Decolonizing Group Analysis: What does it mean?

Abstract

Decolonizing is not a finite process with a beginning and an end, though there are signs that it is being taken up in that way. It is therefore in danger of being fetishised and incorporated into the very colonial system it sets out to call into question. It is instead an ongoing dialogue, a praxis involving both colonizers and decolonizers. And it is an internal struggle for decolonizers with the colonizing and colonized parts of ourselves. It calls into question all established theories and discourses of group analysis and of Western psychotherapy generally, embedded as they are in Western philosophical traditions and forms of ‘knowledge’. It supports the empowerment of subaltern voices addressing the unity of patriarchy, racism and class exploitation wherever they occur.