Engagement in migrant organizations for immigrant integration: A mixed-method study with Peruvians in Chile.

Immigrant communities in Chile face barriers to their integration, in the form of discrimination and social exclusion. Psychology of liberation claims that, when minority groups experience oppressing conditions, community engagement can be a path toward integration. Nevertheless, community participation has been mainly studied in North America and Europe. Through a concurrent nested mixed-method design, this study explores the relation between community engagement and perception of integration of Peruvian immigrants in Santiago de Chile. One hundred and ten Peruvians (age range 19 to 52 years), engaged in migrant organizations (MOs), completed a self-report questionnaire that aims to identify the predictors of integration based on psychosocial perspective (education), acculturation (national identity and ethnic identity), and liberation psychology literature (perceived institutional sensitivity, knowledge of the Chilean culture and laws). Additionally, 18 Peruvian leaders (ages 31 to 56 years) were interviewed in order to explore intergroup relations and organizational strategies that their MOs use to enhance integration. An interesting and novel finding points to the role of a Latin-American identity that appears to have potential negative consequences in maintaining the status quo for the social exclusion that Peruvians currently face.

Introduction

During the last decades, the number of migrants arriving in Chile has increased (Lafortune & Tessada, 2016), bringing Chile to have the largest migrant population in South America (IOM, 2018). Nevertheless, until the last year Chile had the oldest migration law which dated back in 1975. This law was denounced as anachronistic and inefficient in facing the new modalities of international mobility and corresponding respect of human rights (Sandoval, 2016), plus perpetuating the vulnerability of immigrants in access to essential social services and acquiring regular immigration status (Da Silva, 2018; Galaz et al., 2017). The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic worsened the exclusion of immigrants, which also should face the racism and xenophobia of government and mass media (Freier & Vera Espinoza, 2021). In 2021, the Chilean Congress passed a new Migration and Foreigners Law (No. 21.325), replacing the old 1975 legislation. The new law establishes a balance between Chile’s legitimate right to define clear rules for entry, permanence, and exit from the national territory, while respecting the rights and duties of immigrants who, under specific legal statuses, will be able to access to social security and tax benefits under the same conditions as Chileans. Even if the new law frames migration in a broad language of human-rights protection, it sets up limits and restrictions on accessing these protections, thus maintaining the same national security focus of the 1975 DL1094. This is why our research that was carried out prior to these legislative changes can still be valuable.

Besides Peruvian, immigrant population living in Chile is made of large groups of citizens from Haiti, Colombia, and Venezuela (Aldunate et al., 2019). Urzúa et al. (2017) found that many of these ethnic minorities used social mobility (that is, they look for ways to get out of the negative categories in which they are placed) as a strategy to manage the acculturative stress. Many authors highlighted more hardships for Peruvians compared to other Latin America immigrants in their struggle to integrate in Chilean society, also because they perceive to live in a “separate place” (Tijoux & Retamales, 2015, p.138) and to be rejected in their daily interactions with Chileans (Thayer et al., 2013). Psychology of liberation (PL) suggests that community engagement can be a way to face exclusion and promote integration stressing the active role of immigrants in change their exclusion (Martín-Baró, 1985; Montero & Sonn, 2009). For this reason, we aimed to investigate how Peruvians coped within a highly critical context by engaging themselves in the community. We used a mixed-method design including the perspective of both the Peruvian members (study 1) and leaders (study 2) of migrant organizations to explore the relation between their identities, contextual factors and their perception of integration in Santiago de Chile.

Social exclusion of Peruvians living in Chile

Various studies across different disciplines have traced contextual and structural factors that have contributed to oppressive conditions for South American immigrants who live in Chile. Urban segregation (Margarit & Galaz, 2018; Schiappacasse Cambiaso, 2008), racialization at work (Mora & Undurraga, 2013), difficulties in access to health services (Cabieses et al., 2012; Noy & Voorend, 2016), and mass media reports focusing on prejudices (Valenzuela-Vergara, 2018) have been documented. Peruvians were found to be particularly vulnerable compared to other Latin American immigrants. They use separation more than integration as acculturative strategy (Sirlopú & Van Oudenhoven, 2013; Urzúa et al., 2017), feel less useful and appreciated (Morales et al., 2017), and had lower levels of quality of life (Urzúa et al., 2015). One possible explanation for the higher difficulties they have is that they internalize more the stigma of the immigrant, perhaps due to the fact that the Andean identity is often strongly stigmatized also in Peru (Urzúa et al., 2017). For this reason, urgent interventions are needed to promote integration for this group.

