The Group as a Container: Holding the Center Amidst Collective Trauma – Reflections from the Ubuntu Center for Peace

At the Group Analytic Society International (GASi) Summer School 2025, Ubuntu Center for Peace (UCP) Program Implementation Manager Marie Louise Mukeshimana presented a compelling reflection on how group processes can serve as emotional containers in contexts of collective trauma.

In “The Group as a Container: Holding the Center Amidst Collective Trauma,” Mukeshimana bridges group analytic theory with the African philosophy of Ubuntu, illustrating how culturally grounded group spaces can restore belonging, rebuild trust, and support healing in communities shaped by mass violence. Grounded in field experience in post-genocide Rwanda, the reflection emphasizes that recovery from collective trauma is not only an individual process, but a relational and communal journey.

The article highlights how Ubuntu-rooted group work enables emotional holding, shared meaning-making, and social repair by translating theory into culturally resonant metaphors.

This contribution reinforces UCP’s commitment to culturally grounded psychosocial approaches that center connection, mutual support, and collective resilience as foundations for healing and reconciliation.

Read the full reflection here:
https://groupanalyticsociety.co.uk/contexts/108-2/summer-school-2025-papers/the-group-as-a-container-holding-the-center-amidst-collective-trauma-reflections-from-the-ubuntu-center-for-peace/