Events Archive
How did Roman law perceive the distinction between freedom and enslavement? While initially stark, this division was permeable, allowing individuals to transition between statuses. This talk delves into the fluidity of this line, focusing on gratitude and obligation, particularly the concept of the "ungrateful freedperson." Despite cultural assumptions that freed individuals owed perpetual gratitude to their former masters, Roman law empowered patrons to charge ingratitude, leading to various penalties, even re-enslavement. The dynamics were most apparent in marriages between freedwomen and their patrons, shedding light on Roman notions of liberty and enslavement.
How did the term "bracero" evolve from identifying landless peasants in the late nineteenth century to representing Mexican contract workers during World War II? This lecture delves into the contested history of the Bracero Program, analyzing its coercive operations and poor conditions through primary sources, including those from the Archivo General de la Nación and the Bracero History Archive. Examining perspectives from workers, growers, unions, public opinion, and government representatives, the discussion questions the program's impact on dependency and asymmetrical relations.
How did the life and work of Johannes Manissadjian, a successful scientist during the Armenian genocide, contribute to understanding the disappearance and dispersion of indigenous lives and knowledge? Using biographical methods and archival material, this lecture will highlight the impact of mass violence on Ottoman Armenians and emphasizes the agency of genocide survivors. Additionally, it explores Manissadjian's post-genocide scientific involvement and indigenous knowledge production in the context of Adorno's 'after Auschwitz' discussions.
How did court dwarfs navigate their unique social status in early modern German courts? Despite being perceived as privileged dependents, they served various roles such as entertainers, playmates, and symbols of princely status. This talk delves into aspects of their lives, exploring recruitment, legal standing, and opportunities for social advancement. Contrary to past associations with slaves and pets, a nuanced perspective emerges by analyzing their position within broader asymmetrical dependencies in early modern court societies. Adopting an intersectional approach reveals "small differences" between social groups.
What was the crucial and yet overlooked role that British women played in the Atlantic slave trade? While much focus has been on English men involved in the trade, this lecture reveals that women were integral to its various aspects. Drawing on diverse sources, "Women of the British Atlantic Slave Trade" demonstrates women's significant contributions, challenging the traditional narrative. If, as Eric Williams claimed, British slavery was pivotal to capitalism's rise, recognizing women's involvement unveils a more comprehensive understanding of the global economic system at play
How does a new digital humanities project, born from research on the voices of the enslaved in the French Atlantic world, offer insight? Set to launch in April 2024, this project delves into the testimonies permitted by French law, revealing autobiographical narratives captured in court records. Despite challenges, this archive provides invaluable glimpses into the lives and thoughts of the marginalized. By employing a digital humanities approach, we can explore both the methodological hurdles and the profound significance of these narratives. This presentation will spotlight key individuals and themes, such as Jannot (1743), Marguerite (1764), Jeanot (1764), and Babette (1765), shedding light on their struggles and their demand for recognition of their humanity.
In the past, most iconographical studies on slavery and similar phenomena focused on specific regions, cultures and periods. The aim of this conference is to look at a broad range of dependent and marginalized social groups and ‘others’ and to compare the results of iconographical studies on different pre-modern societies (prior to 1800 CE) around the globe. Therefore, we invited scholars from a wide variety of disciplines (Near Eastern Archaeology, Egyptology, Classical Archaeology, European Art History, Asian Art History, Anthropology of the Americas) in order to gain new insights by using diachronic and cross-cultural comparisons.
During her lifetime, Emma Kolbe/Forsayth/Farrell (née Coe, 1850–1913), known as ‘Queen Emma of New Guinea’, was one of the most powerful private individuals and economically successful entrepreneurs in the Pacific – a woman of colour in a world dominated by men. Using the figure of ‘Queen Emma’ and her networks as a starting point, this international workshop seeks to examine practices of coerced labour and forced migration and pays special attention to gendered lives on plantations in the Western Pacific (including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Pohnpei, and Queensland) and the means to gain knowledge about these lives today. The material traces and histories of these in the Anglo-German Western Pacific and in PNG in particular at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century will be a key focus.
Throughout the day, participants will be invited to share their reflections on their own research practices, whether based on collaborative projects, individual research experiences or ongoing questions. These contributions will form the basis of a joint discussion on the chosen challenges, opportunities and limitations associated with collaborative and/or intercultural approaches. The workshop opens with a lecture on "Anti-Colonial Praxis: Intercultural Alliances and Indigenous Forest Knowledge" by Juliana Salles Machado of Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
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.
The book talk, organized by the ARC discovery grant project “Unfreedom, Voices, Redress: Plantation Cultures of the Western Pacific” (in cooperation with the GHL), will discuss recent publications by a writer, an artist and a historian. The guests will engage in the question how indenture, blackbirding and other forms of dependency re-ordered the Western Pacific after slavery was abolished in the British Atlantic and in the US. It also wants to pay special attention to not only Pacific but also Pacific women’s voices to shed light on the history of vast numbers of Indian, Pacific and Melanesian peoples displaced through (forced) migration and laboring on plantations that emerged in contexts of British (and German) colonial endeavors. Books discussed: Margaret Mishra, Women, Indenture, and Resistance (Oxford UP, 2026) Kirsten McGavin, Untethered: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Papua New Guinea (Kokomo Ink, 2025). Jasmine Togo-Brisby, Ungeographic (Pâtaka Art + Museum, 2025)
What memories does water hold? Drawing on her own family history, Jasmine Togo-Brisby’s exhibition Liquid Archive explores memory, colonial histories, and healing. Through photographs and the video work Mother Tongue (2020), she creates an immersive experience. The film shows the artist together with her mother and daughter at the wreck of the Don Juan — a ship connected to so-called “blackbirding,” the violent abduction of Pacific Islanders and their forced labour on sugar plantations in Australia. Across generations, histories persist: in the body, in the image, and in the sea as a “liquid archive” in which loss, resistance, and care are embedded. The photographs expand this narrative. Submerged in the sea, the women’s bodies become memorials to colonial violence, while also asserting resilience, survival and healing. The exhibition is part of the research-exhibition project “Knowing Plants. Ecologies of Memory and Practice” at the Global Heritage Lab, 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.
This lecture commemorates Juneteenth as a living tradition of freedom and memory. Professor Tsitsi Jaji traces collaborations between Black poets and concert musicians — from the Jubilee Singers to Grammy-nominated contemporary works — to show how art carries the history of enslavement into collective memory. The event bridges historical fugitive slave advertisements and modern musical settings, culminating in a communal singing of Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing.
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.