Psychological and Structural Barriers to Immigrant Community Participation: The Experience of Peruvians in Santiago de Chile

Uncovering the relationship between community participation and socio-political control among the migrant population

Prior research on psychological empowerment has found that community participation is associated with socio-political control, which takes place when people perceive control in their socio-political contexts. However, the process by which this relationship occurs remains an understudied area for migrants. This study aims to: (a) analyze the differences in socio-political control, critical thinking, and ethnic identity according to membership in migrant community-based organizations; and (b) propose a predictive model of socio-political control. A total of 239 first-generation migrants living in northern Italy completed a questionnaire (48.4% belonged to a migrant community-based organization). Members were found to have higher levels than nonmembers in all the variables. A moderated mediation model was proposed, whereby ethnic identity was a mediator between community participation and socio-political control, and critical thinking was a negative moderator between ethnic identity and socio-political control. Practical implications for enhancing socio-political control among migrants in receiving societies are discussed.

The Mediating Role of Migrant Community-Based Organizations: Challenges and Coping Strategies

Migrant community-based organizations (MCBOs) are key mediating structures between immigrants and host societies. However, when implementing this role in host societies, MCBOs often face a number of challenges that reduce their chances to be effective in promoting social justice. This paper aims to analyze the challenges that MCBOs settled in Milan (Northern Italy) experience and the coping strategies that they use in order to provide some guidelines on how to support them. In-depth interviews, observations and document analysis with 15 MCBOs were conducted. Based on a situational analysis, we present the main challenges perceived by MCBOs at three levels: internal (i.e., surviving), inter-organizational (i.e., collaborating) and community (i.e., being recognized as mediating actors). We provide specific guidelines for action on how to address such challenges and thus foster the role of MCBOs as mediating structures in receiving societies.

"Even Though We Have Different Colors, We Are All Equal Here": Immigrants building a sense of community and wellbeing through sport participation

Although there are several studies reporting the beneficial role of sports in immigrant health, more research is needed to understand whether and how these activities can guide the psychological sense of community (SOC) and well-being outcomes. This study aims at exploring how sport participation among immigrants contributes to developing their SOC and subjective well-being. We analyzed the experiences of 17 immigrants participating in Balon Mundial (BM), an annual multicultural football tournament in Turin (Italy). A thematic deductive theory-driven analysis was implemented based on in-depth interviews. BM developed a psychological SOC by providing immigrants with a safe space-based on norms of accessibility and fair play-to mutually share traditions while forming positive and trusting bonds. All these dimensions of the tournament were connected to an enhancement of immigrants' subjective well-being in terms of happiness, self-care, sense of acceptance and cultural intelligence. Sport participation can sustain immigrants' psychological SOC and subjective well-being under specific conditions: (a) when norms are developed based on inclusion; and (b) when a shared goal and  history are built among participants.

Influence of Human–Computer Interaction-Based Intelligent Dancing Robot and Psychological Construct on Choreography

To study the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on dancing robots in choreography, this paper introduces the biped-humanoid robot-imagined choreography model alongside the Psychological Space Construction (Psychological Construct) and Human–Computer Interaction (HCI). The proposed model is based on deep learning and imitating human thinking and is capable of imagining new dance elements. Finally, simulation experiments are designed to verify the model's effectiveness. Dance professionals are invited to evaluate the robot-imagined dance posture. The results show that the proposed model can vividly imitate human dancers and imagine and create new dance movements. The average basic feature retention and innovation scores of 30 new dance elements imagined on the L1 (head) are 7.29 and 7.64, respectively. By comparison, similar scores on 30 new elements in L2 (upper-body) are 7.73 and 7.40, respectively. Therefore, the proposed intelligent robot-imagined choreography model can help the dancing robot choreograph more finely and improve the choreography efficiency. The research results have significant practical value for dance teaching.