Psychology of Liberation: Community engagement as a path for immigrant integration

According to the psychology of liberation (PL) perspective (Martín-Baró, 1985; Montero & Sonn, 2009), oppression takes place when receiving contexts gain and maintain privileges over newcomers, restrict their access to resources, and limit their capacity to respond (Montero, 2007). Minority and oppressed groups can set up some organizations where they can connect among themselves, support one another, and plan ways to overcome social, economic, and political exclusion (Albar et al., 2010; García-Ramírez et al., 2011; Montero, 2007; Montero & Sonn, 2009; Prilleltensky, 2003). The PL can be seen as both a theoretical perspective and a methodological praxis (Marzana & Marta, 2012). It is a theoretical and bottom-up perspective because it looks at oppressed groups with the aim of giving them a voice. It is a methodological praxis because it promotes a transformation of reality through participation. Immigrants’ liberation passes through a process of community engagement which is a form of participation that “describes how an active citizen participates in the life of a community in order to improve conditions for others or to help shape the community’s future” (Adler & Goggin, 2005, p.241). It often takes place within migrant organizations (MOs) and aims to foster integration (Brettell, 2005; Marzana et al., 2020a, 2020b; Paloma et al., 2010; Schoeneberg, 1985).

The concept of integration has been used within different fields with different meanings. In the present work, we refer to the psycho-social acculturative integration which describes the subjective experience of immigrants in becoming actors of their new country, acquiring a new cultural knowledge and re-building their identities (Marzana et al., 2020b). We try to foster a critical view of the multifaceted, fundamentally processual nature of integration dynamics, thereby promoting a radically situational approach to integration. Against the vision of integration as something that eventually happens after a certain period of time over the course of exchanges between different actors (Van Reekum et al., 2012; Wimmer & Glick Schiller, 2002), we claim that integration should instead be conceptualized as a never-ending process that involves both individual and institutional adjustments over time (Jobst & Skrobanek, 2020; Skrobanek & Jobst, 2019).

From the psychosocial perspective, scholars stressed the importance of education to build integration because it usually brings a more open-minded perspective, thus making the acceptance of cultural differences easier (Kalmiijn, 1998). Immigrants with high school degrees were found to be more integrated than immigrants with only primary school certificates which are, in turn, more integrated than people without any kind of educational training (de Haas & Fokkema, 2011). Within the cultural perspective of the acculturation approach, Berry (2005) emphasized the importance of creating opportunities for intergroup relationships and defined integration for immigrants as the joint enhancement of both the culture of origin and culture of the receiving country. Ethnic identity is the feeling linked to the culture of origin and one’s own ethnic group, while national identity is the feeling of belonging to the new society, the recognition of being part of it, the sharing of symbols and the participation of rites (Sewell, 1999). In Europe, engagement in migrant organizations (MOs) has been found to strengthen both ethnic and national identities (Alfieri et al., 2019; Marzana et al., 2018; Taurini et al., 2017). MOs are “nonprofit organizations founded by immigrants at all stages of immigration process with the purpose of serving mainly the immigrant group itself” (Babis, 2016, p.359).

Finally, the critical liberation psychology perspective suggested that local environments (policies, attitude of mass media, locals and services) can shape different experiences of integration ranging from the facilitation of institutional practices and the creation of intercultural meeting opportunities to the implementation of material, cultural, and psychological barriers that result in the exclusion of minorities (Aresi et al., 2019; Paloma et al., 2014). Moreover, the knowledge of laws and current regulations can facilitate immigrant integration (de Haas & Fokkema, 2011) because it provides a bigger picture of the system where immigrants live.

Research findings from USA and Europe indicates that organized community engagement is a way for immigrants to navigate the new society and to develop well-being and integration (Alba & Nee, 2010; Alfieri et al., 2019; Brettell, 2005; Marzana et al., 2018; Marzana et al., 2020a, 2020b; Taurini et al., 2017). As far as we know, only few studies have been carried out on the community engagement of immigrants in South America (see, for exceptions, Carmona, 2008; Marzana et al., 2019), and research is needed to understand whether processes described in other national contexts play out in a south American sample. Luque Brazán (2007) pointed out that Peruvians, even if (or because of) more vulnerable to exclusion, present the remarkable capacity to organize themselves and form organizations. For this reason, we aimed at exploring the integration perceived by Peruvians who were engaged in MOs investigating cultural identities/ intercultural relationships and contextual factors.

