Events Archive
This interdisciplinary workshop on body history and experiences explores strong asymmetrical dependencies from the perspective of the body and experience. The workshop will build upon the agenda and insights generated by the existing Working Group "Body History," which was established in March 2024. Through cross-disciplinary perspectives and discussions, during the workshop meetings, we deepened our understanding of how embodied experiences have been shaped by various dependencies throughout history. The aim of the workshop is to build on the established insights and questions in order to expand and deepen the conversation on interdisciplinary approaches to body history and experiences by historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and other disciplines. Find the program below. Please note: Registration required as there is only limited seating!
This workshop will bring together a diverse group of scholars to consider the family in the Islamicate world as a locus for understanding coexisting and at times overlapping forms of dependency. Far from thinking of the family as a monolithic, static entity, this workshop seeks to create a comparative space for mapping out the variable and ever-changing ideas, practices, and processes that formed the family in distinct historical contexts, while also attending to common threads such as legal frameworks and elite female seclusion. Thinking in terms of frames including the conjugal family and the household, lineage and descent, and broader kinship networks, participants will consider how family relations could both limit as well as provide opportunities for agency, alongside shaping senses of affiliation, belonging, and identity. Registration by 30 May via ekalb@uni-bonn.de or bbayrakt@uni-bonn.de.
Humans have long relied on animals to survive and build societies, yet these entanglements—and their impact on human relationships—are often understudied. With current debates around the Anthropocene and shifts in Humanities and Social Sciences, it’s vital to include ecological perspectives in studying colonization, slavery, and asymmetrical dependencies. The interdisciplinary workshop "Entangled Lives" will explore these dynamics, focusing on Indigenous experiences and diverse regions across the Americas. Prof. Marcy Norton (University of Pennsylvania), author of "The Tame and the Wild," will deliver the keynote as part of the Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture Series. We’ll discuss familiarization, embodied knowledge, dependency, and human-animal bonds shaped by local ecologies. Open to the public. Register via email: entangledlives@dependency.uni-bonn.de
The purpose of this workshop is to analyse and discuss the underexplored gendered dynamics of asymmetrical dependencies in which Late Antique elite women and their dependents participated. By engaging with material across various types of sources, such as papyri, epigraphy, curse tablets, legal codes, historiography and religious texts, we hope to illuminate how elite women interacted with the large variety of people who depended on them, from enslaved attendants and servants to clients and other beneficiaries of patronage.
Workshop: Exploring the Atlantic and Asian Dutch Empire and its Archives: actor-centered and gender approaches (17th-19th Century) In the past years, the lives of colonized people have been studied increasingly. Individual stories of enslaved, freed and other marginalized men and women were documented in colonial archives, often because they stepped out of line at a certain moment. How to find a more balanced approach when trying to unearth the lives of colonized people, while being at the mercy of colonial archives? How to best account for the manifold differences between men and women living in colonial establishments, based among others on gender, race, class, religion, age and social position? In this workshop Ph.D. and postdoctoral researchers will explore the Atlantic and Asian Dutch Empire and its archives (17th-19th century) from different levels and from various perspectives. Please register by June 14, via Jan Hörber (events@dependency.uni-bonn.de)
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.
Brazilian histories of indigenous and black slaveries provide a particularly rich source for understanding dependency categories. From the 16th century onwards, indigenous people were enslaved and subjected to forced labor and political subjugation. African slaves were brought to Brazil as early as 1530, with abolition only in 1888. During those centuries, Brazil received more than 4,000,000 Africans, over four times as many as any other American destination. In the second edition of the Conference “Current Trends in Slavery Studies in Brazil”, invited speakers will provide further characterizations of historical scholarship in Brazil, focusing on new areas of study: the relationship between Church and slavery, law and slavery, and science and slavery - including recent research on labor history, as well as a comparative approach of Brazilian and African (Angolan) history. Find the program below. To register, please click on the link under "Registration/Ticket".
Limited seats available. Therefore, we operate a first come, first serve policy. This is an in person event. For more information please see the programme attached.
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.
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?
How did the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms reshape slavery across the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Middle East? This talk by Behnaz Mirzai, Professor of Middle Eastern History at Brock University, examines the shared origins of Qajar Iran and the Ottoman Empire—neighboring states with parallel political and cultural structures, including similar slavery systems. It shows how enslaved Africans faced capture, transport, and major identity shifts, and how Ottoman Tanzimat reforms inspired Qajar officials and revolutionaries to pursue abolitionist policies. Through the story of Mahboob Qirvanian, an enslaved African later freed by Constitutional Revolution leaders, the talk highlights both the human experience of Africa–Asia slavery and the political changes that reshaped it. The event ends with a screening of Prof. Mirzai’s award-winning documentary Afro-Iranian Lives.
