Category: Psychoanalysis, Human Rights & Society
It is with great honor and a deep sense of ethical commitment that we announce the official release of the English e-book edition of the Pre-Congress Communications (May 2025 Edition), launched during the IV International Congress in May 2026 in Maputo!
Titled “Pre-Congress Communications: Children, War, and Persecution – revisiting wounds, rebuilding hope” (3rd Edition of the Rebuilding Hope Notebooks), this volume compiles the essential reflections and papers presented during the virtual Pre-Congress held on May 10, 2025.
🌐 A Scientific and Political Milestone: From May 2025 to May 2026
The May 2025 Pre-Congress was conceived as a vital space for reflection amidst ongoing global geopolitical crises and conflicts that severely impact children and adolescents. Due to post-electoral instabilities in Mozambique in late 2024, the organizing committee responsibly transitioned the gathering to an online format, ensuring participant safety while maintaining an unyielding focus on child protection and trauma intervention.
Compiled and edited by Bóia Efraime and Fazila J. Rebelo, with editing by Sheila Melzak, this material serves as a foundational pillar for the discussions at the IV International Congress taking place this May 2026 in Maputo.
What You Will Find in the E-Book
The e-book gathers interdisciplinary and psychoanalytic insights from global experts (Mozambique, Brazil, Germany, Portugal, UK, Italy, among others):
- General Overview & Historical Context: Jochen Walter highlights the legacy of conferences on children, war, and persecution since 1990, emphasizing the ethical obligation of Global North nations to oppose war and support refugees.
- Transgenerational Trauma Transmission & Epigenetics: Marianne Rauwald links psychoanalysis with epigenetic findings, detailing how unelaborated parental trauma impacts child development biologically and psychologically.
- Transgenerational Colonialism & Listening Circles: Bóia Efraime & Cláudia Ribeiro Martins address colonial footprints in Mozambique and present community listening circles as spaces for healing and resistance.
- Decolonizing Psychoanalysis: Elsa Couchinho challenges institutional silences around colonial atrocities, drawing inspiration from pioneers like Virgínia Bicudo and Frantz Fanon.
- Welcoming Refugee Children: Virgínia de Micco shares clinical experiences working with Ukrainian children in Italy, focusing on hospitality, psychological borders, and loyalty conflicts.
- Global Resilience & Survival Accounts: In-depth studies on crisis zone interventions in Gaza (Othman M. Mohammad), working with exiled youth in the UK (Bitenge Makuka & Sheila Melzak), Mozambican clinical perspectives (Luísa Branco Vicente), and resistance poetry (Marina S.).
Why You Should Read This Publication
“Without a past, without historical learning, and without personal and collective narratives, it is difficult to rebuild hope.”
— Jochen Walter
Whether you are a psychoanalyst, psychologist, researcher, educator, or human rights advocate, this volume offers critical theoretical and methodological tools to address social trauma and community-based psychological care.
Access and Read the Full E-Book
Don’t miss the opportunity to explore this work released during the May 2026 Congress. Click the link below to access the full digital English edition:
👉 CLICK HERE TO READ THE FREE E-BOOK (ENGLISH EDITION / MAY 2025)