Project and general method

Since the nineties, some neighborhoods of Santiago de Chile have been transformed into multicultural neighborhoods, where new restaurants and stores were opened firstly by Peruvians and later by other immigrants (Luque Brazán, 2007). However, the socio-territorial characteristics of the capital city still expresses fractures in the coexistence between citizens because of the unequal occupation of the space which most often leads to separation (Margarit & Galaz, 2018). Considering this particular feature of Santiago de Chile, the present study focused on the experiences of Peruvians who engage in MOs in the Metropolitan area of the city with the aim to explore their perceived integration. This study implemented a concurrent nested design (Creswell et al., 2003) situating itself in the history of using mixed methods in the evaluation and inquiry in community psychology (Aresi et al., 2017). The concurrent nested design calls for the simultaneously collection of qualitative and quantitative data, with a predominant method guiding the project, an embedded or nested method that receives less priority, and an integration of the two in the interpretation phase. Considering that “nesting may mean that the embedded method addresses a question different from that addressed by the dominant method or that the embedded method seeks information from different levels” (Creswell et al., 2003, p.184), the aim of the predominant quantitative study (Study 1) was to identify among the most significant predictors of integration, while the aim of embedded qualitative study (Study 2) was to explore the perception of intergroup relations in Santiago de Chile and the work done by Peruvian leaders to enhance the integration of their members. This study protocol was approved by the Ethical Institutional Board of the XX [hidden for the reviewers].

This study was developed in 2016. Back then the new migration law had not yet approved, but many immigrants perceived the relevancy of this issue also because of the 2014 bill, which was only briefly discussed in the Chilean government but did not pass. Fieldwork was conducted to identify Peruvian MOs active in Santiago de Chile during that period. During Peruvian events, leaders were identified and a purposive sample of participants with intensive and in-depth experiences was reached through a snowball technique. Leaders were invited to be interviewed and to collaborate in the administration of questionnaires to their Peruvian members of their MOs. All participants were informed about the main objectives of the research, were advised that participation was voluntary, that the information they provided was confidential, and signed a consent form.

Study 1

Method

Participants

One hundred and ten Peruvian immigrants actively involved in MOs participated in the study. Their ages ranged between 19 and 52 years of age (M = 29.98, SD = 5.55); 58.2% were males and they have been living in Santiago de Chile for at least 1 year. The majority (33.9%) has lived in Chile less than 3 years, 27.7% between 3 and 6 years, 18.2% between 6 and 9 years, and 20.2% between 9 and 22 years. Regarding their civil status, the majority (71.8%) was single, 26.4% married or cohabitated, and the remaining 1.8% was divorced. Over fifty (56.4%) percent were employed, while 30.9% were both working and studying. Around half of the respondents (49.1%) had graduated from high school, 38.2% from middle school, 11.8% from university, and 0.9% had an elementary degree.

Procedures

Participants filled the self-report questionnaires before or after regular meetings of their organizations. An online version of the questionnaire was also made available.

Measures

Besides sociodemographic variables—such as sex, age, education level, civil status, occupation—the following measures were used:

Following research that uses single items to investigate complex constructs with immigrants (see, for example, Ranieri et al., 1994 for acculturation, or Lai et al., 2019 for health condition), we assessed participants’ subjective integration to the new country through an ad hoc item: “From 1 to 10, how integrated do you feel in Chile?”. Response options ranged from 1 (Not at all) to 10 (Very much).

National identity was assessed through Phinney and Devich-Navarro’s (1997) “American Identity” scale, adapted to the Chilean context, and consisted of 6 items (e.g., “I think of myself as being Chilean,” “I’m proud of being Chilean”). For each item, people could answer on a scale from 1 (Completely agree) to 5 (Completely disagree).

Ethnic identity

Ethnic identity was assessed through the Spanish re-adaption of Phinney and Ong’s (2007) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure-Revised (MEIM-R). The scale is composed of six items (e.g., “I have spent time trying to find out more about my ethnic group, such as its history, traditions, and customs,” “I have a strong sense of belonging to my own ethnic group”) with response options in a scale of 1 (Completely agree) to 5 (Completely disagree).

Perceived sensitivity from social services

To assess whether immigrants perceive to be treated sensitively in Chilean social services, we asked “To what extent do you think that the social services in Chile treat immigrants with competence and cultural sensitivity?”. Response options ranged from 1 (Not at all) to 4 (Very much).

Perceived sensitivity from administrative services

To assess perceived sensitivity from administrative institutions, we asked “To what extent do you think that administrative services in Chile treat immigrants with competence and cultural sensitivity?”. Response options ranged from 1 (Not at all) to 4 (Very much).

Knowledge of the Chilean culture

One item measured immigrants’ knowledge of the hosting country’s culture, namely “How much do you feel you know about Chilean culture—values, traditions, history, etc.?”. Response options on a 5-option Likert scale ranged from 1 (Not at all) to 5 (Very much).

Knowledge of the Chilean laws

The perceived knowledge of Chilean laws was investigated through an ad hoc item (e.g., “How much do you feel you know Chilean laws?”) through a 5-option Likert scale ranged from 1 (Not at all) to 5 (Very much).

