Virginia Paloma

A Liberation Psychology Approach to Acculturative Integration of Migrant Populations

This paper describes an acculturative integration approach that stresses the contribution of liberation psychology. Immigrant integration is a challenge for receiving countries in the Western world due to the frequent asymmetrical and oppressive conditions suffered by newcomers in their new settlements. The cross-cultural perspective connects integration with psychological acculturation, emphasizing harmony between acquisitions of the new culture while maintaining cultural heritage, and creating opportunities for intergroup relationships. In turn, liberation psychology permits an understanding of the acculturative transition as an empowerment and self-construction process by which immigrants acquire a new vision of the world and of themselves, transforming both structural conditions and themselves. From this perspective we conceptualize acculturative integration as the process by which newcomers become an accepted part of the new society through a reflexive and evaluative process, changing their social references and position, rebuilding their social and personal resources, and achieving a new agency in coherence with their new challenges and goals. In this process, they acquire critical thinking about unequal conditions, gain capacities to respond to the inequalities, and take effective actions to confront them. We illustrate this process using the narratives of nine Moroccan women who are living in asymmetrical and oppressive local contexts in Andalusia, the southern-most region of Spain.

New Settlement and Wellbeing in Oppressive Contexts: A Liberation Psychology Approach

This chapter examines the role of community, relational and personal factors in the wellbeing of new settler populations, based on our research and experience with Moroccan new settlers in southern Spain for more than a decade. Taking a liberation psychology approach, wellbeing is conceptualized as a multilevel and value-dependent phenomenon, strongly related with power dynamics and values of social justice in the host society. At the community level, new settlers’ wellbeing requires equal access to key resources such as housing, employment, income, community services and formal social support, as well as intergroup relations based on values of respect for human diversity. At the relational level, wellbeing is based on positive and supportive relationships with both compatriots and the host population, and equal opportunities for social participation. At the personal level, wellbeing relies on personal control, self-determination and positive identity. The liberation psychology perspective is proposed as a necessary and innovative framework for research and practice with new settler populations under oppressive conditions.

A Case Study of Liberation Among Latino Immigrant Families Who Have Children with Disabilities

Latino immigrant families with children with disabilities experience multiple sources of oppression during their settlement process in the United States. Unfair social structures and dominant cultural values and norms and the way they influence the immigrants’ personal life stories generate a cycle of oppression very difficult to break. This paper presents a case study of how a group of Latino parents carried out a process of liberation fueled by the generation of empowering community narratives (critical awareness leading to transformative action) that resulted from a community-university partnership. Participants initiated a process that led them to discover their own stories of oppression and create new stories; to deconstruct the dominant cultural narratives and modify existing ones; and to understand contexts for power sharing. This joint reflection and increased awareness propelled group members to take action by founding a grassroots organization to redress some of the injustices that were partly responsible for their oppression, thus generating shifts at the personal, relational, and collective levels. In light of the theory of liberation, we discuss the participants’ development of critical awareness that led them to take action to address their unmet needs.

Building International Collaborative Capacity: Contributions of Community Psychologists to a European Network

Europe is in the process of building a more participative, just, and inclusive European Union. The European Social Fund, which is an initiative developed to actively promote multinational partnerships that address pressing social issues, is a good example of the European transformation. This article describes the steps taken to develop and evaluate the activities of an international network promoting collaborative capacity among regional partners involved in the prevention of labor discrimination toward immigrants in three European countries—Spain, Belgium, and Italy. An international team of community psychologists proposed an empowering approach to assess the collaborative capacity of the network. This approach consisted of three steps: (1) establishing a collaborative relationship among partners, (2) building collaborative capacity, and (3) evaluating the collaborative capacity of the network. We conclude with lessons learned from the process and provide recommendations for addressing the challenges inherent in international collaboration processes.

Psychopolitical Validation of Health Promotion Research for Migrant Populations: Conceptualising Well‐being among Andalusian Moroccan Immigrants

This study will show how social investigation requires psychopolitical validity in order to guarantee the efficiency of scientific practices, achieving symmetrical relationships between populations and researchers. We describe a guideline to develop a range of concepts ready to be used in health practices with minorities, according to their culture and needs. We illustrate this framework through a conceptualisation of well‐being for Andalusian Moroccans. Moroccan well‐being is a function of positive valuation of their migratory transition and a pool of positive emotions. The achievement of expectations is related to building up networks, progress in the quality of life and social acknowledgement, and fulfilled efforts are related to the acquisition of competences, progress and the investment required. The main indicators of positive emotion are happiness, consistency and social contribution.

Effects of the community engagement of migrants on their well-being: The case of Moroccan leaders in southern Spain

ABSTRACT Community engagement of migrants has been identified as an important element in developing both individual well-being and cohesive multicultural receiving communities. Through 10 in-depth interviews, this study explores the profile of Moroccan migrant leaders in community organizations in the receiving context (south of Spain) and the reasons for which they engage. Moreover, it analyzes the relationship established between community engagement and their well-being. The results show that migrants commit for both intrinsic (e.g., support their compatriots) and extrinsic (e.g., increase their social connection) reasons. Their social action has a positive influence on their well-being because it activates the following paths: (1) improvement of bicultural competences; (2) development of social relationships with receiving members; (3) strengthening of social bonds with compatriots; (4) increase of abilities in dealing with unjust social conditions in the new environment; and (5) decrease of prejudice towards their own cultural group.

Relazione tra benessere e giustizia nella popolazione marocchina nel Sud della Spagna

La scelta migratoria ha normalmente come obiettivo migliorare le proprie condizioni di vita e, quindi, il proprio benessere. Senza dubbio, queste aspettative non sempre sono soddisfatte, soprattutto in contesti di accoglienza che relegano i gruppi appena arrivati in posizioni di inferiorita di potere. Partendo dalla psicologia della liberazione, questo studio ha come finalita quello di indagare a livello empirico la relazione stabilita tra il grado di giustizia nel contesto di accoglienza e il benessere della popolazione immigrata marocchina nel Sud della Spagna. La raccolta dei ricerca ha previsto la partecipazione di 633 immigrati provenienti da 20 unita territoriali dell’Andalusia. I dati mostrano come il livello di benessere del gruppo marocchino sia strettamente connesso con il livello di giustizia del contesto di stabilizzazione. Inoltre, la ricerca pone in luce che l’apertura alla diversita da parte delle comunita di accoglienza, la sensibilita culturale dei servizi comunitari e l’assenza di una segregazione residenziale sono indicatori adeguati della giustizia del contesto. In breve, i dati confermano empiricamente i presupposti teorici difesi dalla psicologia della liberazione.