The BCDSS invites to a screening of Aisha Can't Fly Away (dir. Morad Mostafa, 2025), followed by a panel discussion on migration-related labour exploitation and intersectional dependency. The film follows Aisha, a Sudanese care worker in Cairo, as she navigates racism, extortion, and precarious work conditions after fleeing war in Somalia. The panel will feature BCDSS Research Group Leader Benjamin Etzold and Postdoctoral Researcher Ayesha Hussain.
How can film help us see histories that have long been hidden — from the forced labour on indigo plantations in Haiti to the influence of Christian missions on fashion in Namibia and Jamaica? Beyond documenting the past, film can challenge dominant narratives, unearth silenced voices, and spark new ways of thinking about heritage, memory, and Afro-Indigenous knowledge. We warmly invite you to attend the film screening and public round table with film directors Dr. Joseph S. Jean, Yohannes Mekonnen, as well as curators Dr. Beatrix Hoffmann-Ihde and Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia Binter. The audience is warmly invited to join the discussion and share drinks at the finissage reception! We will be screening two films by Haitian archaeologist Sony Jean and the Global Heritage Lab’s Visual Anthropology Fellow Yohannes Mulat Mekonnen.
As part of the supporting program of the International Silent Film Festival (7-17 August 2025) in Bonn, we warmly invite you to a lecture and Q&A by cultural scholar Yumin Li. In her talk, Li shares her research on the remarkable international film career of "Show Life" (German: "Song") actress Anna May Wong (1905-1961). Li highlights the importance of the Chinese-American actress as a pioneer in film history. As the first Hollywood star of Chinese heritage, Anna May Wong is today seen a symbol of self-empowerment. To experience Anna May Wong on screen, join us for an open-air screening of her film "Show Life" (German: "Song") the night before, on 15 August 2025 at 22:00 at the Arkadenhof of University of Bonn.
We invite you to join our five BCDSS pre-doctoral fellows for their joint presentation at Dies Academicus: "Understanding Dependency and Slavery Studies: A Multidisciplinary Approach". They will each give a short talk on what sparked their interest in their research topic, why it matters, and what they hope to achieve. From the industrial heartlands of India to the oral traditions of the Gold Coast, their talks explore the multifaceted nature of strong asymmetrical dependency across time and geography.
Join us at the University of Bonn's Dies Academicus on 14 May, where BCDSS Fellows Evelyn Hu-De Hart, Christine Whyte, and Aleksander Paradziński will provide insights into their current research projects.
The "afterlife of slavery," a concept coined by Saidiya Hartman and rooted in the work of Hazel V. Carby and Hortense Spillers, explores how the legacy of transatlantic slavery continues to shape American life. Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' (1987) is often cited as central to this framework. Yet in 'A Mercy' (2008), Morrison imagines a world outside the constraints of this legacy, set in a time before slavery's full establishment. This lecture examines how Morrison's later novel engages with, or departs from, the afterlife of slavery, focusing on archival materials that reveal her role in shaping its publication. Professor Kinohi Nishikawa teaches African American Literature at Princeton University. He is the author of 'Street Players: Black Pulp Fiction and the Making of a Literary Underground' (University of Chicago Press, 2018), and co-editor of 'Sites of Memory: Toni Morrison and the Archive'. His work has appeared in 'ASAP/Journal', 'American Literary History', and 'Novel'.
The 1874 painting 'The Acrobats' offers a glimpse into the lives of children performing in the circus 150 years ago. But does it also tell us something about the vulnerability of 'children in entertainment' and 'child performers' in general, both then and now? Find out more at the BCDSS station at this year's Uni Bonn Science Rallye!
On 15 May 2025, two exhibitions will open in the Global Heritage Lab, P26, at the University of Bonn. The exhibition "Dressing Resistance. Fashion and the Heritage of Mission" explores the question of how Christian missionisation has influenced fashion in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and how fashion designers and artists deal with this legacy today. It builds on an international conference with academics and cultural practitioners at the Global Heritage Lab. The exhibition "Enmeshed and Entwined - Fabrics of Dependency" by the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) and the Bonn Center for Digital Humanities (BCDH) discusses the social entanglements and asymmetrical dependency relationships inherent in one of our oldest cultural assets. Opening hours of the exhibitions: 16.05.2025-12.10.2025, Wednesday-Sunday, 2-6 pm, Global Heritage Lab, Poststraße 26, 53111 Bonn
During Heritage Week, various institutes of the University of Bonn are inviting scholars to participate in open conversations and critical reflections on a range of approaches to heritage in a global context. The proposed agenda includes the following topics for discussion: the relationship between nature and culture, the concept of sustainability, the indigenous heritage of the Americas and Africa, and the coloniality of statues and monuments.
