Our Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn, "Beyond Slavery and Freedom", aims to overcome the binary opposition of "slavery versus freedom". It is a research cluster within the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments. Our cluster of excellence is a joint project of researchers from sociological and anthropological theory, archaeology, Asian and Islamic Studies, religious studies, as well as, theology and German medieval literature, and history. We propose "asymmetrical dependency" as a new key concept including all forms of bondage across time and space.
