Claudia Jarzebowski

Claudia Jarzebowski is Professor for Early Modern History and Dependency Studies at the University of Bonn, where she has been employed since 2021. Previously, she was Associate Professor of Early Modern History at Freie Universität Berlin (2012-2021) and held interim professorships at Tübingen, Ruhr University Bochum, and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. She is affiliated with the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) and leads the History and Theory Working Group focused on dependency studies.

Her educational background includes a Postdoctoral Dissertation (Habilitation) in 2014 on Childhood and Emotion. Children and their Lifeworlds in Early Modern Europe, 1450-1800, a PhD (summa cum laude) in 2004 on Incest. Kinship and Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century, and an M.A. in History and German Studies in 1996.

Professor Jarzebowski's research centers on Early Modern History with particular emphasis on Dependency Studies, Childhood History, Gender History, and Emotion History. She explains her approach: I would like to help us understand our present times by offering a new emancipatory perspective through dependency studies, a perspective that is informed by a historical and transcultural approach. What interests me is the human dimension, the interdependencies, the role women and children play. The traditional notion of dependency as a structurally given and work-related phenomenon shall be expanded by focusing on agency and on the margins. Her current research projects include Trauma and Violence in Dependency Studies, Childhood and Gender in Early Modern Global History, and History of Dependency and Slavery in Premodern Societies.

Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on childhood, gender, and emotion across early modern European contexts, with increasing attention to global and transcultural perspectives. The 15 most recent articles show progression from specific case studies of children in war, witchcraft accusations, and family dynamics toward broader theoretical frameworks examining dependency, emotion, and cross-cultural connections.

• Member of the Council of SHE (Society for the History of Emotions) since February 2024
• Member of the International Advisory Board of Moved apart. Communicated experiences of Separation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries since January 2024
• Recipient of DAAD-UA Grant for German-Australian collaborative project (2022-2024) on Child Slaveries in the Early Modern World
• Senior Research Fellowship at the University of Uppsala (2017)
• Alumni Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2015)
• Feodor Lynen Fellowship (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) (2007-2008)

Professor Jarzebowski has supervised numerous doctoral students, with current PhD candidates researching topics including slavery in the Ottoman Empire, dependency and capitalism in Barbados, child slavery in the Tai World, and gendered dependency in Chosŏn Korea. Her supervision extends across multiple institutions through cooperative arrangements. She has also supervised many Master's and Bachelor's theses on diverse topics related to early modern history, gender, and emotion. Her research has been supported by prestigious organizations including the DAAD, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.

She leads the History and Theory Working Group at BCDSS, which brings together scholars to explore theoretical frameworks for dependency studies. The group examines both historical and contemporary theoretical approaches, including Marxism, Feminism, structural anthropology, eco-socialism, human-animal studies, and critical race theory, to develop new perspectives on dependency in historical contexts.