. In this sense, the researchers involved in the group bring the perspectives of global legal history and of strong asymmetrical dependencies in human societies to the current debate that challenges the dichotomy between cooperation and resistance of native agents, arguing that, besides contributing to the construction of hybrid models of colonial rule, the actions of these individuals also shaped the regulation of native labor exploitation and the mechanisms of punishment and social control of local populations.
Punishment, Labor and Dependency
Structures of Dependency in the Late Antique and Early Medieval Western Church

Working Groups

Overview Working Groups
Asymmetrical Dependency in Classic Maya Society (ADCMS)
Body History
Contemporary Asymmetrical Dependencies (CAD)
Dependency and Ancient History Writing Group
Dependency from God, Gods, and the Divine
Ecological Dependencies
Embodied Dependencies
Empires and Colonialism across Times and Spaces
History and Theory Working Group
Gender Reading Group (GRG)
Manumission Working Group
Narratives Working Group I: Narratology in Slavery and Dependency Studies
Narratives Working Group II: Life Writing, Slavery and Dependency
Ottoman Slavery Working Group
PhD Forum
Race and Dependency
Rethinking Atlantic Narratives of Slavery and Freedom
Terminologies of Asymmetrical Dependencies
World Christianity Studies & Asymmetrical Dependency (WCSAD)

Library Resources

Overview Library Resources
BCDSS ULB Section BCDSS ULB Section
BCDSS Library Ancient Slavery BCDSS Library Ancient Slavery

Strategic Partners

Overview Strategic Partners
International Institutional Cooperation Partners
Collaborations with External Institutions in Germany
Institutional Collaboration Partners in the University of Bonn

Publications

Overview Publications The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies has different publication series: Monographs and edited volumes aimed at the scientific community, BCDSS Discussion Papers are articles reporting on research results from current projects. They are usually subsequently published in scholarly journals. BCDSS Working Papers report on preliminary research results or contribute to current debates. In addition, we offer you our quarterly newsletter and our cluster magazine DEPENDENT. Both publications provide information about the work of the cluster and give an insight into events and our research projects. sehepunkte is an interdisciplinary review journal and presents not only an ever-changing repertoire of reviews but also discussions of both monographs and edited collections in fields such as the history of medicine, law and art.
BCDSS Publishing Series
Monographs and Edited Volumes by BCDSS members
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Contributions to Edited Volumes
Sehepunkte
REVLATT
Companion volume

BCDSS Publishing Series

Overview BCDSS Publishing Series
BCDSS Book Series The BCDSS Books Series "Beyond Slavery and Freedom: Asymmetrical Dependencies in Pre-Modern Societies"
Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture Series The Cluster has established a lecture series in the memory of Joseph C. Miller
BCDSS Working Papers The Working Paper Series is conceptualized as "works in progress".
BCDSS Concept Papers The Concept Paper Series is conceptualized as "living papers";
BCDSS Discussion Papers BCDSS Discussion Papers
BCDSS Reader

Third-Party Funded Projects

Overview Third-Party Funded Projects Third-Party Funded Projects Connected to the BCDSS and Its Members
Academy of Korean Studies
Akademienprogramm NRW AWK
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Australian Research Council
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)
Cross-Border Conflict Evidence / Policy / Trends
Denkmalförderprogramm
Deutsche Altamerika-Stiftung
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst/Universities Australia
European Union
Fondation Max van Berchem
Fritz Thyssen Stiftung
Gerda Henkel Stiftung
German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development
Gielen-Leyendecker-Stiftung
Stiftung Archäologie im rheinischen Braunkohlenrevier
Universität Bonn
VolkswagenStiftung

PhD / MA Programs

Overview PhD / MA Programs Our cluster of excellence provides a graduate school and a fellow program. Three professorships that are implemented by the University specifically for the cluster complement the expertise of the Principal Investigators. A Center for Digital Humanities and our global research network are the most important measures that disseminate the cluster's research results.
Master's Programs
Doctoral Program

Master's Programs

Overview Master's Programs
Two-Year Master "Dependency and Slavery Studies"
One-Year Master "Slavery Studies"
Teaching Staff
Frequently Asked Questions Please find frequently asked questions to the application process here. The FAQs usually refer to both programs, unless otherwise stated.
News and Information Master Programs of BCDSS - Guidelines
Evaluation As part of our quality management, we regularly evaluate the courses of our MA programs “Dependency and Slavery Studies“ and “Slavery Studies“ since the winter term 2020/21 resp. the winter term 2021/22.

Fellowships

Overview Fellowships
Heinz Heinen Fellowship Program
The Bonn-Yale-Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Fellowship
Euthenia Fellowship

Outreach

Overview Outreach
Cluster Magazine "DEPENDENT"
Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lectures Recordings
Dependency Blog
Readings and Discussions
Who's Got the Power Film Series
Exhibitions
Dies Academicus
Schools
News
Events
Videos & Recordings
The World of Roman Bonn
Juneteenth Lectures

Who's Got the Power Film Series

Overview Who's Got the Power Film Series
2025
2024
2023
2022

Schools

Overview Schools
Kinderuni
School teaching resources
Wissenschaftsrallye

Wissenschaftsrallye

Overview Wissenschaftsrallye
Wissenschaftsrallye 2025
Wissenschaftsrallye 2024
Wissenschaftsrallye 2023
Wissenschaftsrallye 2022 Wissenschaftsrallye 2022

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