Palm oil can be found in nearly half of all supermarket products and is also used as a biofuel. Indonesia and Malaysia supply about 80 % of the world’s demand. Although promoted as a tool for reducing CO₂ emissions, palm oil cultivation drives deforestation, biodiversity loss, and deep social inequalities in Southeast Asia. Kristina Großmann, Investigator at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies and Professor of Southeast Asian Anthropology at the University of Bonn, will explore whether certification programs and the idea of a “Just Transition” can help resolve this dilemma.
This November, the WHO'S GOT THE POWER Film and Discussion Series continues in collaboration with the Förderverein Filmkultur at Kino in der Brotfabrik in Bonn. On 6 November 2025 at 19:00, we will be screening and discussing Sugar Island, a hybrid documentary fiction film by Johanné Gómez Terrero (Dominican Republic/Spain, 2024, 91 min). Sugar Island explores identity, memory, and the enduring legacies of colonialism — weaving together family struggles, Afro-Dominican spirituality, and collective resistance against exploitation. In addition, Sugar Island is also part of this year's Cinescuela Film Festival.
Public discussion: "From Streets to Front Pages: The Media Stories of Contested Statues of enslavers and colonial figures since 2020" Presenter: Sophia Labadia Discussant: Julia Binter
3:40–4:00 pm: Book promotion "Every Monument Will Fall: a story of remembering and forgetting" 4:00–6:00 pm: Presentation and discussion "'Crumbling is not an Instant's Act': thoughts on monumentality, endurance, and public memory" Presenter: Dan Hicks Discussants: Julia Binter and Sophia Labadi
Join us on Monday, 2 June, when we screen and discuss two short documentary movies from West Africa, both linked by the themes of (social media) activism, slavery, violent repression, and the fight for visibility and recognition of rights, dignity and freedom: - Ganbanaaxu Fedde: A Transnational Anti-Slavery Movement (2024) by Lotte Pelckmans - 3 Stolen Cameras (2017) by RåFILM and Equipe Media The event is part of our film and discussion series WHO'S GOT THE POWER, jointly organized by the BCDSS and Förderverein Filmkultur Bonn.
“Whose Prayers did God hear?” / “Wessen Gebete hat Gott erhört?” This question, raised by a pastor reflecting on churches built for Europeans inside the very castles where enslaved Africans were held on the Gold Coast, highlights the deep historical entanglement of Christianity and slavery. The Schlosskirche, in cooperation with the BCDSS, invites you on Dies Academicus to an evening of shared reflection. We will first hear from Prof. Dr. Markus Saur (Exegesis and Theology of the Old Testament) and Prof. Dr. Michael Schulz (Philosophy and Theory of Religions), both from the UoB. Afterwards, the Rev. Prof. Dr. Roderick Hewitt, President of the International University of the Caribbean, will introduce the Council for World Mission’s Onesimus Project, which addresses the legacies of slavery and modern slavery and promotes ecumenical education and advocacy. Prof. Dr. Pia Wiegmink and Rev. David Brandon Smith will guide the discussions. No registration required.
Join us for the first event in our new DEPENDENCY TALKSHOP series, taking place on Wednesday, 6 May, 18:00-19:30, in cooperation with the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (bicc) and Volkshochschule (VHS) Bonn. A panel of academics and practitioners from five organisations will engage the audience in a discussion on „Overcoming Violence: Coping Strategies and Support for Refugee Women.“
Is there a material signature for slavery and colonialism? The West African coast, with its European forts and castles that were involved in the transatlantic slave trade (15th–19th century), is one such place. In this talk, Christian Mader and Philip Atta Mensah, will present the initial findings of a recent collaborative project at Fort William in Ghana, a pivotal site in the British slave trade. The project takes an interdisciplinary approach to Fort William, integrating material culture studies, digital archaeology, historical research, community-based methods, and multi-sensory ethnographic techniques. By foregrounding the material, phenomenological, and sensory dimensions of slavery and colonialism, this research reconceptualises the European forts not only as logistical nodes of imperial commerce and violence, but as enduring architectures of exploitation that continue to shape social, spatial, and political realities in postcolonial contexts.
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
Please note: registration for both parts of the event is required by 22 October (link below) as there is only limited space! Join us for the opening of our BCDSS Exhibition "Verstrickt und Verwoben: Texturen der Abhängigkeit"/"Enmeshed and Entwined: Fabrics of Dependency" at the Bonn University and State Library (ULB). The Launch is followed by a Semester Kick-off Reception at the BCDSS (Niebuhrstr. 5) at 19:30. Everyone is welcome! Fabrics play a key role in the history of dependency. The production, distribution and use of textiles and their raw materials had and still has a huge impact on societies around the globe. In our digital exhibition, we reveal the underlying power structures that are responsible for the manifold "strong asymmetrical dependencies" related to fabrics. By drawing on more than 30 exhibits from around the world, our "story patches" will take you on a journey across time, regions and cultures, from the earliest settlements to today’s consumer societies.
