Regardless of culture, region or era, human oppression can be found anywhere in the world. They appear in the shape of slavery, serfdom, debt bondage, forced labor and child labor, human trafficking, domestic violence or sexual exploitation. Strong asymmetrical power relations and dependencies seem to be a universal social phenomenon.

The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) at the University of Bonn is one of only three Clusters of Excellence in Germany in the field of humanities. Our international researchers explore the phenomenon of slavery and other forms of strong asymmetrical dependencies from numerous perspectives within the humanities and social sciences. In doing so, we want to bring to the fore the lives of the various oppressed people. Through their perspectives, the prevailing view of history is extended and revised, as besides slavery, further forms of strong asymmetrical dependencies come into view, such as serfdom, debt bondage, forced labor and child labor, human trafficking, domestic violence or sexual exploitation. This gives way to many pressing questions:

What are the mechanisms behind the hierarchisation of society? In what way do historic dependency relations affect our lives today? What can we learn from the past? Which forms of strong dependencies, oppression and hierarchisation do we have on our doorstep? Do we nurture them in any way?