The therapeutic space does not exist in isolation from the society from which it emerges, but is a mirror of it, as all participants bring with them their socialization and social position in addition to their biographies and personalities. In this assumption, society is also reproduced in the therapeutic space. Whether this is noticed or not depends on the awareness, knowledge and experience of the instructors and participants. Our aim is not to create a non-discriminatory space or a space in which everyone is equal, but to develop a more conscious approach to different privileges, experiences of discrimination and life realities.

We read texts, from other global contexts in which these and related topics have already been addressed for several decades and which propose approaches in which a feminist-intersectional, political and socio-critical consciousness is not in contradiction or conflict with psychotherapeutic approaches or drama therapy, but on the contrary can help or even be indispensable in order to better support clients and patients: “healing [is] not limited to emotional expression, self-affirmation, and catharsis but could also include the ability to see one’s individual challenges as a reflection of socially-constructed and politically-reinforced norms” (Sajnani 2013) ‘a critical race feminist paradigm, and specifically ideas about intersectionality, contribute to an understanding of health as involving an awareness of how the body is a site of political struggle expressed (and too often treated) as individual pathology’ (Sajnani 2013)

For us, a (probably only partially possible) decolonization means, for example, understanding psychotherapy not as the psychotherapy, but as a psychotherapy – a predominantly white, male, Western European, heteronormative, etc. doctrine whose achievements we can build on and which can offer us many important impulses here and now, but which cannot claim general validity or represent a universal truth. For us, decolonisation does not mean the rejection and devaluation of standard works and central attitudes and assumptions in the psychotherapeutic landscape, but rather their contextualization and relativization as well as an expansion of the view to other perspectives that have long been ignored.

Of course, we assume that no drama therapist consciously and intentionally discriminates on the basis of age, gender, identity, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, socio-economic status, physical appearance or characteristics or any other basis – such discrimination would contradict both the ethical guidelines of the DGfT and the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. But we recognize that profound and only partially conscious cultural, political and social imprints influence our perception, our thinking and our actions and can lead us, with all ‘good will’, to discriminatory and hurtful behaviour and the perpetuation of oppressive dynamics – from which we sometimes even benefit directly or indirectly. That is why we are trying to encourage ourselves and others to become more aware of our imprints and privileges in an active process and to question them.

„Adopting an intersectional framework in drama therapy expands our understanding of suffering and health in ways that can allow us to be more effective in our efforts to facilitate individual healing and social action. In particular, an intersectional framework provides a language with which we can better highlight complexity when researching and representing lived experience.“ (Sajnani 2013)

nyone interested is welcome to subscribe to our mailing list and receive invitations to our online meetings (approximately every 6 – 8 weeks):
Contact: decolonize@dgft.de

Further Links: https://www.nadta.org/cultural-humility-equity-diversity https://www.nadta.org/Cultural_Responsibility_Guidelines https://www.routledge.com/Intercultural-Dramatherapy-Imagination-and-Action-at-the-Intersections/Dokter-Sajnani/p/book/9781138363489

Clarification of some frequently used expressions: https://genderplanet.univie.ac.at/begriffsuniversum/intersektionalitaet.html