Call for papers Conference ‘Households as Coercive Labour Regimes II’ (Bonn, 15-17 Jan 2027) – deadline 15 April 2026

On 15 and 16 January 2027, the international coe ‘Households as Coercive Labour Regimes II’ will be jointly organised by the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) of the University of Bonn and the International Institute of Social History (IISH). Organisers of this event are Stephan Conermann (BCDSS) and Posthumus fellows Ulbe Bosma and Gijs Kessler (both IISH).

During the conference, the organisers would like to focus on larger household-type organizations, including the private households of the military, political and economic elites, but also, for example, army barracks or ships, plantations, prisons, labour camps, haciendas and estates. Such households represent labour regimes based on an asymmetrically dependent work force consisting of servants, peasants, enslaved and other coerced labourers. Various forms of such labour regimes have existed throughout human history in all parts of the globe. This is why the organisers start out from the hypothesis that they are without exception formative for societies. Against this backdrop, they aim to cross the usual historiographical divides between modern and pre-modern and would like to inquire into the various forms, functions, developments, justifications and changes of the different types of coerced labour can be identified in these households.

Participants who want to participate, should submit an abstract (which should not exceed 300 words) ultimately by 15 April 2026 via an e-mail to Stephan Conermann.
FULL CALL (PDF)