Data Analysis

A linear regression method was run to establish the size and statistical significance of the relationship between the dependent variable (perception of integration) and independent variables. In order to assess whether indicators of liberation psychology predicted perceived integration beyond demographic, social and acculturation indicators, we first entered independent variables such as education, national and ethnic identity. Secondly, we introduced perceived sensitivity from social services, perceived sensitivity of administrative services, knowledge of Chilean culture, and of knowledge of Chilean laws.

Results

Averages, standard deviation, and Cronbach’s alphas of the variables utilized in the regression model are displayed in Table 1.

Table 1

Descriptive properties of all the variables

Variable	Minimum	Maximum	M	SD	Alfa
Perception of integration National identity	1 1	10 5	6.42 2.41	2.05 .84	- .79
Ethnic identity	1	5	3.92	.98	.90
Perceived sensitivity from social services	1	5	2.64	.91	-
Perceived sensitivity from administrative services	1	5	2.48	1.02	-
Knowledge of Chilean culture	1	4	2.96	1.20	-
Knowledge of Chilean laws	1	4	2.89	1.21	-

-

Results from the descriptive analyses indicate that on average, Peruvian activists perceive themselves to be integrated. However, the large magnitude of standard deviations is indicative of a high variability. Peruvians show very high levels of ethnic identity, likely related to their participation within migrant associations that may strengthen their attachment to their origins. Regarding national identity, the levels are quite low indicating a low sense of belongingness to Chile and a low perception of feeling Chilean. However, the knowledge of Chilean culture and laws was assessed quite high by the participants. With respect to the perception of the institutional sensitivity in Santiago, it emerges that social services are perceived below average while administrative services are just above average.

Results of the linear regression analysis are shown in Table 2. The first model (Model 1) includes the variables related to psychosocial and acculturation approach. Education was transformed into a dummy variable according to two levels with 0 = low education and 1 = high education. Model 1 was significant: F (3) = 17.777, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.36. The strongest variables in predicting perceived integration were, respectively, national identity and educational level, while ethnic identity was not significant. In Model 2, we added variables related to the liberation approach. Model 2 was significant: F (7) = 10.668, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.43. The strongest variable in predicting perceived integration remained national identity, followed by the knowledge of Chilean culture, educational level, and perceived sensitivity from administrative services. Perceived sensitivity of social services and knowledge of Chilean laws were not significant predictors of the perception of integration of Peruvians engaged in MOs. The variables related to Chilean context explain an additional 7% of the variance in integration.

Table 2

Models of regression

					95.0% Confidence Interval for B
Model		Variables	B	β	Lower Bound	Upper Bound
1		(intercept)	1,311		-,483	3,106
		Education	1,013	,271**	,384	1,643
	National identity		1,176	,484***	,766	1,586
	Ethnic identity		,454,	,212*	,095	,813
2	(intercept)		,728		-1,090	2,547
	Education		,689	,185*	,062	1,316
	National identity		,937	,385***	,524	1,349
	Ethnic identity		,284	,133	-,072	,641
	Perceived sensitivity from social services		-,222	-,109	,643	,200
	Perceived sensitivity of administrative services		,396	,212*	,013	,779
	Knowledge of Chilean culture		,395	,250*	,084	,706
	Knowledge of Chilean laws		,142	,093	-,145	,428

Note. Dependent variable: perception of integration

*p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

Study 2

Eighteen Peruvian leaders (13 men), ages ranging from 31 to 56 years (M = 42; DS = 8.6), with 3 to 26 years of residence in Chile (M = 15 years) were interviewed. Detailed demographic information is shown in Table 3. Participants were all leaders of organizations that had different purposes, namely to provide legal advice and make political pressure, to celebrate Peruvian festivals and culture, to help immigrants with daily problems, to build professional relationships within Peruvian community, and to spend time with compatriots.

Table 3

Demographic characteristics of participants

Name	Age	Gender	Year in Chile	Education	Civil status
A	34	M	7	Bachelor	Single
V	32	M	8	Professional bachelor	Living with partner
F	43	M	15	Middle school	Single
L	36	M	15	Professional bachelor	Single
D	32	F	3	Master	Married
J	31	M	12	Middle school	Married
R	42	F	11	Professional bachelor	Married
Fe	33	M	11	Primary school	Married
F	40	F	16	Bachelor	Separated
R	44	M	18	Professional bachelor	Married
G	42	M	23	Master	Separated
D	31	M	9	Professional bachelor	Living with partner
S	56	M	20	Master	Separated
C	48	F	25	Master	Married
Ar	56	M	15	Master	Single
P	49	M	20	Master	Married
T	50	F	26	Master	Married
Vi	52	M	18	Master	Married

Note. M = male; F = female

Interview protocol

A semi-structure interview was developed focusing on: a) the relations between Chileans and Peruvians in the city of Santiago de Chile (e.g., From your point of view, what feelings does the Chilean society have towards Peruvians? How would you describe the current relationships between Peruvians and Chileans?); b) the work realized by MOs (e.g., how are they promoting changes and integration for Peruvians in Santiago (e.g., “Do you think that your organization helps to generate some kind of social change for Peruvians living in Santiago? In which ways?). For more details, see the appendix.

