Decolonising Group Analysis and much of Western Psychotherapy: A workshop

Presented by ‘Decolonising Group Analysis’.

‘Decolonising Group Analysis’ is a breakaway group from mainstream Group Analysis, formed to develop the project of decolonising, and connected to the Hank Nunn Institute in Bangalore, and the Ububele Trust in Johannesburg.

As the idea of ‘decolonising’ is becoming popular if not fashionable, we are committed to maintaining the project as one of open and continuous questioning, particularly questioning from the Global South, before it all becomes institutionalised as a new doctrine.

Programme:

1.30-2.00 pm Doors open for arrival and socialising.

2.00-3.30 pm Presentation by Anando Chatterji with questions and discussion. (Chair-Dick Blackwell)

3.30-4.15 Tea/Coffee

4.15-5.45 Large Group discussion convened/conducted by Teresa von Somarruga Howard and Dick Blackwell

Speaker, Chair, and Large Group convenor/conductors.

Anando Chatterji is from the Hank Nunn Institute in Bangalore. As well as co-founding with Shama Parkhe a community psychotherapy programme in Bangalore, and developing a Therapeutic Community there, he has been involved for the last four years, in adopting, adapting, and developing Group Analysis in a way that addresses local needs rather than simply transposing into contemporary India the British/European model. He was also an initiator, again with Shama, of an online discussion group with colleagues from the Ububele Education and Psychotherapy Trust in Johannesburg (South Africa) engaged in developing and applying a Group Analytic model to local conditions there which includes Alexandra Township. That group has now been meeting for three years to discuss the issue of decolonising the whole discourse of Group Analysis and has previously created and presented an online workshop on decolonising group analysts

Teresa von Sommaruga Howard has many cultural influences in her personal and professional background. Born in England of a German Jewish refugee father and a British mother, she immigrated to New Zealand as a child. She is a registered architect, trained as a systemic family therapist and is an Honorary Member of the Institute of Group Analysis and a Fellow of the International Association for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes. Teresa applies these three disciplines: architecture, systemic practice, and group analysis, in larger settings in various contexts around the world. Increasingly Teresa has focused on the way socio-political trauma, resulting from catastrophic upheaval such as colonisation, transmits itself through generations, influences descendants’ lives, and reveals itself not only in the large group but in the physical architecture. She has written extensively about her work with larger groups and architecture, co-authoring Design through Dialogue: A Guide for Clients and Architects (Wiley, 2010), and co-editing The Journey Home: Emerging out of the Shadow of the Past (Peter Lang 2022). Five years ago, she initiated Creating Large Group Dialogue in Organisations and Society which gives anybody interested an opportunity to discover the possibilities of working with large groups from the de Maré perspective.

Dick Blackwell was born into the British Labour movement of the early half of the 20th century and was part of the post-May '68 New Left and Student Power movement. His first proper job was in a ‘Black Youth in the Inner City’ action research project in 1973. He then joined Pat de Mare’s Large Group in 1975 for its first five years and has been involved in developing Pat’s approach ever since. He has worked for over three decades with refugees as a therapist, supervisor, and Large Group Convenor and has written regularly about class, colonialism, and racism. He is Associate Editor of the Journal Group Analysis, author of Counselling and Psychotherapy with Refugees, and Co-author of Far From the Battle but Still at War: Troubled refugee children in School.

Introductory thoughts from Anando.

Here are some thoughts about what I would like to talk about... First is my reaction to the word "lecture" which is I think where a good deal of colonisation begins. The one who has knowledge will impart it to a bunch of receivers who are assumed to be ignorant and/or incapable of thinking. And so I would like to title the day something like "Colonising structures within our identities and from our institutions". The idea of how white do I need to be to have a voice, to have an education, to have access to resources, to be recognised and be visible. And in the process how much of myself do I need to erase and more importantly, permanently forget. And in the process of "becoming someone" I inevitably re-enact an internal experience of beginning with being inferior and learning all the tricks of how to become as good as them who are the very source of my insecurities. But as I become more of them, I feel much more confident, much more capable and much more desired, I am now a member of the club. How does one even begin to confront such unconscious processes which one is born in to and programmed to believe. The second and complicated challenge is that I reap the benefits of being colonised. I am better off in my own country as a consequence of colonisation. Being an upper caste Hindu man, English medium educated from the very beginning, fifth generation learner, upper middle class in India, belonging to the 0.1% of the population puts me in a position of power and privilege to choose my way of life. Owning this brings shame, but also brings a realisation of how in one context I am the oppressed, and in another I am the oppressor. The social mechanisms of both issues of race and racial politics have been a civilising process steeped in a history of thousands of years of violent migrations and hundreds of years of colonisation by the British, the Portugese, the French, the Dutch, the Danish. How do I find a way to reflect and communicate with you about my identity today, with all it's influences from my history. How do I tell you that my experience of understanding the identity of being "Indian" is so complex. I know I am beginning to ramble and meander, but my mind doesn't work in linear ways. Thank goodness that something of the "barbaric people"s has remained intact in me - the sometimes incoherent and not so succinct articulations make me realise the emphasis and power there is in a logical argument, in a disciplined way of thinking which has a flow. My way of thinking is random and spontaneous, with stories of my experiences and those whom I have met with. Not suitable for any "scientific journal". Not even suitable perhaps for meeting the parameters and criteria for an IGA seminar. Where are the learning outcomes? Where are the GA concepts? Who am I referencing? I am guilty of answering these negative in all these questions. However, I now ask two more questions: What existing GA concepts and theory would I be able to use to explain or understand or go in to a meaningful exploration of my life in groups? Secondly, if, and only if, I am able to explain my life in groups through the lens and theoretical concepts of GA in order to be qualified as a group analyst, then is that not a colonial process in itself? But then, there is an invitation to get a dialogue going between the global south and the global north which has some promise and hope in delving in to these complex structures of GA society and trainings. But this too is a complex invitation, the global south is not a common ground, there are many similarities and every so many differences. And it is these differences which get weaponised by a dominant school of thought and the agenda to retain power is maintained but now with the support of the colonised. I don't have the answers but I have many questions.

Travel guide.

The venue is a bit tucked away so here are some directions. Tube to Westbourne Park. Turn right out of the station going South. Pass the Shan Convenience Store and Off-licence, then a pub called the Quiet Night Inn. Turn right immediately past the pub and then see two forked routes: Tavistock Road straight ahead an Tavistock Crescent going to the right. Take Tavistock Crescent and walk past the road works that block the road for about 100 metres. On the right is an opening with a road going downwards and a footbridge to the left of it with white metal railings. Take the footbridge with graffiti murals along its sides. At the end of it, turn right and see ‘Westbourne Studios’ about forty metres in front
of you. Walk thirty metres towards Westbourne Studios, but before you get there, turn left, walk fifteen metres and the Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre is right there on your right. Enter by the entrance at the far end not the entrance to the prayer room which
is the first entrance you pass.

Cultural Sensitivity.
According to the terms of the room hire agreement I need to remind everyone that we will be guests of a Muslim Cultural
Centre. And while there is not a strict dress code, it will be appreciated if we all respect the culture and beliefs of our hosts by
dressing in a way that, while it does not have to be unduly modest will not be seen as unduly provocative or over the top.

Note: The Cultural Heritage Centre is close to Portobello with an opportunity to visit the famous market, great coffee bars and restaurants on Goldborne Road.