With Henriette Rødland, Sean Kelley and Bahar Bayraktaroglu. Marking the INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY (2 December), the three researchers will share interesting insights into their projects and discuss slavery and abolition from a global perspective. The presentations will be moderated by David B. Smith. Henriette Rødland: “The rise and fall of slavery on the Swahili coast of East Africa” Sean Kelley: "The Ambiguities of US Slave Trade Abolition" Bahar Bayraktaroglu: “The Demise of Slavery in the Ottoman Empire”
Exhibition curator Beatrix Ihde-Hoffmann will give a short introduction to the current BCDSS exhibition. The exhibition presents many different and varied stories that we have put together – just like a patchwork quilt that has been stitched together from many patches of different origins, patterns and textures. The stories tell of unequal – asymmetrical – dependencies and of resistance to them, by looking at the production, use and distribution of textiles and their raw materials. Please note that the presentation will be held in German.
Congratulations to Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. James Harland for his new article in the upcoming book "Cremation in the Early Middle Ages," edited by Femke Lippok and Howard Williams. We invite you to join the online launch, during which Dr. Harland will give a brief speech, on 12 December, 18:15 CET. On the book: When, where, how and why did early medieval people cremate their dead? The brand-new edited collection published with Sidestone – "Cremation in the Early Middle Ages" – draws together the latest research and thinking on early medieval cremation practices. The book takes you on a journey through 19 chapters exploring cremation practices from the fifth to the eleventh centuries CE in Fennoscandia, the UK and Ireland, Frisia, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, and France. In this way, the book aims to be a central resource for anyone interested in early medieval cremations, or indeed funerary practices more generally.
Join Jean Pfaelzer for the reading and discussion of her book "California, A Slave State" with Damian Pargas (Professor of the History and Culture of North America), moderated by Luvena Kopp (BCDSS). "California, A Slave State" breaks with the common perception of California as a place of endless sunshine, long coastlines, and rich harvests. It does so by exposing the multifold ways in which different forms of slavery and dependency were – and continue to be – constitutive of a state that is one of the largest economies in the world. In an accessible and poetic language that neither simplifies nor euphemizes this history and its brutality, Pfaelzer uncovers the co-existence of traditional and new systems of bondage in a land shaped by the genocide, indenture, and rape of Native Americans, the coerced labor of captive Alaska Natives, African American enslaved labor, the prostitution of Chinese girls, the unpaid labor of convicts, and ecological exploitation.
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
This talk explores the life of Crispina Peres, the most powerful trader in Cacheu, a key West African slave port, who was arrested by the Inquisition in 1665. Accused of using treatments from Senegambian healers, she became a target in a broader struggle over faith and power. Professor Green transports us to seventeenth-century Cacheu, revealing its daily life, culture, and the brutal realities of the expanding slave trade. Through Peres’s case, we uncover a globally connected world where women defied imperial patriarchy, challenging the narratives of European dominance. This talk has been organised by BCDSS fellow Ana Lucia Araujo.
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 Förderverein Filmkultur. We are thrilled to present The Illusion of Abundance, a powerful documentary by Matthieu Lietaert and Erika Gonzalez Ramirez. This gripping film tells the inspiring stories of Maxima Acuña (Peru), Berta Cáceres (Honduras), and Carolina (Brazil)—three courageous women who have risked everything to stand up against environmental destruction caused by profit-driven transnational corporations. Following the screening, engage in a thought-provoking discussion with BCDSS members Carla Jaimes Betancourt, Christian Mader and Aline Pereira from the Global Heritage Lab.
Join us to the launch of "Versklavung im Atlantischen Raum: Orte des Gedenkens, Orte des Verschweigens in Frankreich und Spanien, Martinique und Kuba (Enslavement in the Atlantic World Sites of Remembrance, Sites of Silence in France and Spain, Martinique and Cuba)", the latest work by Ulrike Schmieder, professor at Leibniz University Hannover. This book explores the memories of Atlantic slavery in museums, public spaces, and historical sites in France and Spain, as well as in Martinique and Cuba. Using oral history methods, it investigates the topography of memory and the social context of remembrance sites.
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.
One of the largest libraries on ancient slavery in the world with its rich holdings has moved from the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature to the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies. Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature has a long standing tradition of research on slavery in the ancient Mediterranean. More than forty volumes were published on numerous facets of the subject. In addition, a comprehensive encyclopaedia on ancient slavery was compiled by researchers from all over the world. Over the course of sixty years, the prolific research output at the Mainz Academy had led to the formation of this special and comprehensive library. It can be considered one of the largest libraries on ancient slavery in the world. To celebrate the opening of the library, we are inviting you to join our LIBRARY LAUNCH on Wednesday, 18 January, 2023, from 16:15-19:00 CET at Heussallee 16-19, 53111 Bonn. The event will be held in German. All welcome!