The interviews were carried out in different local places to meet the needs of Peruvian leaders, lasted approximately 1 h, and were conducted in Spanish. All the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim by one researcher.

Three researchers conducted a paper-and-pencil thematic analysis on the transcriptions following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) guidelines. First, the research team was familiarized with the data corpus, and two of them independently began to search manually for initial codes. Then, they compared the codes they had created, collated them into potential themes looking for relationship between codes and themes, constantly checking the coded extracts and the entire data set. Later, with the third researcher, the team decided to leave out the themes that did not relate to the areas of inquiry, to establish clear definitions and names of each theme, and identify key quotations from interviews. To reduce any potential bias and to enhance the trustworthiness and rigor of our interpretation, some strategies were used (peer scrutiny of the research project, the development of an early familiarity with the culture of participating organizations before the first data collection takes place, examination of previous research findings), following the provisions developed by Shenton (2004) and based on Lincoln and Guba’s criteria.

Results

Thematic analysis focused on participants’ way of participating in the new cultural environment, and their attempts to create a broader meaning to the work they were carrying forward with their organizations. Two main themes emerged. The first one describes how intergroup relationships were currently opening in the city of Santiago de Chile; the second theme portrayed the multiple strategies that MOs use to foster positive processes of integration for their compatriots.

First Theme: the opening of intergroup relations in Santiago de Chile

This theme describes how participants perceived the city of Santiago de Chile regarding the relationships among immigrants and Chileans and illustrates the role that MOs may have played in changing these relationships.

Ongoing Challenges

The present challenges regarding intergroup relationships concern both formal and structural integration (which concerns the law) and interpersonal integration (which concerns the forms of relationships with Chileans). Regarding the first, participants sustained that Chilean laws must be humanized and updated, considering the current migration flows. As G. (male) said “The concern of the Chilean state (should be) to pass a new law in relevant to the present time”. For this reason, some MOs are putting “a voice. We are not the ones who are going to write the law, but if we have a voice, then we try that our voice is recognized, visible, and heard. We scream and have a very good voice!” (P., male). Along with this, participants also stressed that the importance that Peruvians know the laws and their rights because this would help to guarantee that they are fairly treated by authorities. D. (male) stated that it is an immigrant’s duty to know his/her rights: “They [Chilean authorities] do not make any legal difference, legal differences do not exist but, but, at the same time, it is up to the individual person to know the law”. Finally, on an interpersonal level, participants denounced attacks in neighborhoods and discrimination while performing their activities:

Homeless or fascist people were attacking us, they were throwing bottles at us, insults and also policemen, thrown us out of the place with a decree there is here in Santiago according to which nowadays you cannot occupy public places (Ar., male).

This process of changing intergroup relationships was described by R. (female) as slow and difficult:

in Chile there has been for a long time and it still remains a clear trend of nationalism. It is expressed by an open or hidden rejection of foreigners. (There is) the perception that the foreigner is an invader and is interfering in your life, that he will change many things… so there is a resistance from the society that I think is normal in every migration process.

Positive Changes

Participants describe intergroup relations in Santiago de Chile as becoming positive as they have opened up over time. There have been structural changes in the city thanks to an increase of migration flows, a Peruvian long-time settlement, and the birth of MOs. The presence of Peruvian community finds its highest expression in the creation of some areas in the city that Peruvians recognize as home. F. (male) said: “In Santiago there is a strong Peruvian area, the neighborhood came to be known as Independencia Recoleta, there you find the whole Peruvian community and there you feel like you are in Peru again”. Breakthroughs were promoted by the many cultural events which have been organized by MOs in Santiago. These shows, mostly dance performances, have been organized for everyone to find a space of encounter: “Not only Peruvians have joined but Colombians, Bolivians, Chileans have joined too. They come here for rehearsals” (A., male). Outreaching many citizens of different nationalities was perceived as an important outcome in promoting positive intergroup relationships. Moreover, Peruvian leaders felt that Chilean people attending these events have become more familiar with immigrants and their cultures.

