On the one hand, the equality of all human beings before God is affirmed by many religions. Conversion to one or the other religion has, therefore, often led to a transformation and even abolishment of existing social structures and institutions and their corresponding dependencies.
On the other hand, while control, coercion, and constraint of individuals or groups are indeed frequently criticized in religious discourse, religious aetiologies have also famously been used to justify the subjection of individuals and whole peoples. In addition, throughout history religious institutions themselves have often mirrored the social hierarchies and inequalities of the surrounding societies. Concomitantly, they have created similarly rigid systems of dependency within their own institutional, social, legal, and spiritual structures. The realization of freedom and equality is then often postponed to a distant future, to a later life, or even to the after-life. However, not even the metaphysical world is free of dependencies: almost all major religions envisage hierarchies of gods, angels, and demons in their religious discourse.
Finally, the question of the role of religion in perpetuating and abolishing slavery is still a much debated topic within historical and social sciences. This topic is all the more pressing in light of contemporary enslavement of ethnic groups on the basis of their religion, like e.g. the Yazidis and the Rohingya.
The lectures series will take place on Tuesdays at 18:15 p.m. (Hörsaal XVI in the Hauptgebäude). It is planned as a hybrid event which is to be delivered in Bonn before an audience and simultaneously streamed via youtube.
Further information and program:
Further information and the link to the livestream can be found: https://www.zerg.uni-bonn.de/Pressemitteilungen/control-coercion-and-constraint
Corona note: Participation in the lecture series is only possible if the 3G rule is observed.
12. April: On Mentally Subduing Africa: The Concept of the Devil in European Writings 15th-19th Centuries (Dr. Jutta Wimmler)
19. April: Bartolomé de las Casas‘ Cultural Turn in his Interpretation of Aristotle for Overcoming Slavery in the West Indies (Prof. Michael Schulz)
26. April: The Relationship between Rituality and New Forms of Dependency in the Lake Inka State (Prof. Karoline Noack)
3. Mai: Slavery in the Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517) (Prof. Stephan Conermann)
10. Mai: Christian Contributions to the Debate on Slavery in East Asia (Prof. Reinhard Zöllner)
24. Mai: William Wilberforce and the Ambiguities of Christian Antislavery (Prof. John Coffey, University of Leicester)
31. Mai: Santerí, Palo Monte, Abakuá, Vudú, Espiritismo. Slave Religions and Industrial Revolutions at the Times of the Second Slavery (19th/20th Centuries) (Prof. Michael Zeuske)
14. Juni: References to Religion and their Funcions in US-American Slave Narratives and Neo-Slave Narraties (Prof. Mation Gymnich)
21. Juni: The Numerus Clausus Law of 1920, Asymmetrical Dependenc(ies) and the Twisted Road of Hungarian Jews to Ausschwitz (Prof. Béla Bodó)
28. Juni: Marks of Dependency: Religious Tattooing among Caribbean Hindu Women (Dr. Sinah Kloß)
5. Juli: Slavery and the Image of God. Theological Legitimization and Critique from a Moral-Historical Perspective (Prof. Jochen Sautermeister)