Overview of Second Phase: 2026-2032
Read More
© BCDSS
Additional 7 Years of Funding Secured
Read More
© BCDSS
Overview of Second Phase: 2026-2032
Additional 7 Years of Funding Secured

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. In May 2025, we were awarded a further seven years of funding by the German Research Foundation. Hence, as of January 2026, we will be starting our SECOND FUNDING PERIOD (2026-2032).

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
Congratulations on a new publication in Andean Ethnohistory
We congratulate Danitza Márquez Ramírez on the publication of a new issue of Notas de Antropología de las Américas focusing on Andean Ethnohistory, published on 19 December 2025.
Dec 22, 2025
© BCDSS
New Special Issue on Gender & Segregation Published in Gender & History
A new special issue of Gender & History on Gender & Segregation has just been published. The issue is co-edited by Lisa Hellman and Julia Hillner, alongside Daniel J. R. Grey and Rachel Jean-Baptiste, and builds on discussions from a conference hosted at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies in April 2024.
Dec 19, 2025
© BCDSS
End of Phase 1 - Thank You!
As we conclude the first funding phase of the Excellence Cluster, we sincerely thank everyone who has helped shape the BCDSS over the past seven years. The Cluster has thrived through your dedication, expertise, and collaboration! You have strengthened our community of researchers and learners and inspired us to build on this momentum in the second funding phase. With heartfelt thanks and warm regards, Your BCDSS Team
Dec 19, 2025
© BCDSS
New Publication on Cultural Heritage and Slavery from a Caribbean Perspective (DSS 25)
Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann, PD Dr. Ulrike Schmieder and Prof. Dr. Michael Zeuske, whose book Cultural Heritage and Slavery: A Perspective from the Caribbean, has just been published! It is part of our DSS Publication series.
Dec 17, 2025
© BCDSS
New Third-Party-Funded Project: Julia Hillner, Pia Wiegmink & Jamie Wood Granted Funding by VolkswagenStiftung
We are pleased to announce that BCDSS Professors Julia Hillner and Pia Wiegmink, together with former BCDSS Guest Researcher Jamie Wood (University of Lincoln), have been granted funding by the VolkswagenStiftung's 'Open Up – New Research Spaces for the Humanities and Cultural Studies' funding initiative for their collaborative project "The Nameless in History".
Dec 12, 2025
© BCDSS
New Article by James M. Harland in Traditio: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought and Religion
Congratulations to BCDSS Postdoctoral researcher James M. Harland on his new article "Julian's Batavian Campaign, an Embezzlement Trial in Britain, and Barbarian Access to the Annona Militaris" published by Cambridge University Press!
Dec 09, 2025
© BCDSS
New Publication in DSS Series - Volume 21 Out Now!
We're delighted to share the publication of Studies on Slavery in Brazilian and African History and Literature, edited by University of Bonn Ambassador and Affiliated Researcher Roberto Hofmeister Pich and BCDSS Speaker Stephan Conermann.
Nov 27, 2025
© BCDSS
New Publication: Special Issue of Atlantic Studies
We are proud to announce a new publication by BCDSS Professor and Co-speaker, Pia Wiegmink. 
Nov 27, 2025
Events
© BCDSS
Monday Jan 12, 2026
Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture by Evelyn Hu-DeHart
HYBRID event: On site ...
04:15 PM - 05:45 PM
What happens when 125,000 Chinese indentured men and enslaved African men and women work side by side on Cuban sugar plantations in the late nineteenth ...
© Interaktiv GmbH
Monday Jan 26, 2026
Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture by Nasir Uddin
HYBRID event: On site ...
04:15 PM - 05:45 PM
How does statelessness turn people into ‘bare’ or even ‘subhuman’ life? This upcoming lecture with Nasir Uddin, argues that the shift from statelessness to ...

Contact Us 

Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS)

Subscribe to our email list and get all of the latest news! 
The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies is on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky! Follow us and stay updated.

Managing Director: Sarah Dusend
Email: dependency@uni-bonn.de

Press and PR Manager: Cécile Jeblawei
Email: pr@dependency.uni-bonn.de

Address

University of Bonn
Niebuhrstraße 5
53113 Bonn  

BCDSS Fellowship Programs

Address

University of Bonn
Niebuhrstraße 5
53113 Bonn