Attachment to Chile and Sense of Belongingness

Peruvian leaders have started to develop an attachment to the place of Santiago de Chile along with a desire to stay:

I would be one of the first to defend the living conditions of this country. For example, I am outraged at the damage done to the city by breaking traffic lights (general vandalism) … I am Peruvian but I am learning to love this country to love this city with its defects (G., male)

The affective bond is also manifested when participants compare the positive aspects that Santiago de Chile has offered to them relative to their native Peru: “At least here you have the opportunities to do more than you can in your own country, because here (in Chile) there are more possibilities to feel personally fulfilled” (F., female). The comparison between the country of origin and Chile seems to be part of the integration process that involves a negotiation between different attachments and identities.

Second Theme: organizational strategies to promote integration

This theme refers to the strategies that MOs adopt to promote the integration of Peruvians in Santiago de Chile, specifically the creation of relational space and opportunities for encounters. We found four strategies. The first two strategies were directed toward Chileans and involve showing the positive cultural and professional contribution of immigrants to Chilean society and fostering intergroup encounters. The third was an identity strategy for Peruvians in recognizing the common roots they share with Chileans focusing on their Latin American roots; the last strategy was a macro-level intention to change historical and cultural narratives.

To show one’s own positive contribution

MOs set up cultural events and festivals to show what Peruvians bring and contribute to Chilean society. Culture and dance were considered unifying aspects, spaces for intercultural dialogue and exchange that bring about a different perception of Peruvians as A. (male) said “There are some Chileans who have this kind of thinking (prejudices) and they stick to it, but when a folk dancer performs these types of dance, Chileans change their thinking, because the dancer gives to those people a very different image (of Peruvians)”;“When someone presents the dance or the gastronomy of a country, he is creating vehicles of integration” (G., male).

To encourage interethnic relations

The aim of this strategy was to develop good relationships with neighbors, to promote mutual support, and sense of community with every citizen in Santiago. This latter was perceived to have been lost in Chile due to dictatorship and capitalism: “Pinochet laid the foundations of capitalism in Chile […] capitalism is very individualistic and focus on very basic things: your life, your little house, your little roof and who cares if there are people dying next to you […] I believe that our work serves to promote the importance to keep always a spirit of collective life that should exist but has been lost” (R., female). Another participant also sustained the importance of social connectedness: “We want to empower them [immigrants], make them more participative, so that they won’t be unhooked from social groups and I hope that they will make friends with neighbors and create social relationships” (F., female).

To develop a Latin American identity

Participants spoke about supporting brotherhood, feeling they are all Latinos, and promoting free movement of persons. They also referred to the Bolivian dream of breaking down frontiers and restoring the old Tahuantinsuyo Empire. They felt a sense of sharing with immigrants because of the Andean common origin which was something important to restore. They looked at the past as something from which they can learn and that they can revitalize through their organizations:

I believe that we are all brothers, I look at it in this way actually: like we were brothers. They (immigrants) have enriched my life, I have enriched myself, and I have met many people from different countries. One might say that we all are a whole, there is like a communion, a union. I am very satisfied with our work (C., female).

To re-tell Chilean–Peruvian history

The intention of some leaders was to focus on positive aspects in the relationships between Chile and Peru and to take the distance from a past that portrays these two cultural groups as enemies. MOs try to build new narratives, based on solidarity and support:

at the closing of the first meeting when I was giving a speech, I mentioned that there is a book written by a Peruvian writer and a Chilean writer… they talk about the positive episodes that are generating in the relations both for Peru and for Chile… I felt that we were writing the next chapter because we are living more stories that unite us, generating win-win relationships and building a new myth of union between our countries” (D., female).

General results and discussion

Through a concurrent nested design (Creswell et al., 2003), this study examined they perceived integration to the new society in Peruvian immigrants who were active in MOs in Santiago de Chile. We administrated questionnaires to members and interviewed leaders of MOs. As far as we know, this investigation is the first one to quantitatively study integration of immigrants who engage in MOs in Chile and to extend the meaning of quantitative results by using also qualitative instruments. Our results provide evidence that in countries characterized by social exclusion, as the case of Chile, integration can be a very complex (Rudmin, 2006) never-ending process (Jobst & Skrobanek, 2020; Skrobanek & Jobst, 2019).

The quantitative study shows that integration for Peruvians is not predicted by ethnic identity but rather by a strong Chilean identity and knowledge of the culture of the new country. The latter is in contrast to findings from previous studies (Marzana et al., 2018, 2019; 2020a) and stressed the risk for Peruvians to undertake the assimilationist path. We discuss some considerations to understand current findings building on the qualitative results.

