Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS)

🎉 We're thrilled to announce the launch of "Economies of Trust? A New Digital Infrastructure on the Urban Poor in the Cape Colony" a major new project funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation and in partnership with Radboud University and Ghent University! Within this project, BCDSS members Dr. Eva Marie Lehner and Julia Schmidt will investigate how bureaucratic classifications shaped social hierarchies in early modern Cape Town. Their sub-project "In God We Trust?" will uncover the daily support networks and resilience strategies of single, enslaved, and free women navigating colonial authority. 👉 Find out more here: https://buff.ly/3rMH8vd @https://lnkd.in/eAF6VeRr @https://lnkd.in/eKjH6zYA

Congratulations to our Visiting Researcher and DAAD Fellow, Bernardo Bonifácio Ferreira, on his future Postgraduate Visiting Research Visit at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) at the University of Cambridge. Bernardo will undertake a three-month research visit (October–December 2026) to work on his project: “Informational Self-Determination and Algorithmic Justice: A Comparative Study between Brazil and the United Kingdom.” 🔗For more Info: https://buff.ly/bDQPMvQ Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation

🌴 Uni im Rathaus: Dilemma Palm Oil! Palm oil is everywhere, in food, cosmetics, and fuel. But behind its global success lie deforestation, land conflicts, and social inequality. Join #BCDSS investigator Kristina Großmann as she explores whether sustainability certifications and the idea of a “Just Transition” can help solve this dilemma. 🗓 Tuesday, 4 November 2025 · 18:00–19:30 📍 Altes Rathaus, Gobelinsaal, Bonn 🎟 Free admission · In German 🔗 More information: https://buff.ly/XGaDsFw @https://lnkd.in/eAF6VeRr @https://lnkd.in/eKjH6zYA

How did colonial and postcolonial morality reshape Indian performance and the body? Our upcoming #JCMM #Lecture with Ann R. David will trace how Western ideals suppressed Indian gender and sexuality in dance and art, focusing on queer dancer Ram Gopal. She will also explore how traditions such as those of devadāsīs and hijras were recast through colonial and nationalist lenses, and how contemporary artists are now reclaiming these forms to challenge past erasures and power dynamics. 🗓️20 October 2025 ⏱️ 16:15 CET ❕Hybrid event: Niebuhrstr. 5 or via Zoom 👉https://ow.ly/noi650W8Tah @https://lnkd.in/eAF6VeRr @https://lnkd.in/eKjH6zYA

🎉 Congratulations to BCDSS Research Group Leader Dr. Christian Mader! His new article has just been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: “Points, patterns, and predictions in archaeological settlement data: site-environment relationships of Paracas and Nasca communities in the Peruvian Andes.” For more info: https://buff.ly/axyfbza The University of Bonn Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation

💬 On Thursday, 23 October 2025, 7 p.m., the VHS Forum Cologne will host a panel discussion entitled “Ans Licht gebracht – Herausforderungen und Chancen von Missionssammlungen” (in German) as part of the Rautenstrauch Joest Museums’s exhibition “Missionssammlungen ausgepackt.” 👉 More info: https://lnkd.in/eKSxjWeV @https://lnkd.in/eAF6VeRr @https://lnkd.in/eKjH6zYA

🍂 A very warm #welcome to all our MA students, especially our newcomers, and to all teaching staff at the #BCDSS! We have been busy preparing for the new semester and can't wait to get started! 👉If you have any questions regarding our programs, we are here to help: https://lnkd.in/eGQyYssq The University of Bonn Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation

Heartfelt thanks to the Global Heritage Lab for hosting Wednesday’s film screening and public talk, which marked the closing of the BCDSS exhibition Enmeshed and Entwined: Fabrics of Dependency. Julia Binter (GHL) and Till F. Sonnemann (BCDH) joined Haitian archaeologist and filmmaker Joseph S. Jean and visual anthropology fellow Yohannes Mekonnen (GHL) in a discussion on how film can challenge dominant “fabrics of dependency” and inspire new ways of engaging with heritage, memory, and Afro-Indigenous knowledge. Sincere thanks also to BCDSS curator Dr. Beatrix Hoffmann-Ihde for making the exhibition a success! @https://lnkd.in/eAF6VeRr @https://lnkd.in/eKjH6zYA

We are thrilled to announce that BCDSS Research Group Leader Sinah Kloß will be one of the three keynote speakers at the upcoming Socare Conference: “Women in the Caribbean: Fragmentations – Intersections – Entanglements”, taking place October 16–18, 2025 at the Ibero-American Institute PK in Berlin. For more information visit: https://buff.ly/0HQD6x9 Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation

The October blog post is up! Our PR team & PhD researcher Bahar Bayraktaroğlu come together to offer a peek into the BCDSS' installation at University of Bonn's #Wissenschaftsrallye, writing their own experiences during the event. read here: https://lnkd.in/ekbsjmn3 Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation