The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) aims to promote research on the various forms of dependency. It questions the classical binary of ‘slavery’ and ‘freedom’ derived from the transatlantic experience. In the interest of developing alternative approaches the focus is on transcultural and interdisciplinary research, particularly in relation to non-European pre-modernity as an alternative frame of reference.
The conference aims to continue the work of the initiative that is to go beyond the normative and universalizing model of slavery.