Instead of an ethnic focus, the development of a Latin American identity, not considered in the quantitative study, has been found as an organizational strategy of MOs. It refers to a super-ordinate identity through which members of different groups are induced to perceive themselves as a more inclusive and superordinate group instead of two different groups (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000). Extending the Common Ingroup Identity Model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2005) and acknowledging the difference in power between groups, a Dual Identity Model has been proposed (Dovidio et al., 2007; Gonzalez & Brown, 2003). It introduces the majority and minority perspectives, showing that minority groups re-categorize themselves as members of a more inclusive category without losing their distinctive social identity, thus developing a dual identity. According to self-categorization theory (Turner et al., 1987), individuals define themselves at different levels of abstraction (i.e., personal, social, and human level). At the least abstract level, people self-define as single individuals (i.e., personal identity) and interact with others on the basis of their personal characteristics. At the intermediate level of self-categorization (i.e., social identity), individuals define themselves on the basis of the social categories/groups they belong to (i.e., Chilean or Peruvian). Finally, the most abstract level of self-categorization is that of human identity, through which individuals identify with the superordinate group of human beings, as the most inclusive group that encompasses all the variety of social groups (Albarello et al., 2019; Prati et al., 2015; Turner et al., 1987). In between these last two levels of abstraction, we can find identification with a super-ordered social belonging, such as the Latin American identity, which holds several groups together. This is not yet an identification with human beings (an even higher level of abstraction) but still allows one to go beyond one’s immediate social identification to include others in one’s large group which where people have something in common. Gaertner and Dovidio (2000) with Common Ingroup Identity Model showed that recategorization of in-group and out-group into a common superordinate in-group can reduce prejudice and discrimination toward former members of the out-group. In our study, we found that Peruvian leaders focused their work on recognizing the roots that Peruvians share with Chileans instead of maintaining their ethnic distinctiveness. The development of an attachment to Chile has emerged in the interviews with leaders, and national (Chilean) identity has been found to be a significant predictor of the perception of integration of members. Thus, it seems that using a super-ordered identity as an organizational strategy helps leaders and fellow members of MOs to feel belonging to Chile. Nevertheless, this strategy can be hazardous for Peruvians. Indeed, the Tahuantinsuyo may be not supported by Chileans who feel less Latin American than Peruvians (González et al., 2010). Our results along with Gonzalez’s seem to deviate from the literature that sustains that minority groups prefer a dual identity, while majority groups a super-ordered identity (Dovidio et al., 2007). In this case, at least the preference of the minority group seems to be reversed.

Regarding the indicators of the liberation psychology approach, some considerations may be advanced. On the one hand, against our hypothesis, the perception of sensitivity from social services was not significant in predicting integration. This may be related either to the fact that perception of sensitivity from social services dealt more with well-being than with integration (Paloma et al., 2014) or that Peruvians in our sample had not used these services. Future studies should explore possible reasons for not accessing services, such as that to be stigmatized. If this second hypothesis is true, it would be extremely important to develop intervention in order to respect Peruvians’ dignity and rights. On the other hand, perceived sensitivity from administrative services was a significant predictor, meaning that immigrant needed to be treated in a culturally sensitive way by those services that are responsible for their legal documentation in order to feel integrated. Okamoto et al. (2020) have recently highlighted the value of feeling welcome into the everyday life of immigrants. Administration may be one of the fields where welcoming experiences take place and feeling of integration are built. For this reason, Chilean government should acknowledge how its policies have a strong impact on the life of immigrants living in its country. A stronger shift must therefore be made on the part of politics to enforce the rights of all immigrants and take the distance from the national security focus which has been predominantly for almost fifty years.

The knowledge of Chilean laws was not a predictor of integration. There could be different reasons for this result. The first is that the integrative strategies of the majority of organizations that participated in the research did not focus on “political” issues. Thus, members may have not necessarily been conscious that the organizations to which they belonged could improve their legislative position in order to favor their integration. Another reason could be that Peruvians still need to develop some competences to understand how laws impact their lives. Finally, a last possible explanation concerns the fact that immigrants in Chile cannot vote. Having this ban could bring Peruvians to build their integration processes independently from this civic aspect.

Conclusion and future developments

According to PL, minority groups often live within oppressive conditions that can be transformed through community engagement within organizations. The increasing multicultural character of contemporary societies poses the challenge of developing inclusive communities in which the large variety of human groups can have equal citizenship (Fiske, 2015). Indeed, organizations where people share common goals have been found to provoke transformative societal changes (Alfieri et al, 2017, 2019; Pozzi et al., 2017). Results showed the work of MOs may go in the direction to “foster opportunities to experience positive intergroup encounters whereby groups can learn from each other and more importantly, can live in peace without feeling threatened by the presence of other groups” (González et al., 2016, p. 277).

The research was carried out before the new Migration and Foreigners Law was passed so it has the merit to highlighting a very specific moment prior to the legislative change. Although the new law seems to maintain its security focus, it would be interesting to replicate the study when the law will become effective (mid-2022) in order to detect the potential new perceptions of Peruvians engaged in MOs. This study also reached a very difficult population and therefore not often investigated from a psychological point of view. Being the first study conducted in Chile with this sample, some sociodemographic observations seem to be relevant.

