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
Online Talk by BCDSS Research Group Leader Sinah Kloß7
We would like to draw your attention to the online talk that will be part of the lecture series of the working group "Familie im Feld" of the German Anthropological Association (DGSKA). BCDSS Research Group Leader Sinah Kloß will be speaking about "Pregnant with Ideas:: Reflections on Pregnancy and Birth in Ethnographic Knowledge Production" on April 25 at 10:15 am.
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New Publications by Ludwig D. Morenz8
Congratulations to BCDSS Principal Investigator Ludwig D. Morenz on his recent publication "The vulture and the headless man: Scenes of violence on a Predynastic prestige object from Gebelein" in Archéo-Nil Volume 34 published by Peeters Online Journals.
We would also like to announce his upcoming book Kultur und Macht im vorpharaonischen Ägypten: Visualisierungen von Herrschaft in der sozio-kulturellen Peripherie des Wadi el Malik und des Wadi Nac am während des Vierten Jahrtausends (Culture and Power in Pre-Pharaonic Egypt: Visualizing Claims to Sovereignty in the Socio-Cultural Periphery of Wadi el Malik and Wadi Nac am during the Fourth Millennium) that will be published in German, English and Arabic by EB-VERLAG.
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New publications by Klara Boyer-Rossol9
Congratulations to Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Klara Boyer-Rossol who has published four books on Slavery in Africa during her time as a Research Fellow at the BCDSS.
© BCDSS
"WHO'S GOT THE POWER?"10
The WHO'S GOT THE POWER film and discussion series is carrying on this April in collaboration with Förderverein Filmkultur, at Kino in der Brotfabrik, Bonn.
On April 8th, 2025, 19:00h, we will be screening the award-winning documentary THE ILLUSION OF ABUNDANCE, directed by Erika Gonzalez Ramirez and Matthieu Lietaert (Belgium/Brazil 2022).
A powerful indictment of neo-colonialism, the documentary aims to raise awareness of the various manifestations of neo-colonialism in Latin America and to take a stand against environmental destruction and social injustice. The film had its premiere at the European Parliament in October 2022 and went on to win numerous awards in 2023.
Erika Gonzáles Ramírez and Matthieu Lietaert explore who the modern-day conquistadores in Latin America are, why people, and in particular the indigenous population, continue to be exploited, and how powerful players including transnational corporations and institutions can be called to responsibility.
The discussion will be featuring BCDSS members Carla Jaimes Betancourt and Christian Mader, as well as Aline Pereira from the Global Heritage Lab, who will be exploring systems of oppression and modern-day conquistadores in Latin America from historically, culturally, and legally informed points of view.
Find out more below.
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Book Launch with Ulrike Schmieder11
Join us for the launch of Enslavement in the Atlantic World Sites of Remembrance, Sites of Silence in France and Spain, Martinique and Cuba by BCDSS affiliate Ulrike Schmieder.
© BCDSS
The Matis' Tattoo Celebration (90'): Film screening12
Join us on 25 March, 2025 for the screening of 'Matses Muxan Akadakit', a captivating movie about the Matis tattoo celebration directed by the indigenous Matis people.
© BCDSS
CfP: Heterarchies and Power Dynamics in Post-Roman Europe (4th-10th century AD)13
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.
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New Co-edited Volume in DSS Series14
Congratulations to BCDSS Research Group Leader Dr. Sinah Kloß and PhD Researchers Lena Muders and Taynã Tagliati on their new co-edited volume in the BCDSS Book Series "Dependency and Slavery Studies" (DSS)
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 ...
Interwoven Dependencies: Public keynote by Dr. Gabrielle Hosein17
Global Heritage Lab, ...
04:30 PM - 06:30 PM
"Nachorious: The Nach Gyal as Post Indenture Caribbean Feminist Jouvay Mas"
This mas commemorates 180 years of the Indian ‘nautch girl’ – dancer, courtesan, ...
Interwoven Dependencies: Roundtable Discussion18
Global Heritage Lab, ...
04:30 PM - 06:30 PM
Christian missionaries pressured women in colonial contact zones to dress more ‘appropriately’ according to European understandings of Christian modesty. At ...
Interwoven Dependencies: Keynote Performance by Tuli Mekondjo19
Global Heritage Lab, ...
04:30 PM - 06:30 PM
Tuli Mekondjo’s performance "Saara Omulaule/Black Saara" (2023) was improvised & inspired by Kari Miettinen’s book "On the Way to Whiteness – Christianization, ...
Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture by Jeffrey Easton20
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 ...
Film Screening and Discussion21
Kino in der Brotfabrik, ...
07:00 PM - 10:45 PM
Join us on April 8, 2025, for the next edition of the "WHO'S GOT THE POWER?" film and discussion series at Kino in der Brotfabrik, Bonn, in collaboration with ...
BCDSS Affiliate Ulrike Schmieder's Book Launch22
Bonner Universitätsforum ...
04:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Join us to the launch of "Versklavung im Atlantischen Raum: Orte des Gedenkens, Orte des Verschweigens in Frankreich und Spanien, Martinique und Kuba ...
Labour, Freedom, Slavery - Sociological and Historical Approaches23
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 ...
Contact Us
Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS)
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Email: dependency@uni-bonn.de
Press and PR Manager: Cécile Jeblawei30
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Address
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53113 Bonn
BCDSS Fellowship Programs
Coordination: Sarah Dusend31
Email: researchandstudy@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Deputy: Laura Hartmann32
Email: l.hartmann@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Address
University of Bonn
Heussallee 18–24
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- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/news-bcdss/online-talk-by-bcdss-member-sinah-kloss
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- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/events/interwoven-dependencies-roundtable-discussion
- https://www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/events/interwoven-dependencies-keynote-performance-by-tuli-mekondjo
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