Leaders of community organizations are much older than the members of the organizations they manage (42 years old vs. 30 years old), indicating that being a leader may require expertise and ripeness. Previous results (de Haas & Fokkema, 2011) indicate that the younger immigrants are when they emigrate, the better the chances to integrate well into the new society. Thus, being able to encourage and organize young immigrants to take leadership positions is certainly an open challenge. Another interesting result concerns the gender distribution of the sample. Both in the interviews and the questionnaires, a lower presence of women was detected. At the time of the survey, Peruvian immigration to Chile was quite balanced by gender with a slight female majority (INE, 2018). One reason for a sample made mostly by male could be that female leaders and members were more difficult to reach or that they are few women in these positions. Other studies have found that gender stereotypes and the cultural legacies of patriarchal societies relegate women within the domain of home and drive them away from the public space (Remennick, 1999).

This study also has some limitations. First, it focused only on the experiences of Peruvians. Because in the last years other Central and South American immigrants have arrived in Chile, future studies should explore the experiences of participants who belong to other migrant organizations. It could be interesting to do some comparative studies since previous literature pointed out that migrant minorities can live different integration processes (Urzua et al., 2017). A second limitation relates to the fact that this study brought together very different types of organizations, those involved in dance, social services, cultural or political events. A recent study (Marzana et al., 2020b) has highlighted that those immigrants who engage in social organizations (attending church, spending time with peers, and helping one’s family) have higher means of integration than those who engage in civic organizations (helping others through formal service programs or individually). Future studies should be more specific in examining differences in experience according to MOs’ aims. A third limitation concerns the fact that perceived integration was measured with one single item. Loo (2002) recommends caution when operating with single‐item measures and suggests using them with underlying homogeneous constructs. Because integration is a multifaceted concept, it is possible that participants had different types of integration in mind when filling out the questionnaire. Thus, future studies are strongly recommended.

On the research ground, future studies should further investigate the Latin American identity mechanisms. González and colleagues (2010) stated that the “asymmetrical perception of the intergroup situation highlights the need to consider the perspectives of both immigrants and the majority members who are receiving them when creating interventions aimed at improving intergroup attitudes” (p.813). The results of this study open a new vein of investigation about the consequences of adopting the Common Ingroup identity which may become a way through which Peruvians endorse their own assimilation. Scholars should study the consequences of acquiring a type of super-ordinated identity that may not be properly appreciated by the majority, as the Latin American identity in Chile. In fact, Latin American identity is traditionally linked to indigenous roots and Chilean society is instead characterized by a desire to distinguish from them and to build a modern “European-style” nation-state (Quijano, 2015). As Dovidio and colleagues (2007) said “improving positive intergroup relations and creating more fair and just societies are not necessarily synonymous” (p.325), therefore the maintenance of the status quo for social exclusion is a high risk that Peruvians living in Chile may go through.

This study contributes to the literature about the Dual Identity Model, which has only been studied in experimental contexts (Dovidio et al., 2007), but more studies are needed in order to understand the dynamics of the Latin American identity for Peruvians living in Santiago. Identities are historically grounded so that the type of super-ordinated identity that groups decide to build makes a difference in the dynamics of the Common Ingroup Identity Model.

Finally, on an applied ground, the results of this work can be used to guide thinking about social policy, especially in Chile. A possible intervention could be to promote the creation of cooperative contexts between Chile and Peru as fellow countries in Latin America, strengthening this super-ordered identity mostly for Chileans. It is important that individuals perceive that they can contribute in an agentic way to the common good and develop a common identity. We also recommend to create an agency or an association which is made by immigrants from both countries (Chileans in Peru and Peruvians in Chile). This could have multiple positive effects: a facilitation of the relations between the two countries; an exchange of good practices in terms of social inclusion and cooperation; the promotion of a greater awareness of the common Latin American origin and culture. The political representation of immigrants that these social agencies could foster would be very important to promote their rights as well as a more inclusive multicultural society. In addition, it could be useful to give recognition to associations so that they can continue their role as a bridge between immigrants and the wider community (Caselli, 2010). The COVID-19 pandemic has not only stressed the structural exclusion of immigrants but also the crucial role of migrant-led organizations in ensuring respect of immigrants’ rights, by providing food parcels, shelters and translating information to different languages (Freier & Vera Espinoza, 2021). It is time to recognize MOs as important actors to work with to foster the well-being of minorities. As this study has shown, MOs can act as valuable intermediaries between immigrants and the local institutions, which should look at them as key interlocutors about the problems concerning immigration12.