Introduction¹²

Due to the special importance that Latin Americans living in Malaga ascribe to the communities - both formal and informal - in which they participate, the need arises to explore how they build their sense of community linked to the place where they develop their lives. Previously, the experience of multiple senses of community and the apparent loss of relevance of the neighborhood concept has been noticed in this collective. The weakening of the traditional sense of community attributed to the neighborhood makes us think about how the construction of the sense of community is evolving among citizens, specifically among immigrants, to facilitate coexistence and integration of the population as a whole in their local area. Hence the interest in developing a qualitative approach focused on the question: Is it possible that the multiple senses of community professed by Latin Americans in Malaga give rise to a sense of community proper to the place where they reside? Attempting to answer the question posed in the research presented in this article, the general goal is to know how people of Latin American origin residing in Malaga build a sense of community typical to the place of residence. Specifically, the elements and relationships that are established between the various communities that help them build it socially are analyzed.

In the words of ^{Montero (2004}), elements of mobility, transformation, sense of belonging and social identity stand out in the concept of community. The community, referring to the place where people develop their lives, is the context where its members, through interrelation, and therefore participation, share values, experiences, or symbols that can lead to the development of a sense of commonality (^{Mannarini & Fedi, 2009}).

In the community sphere, what is understood as politics and economics are the fundamental pillars of the reproduction of life, and therefore, of the consolidation of the network of relationships that are generated in said context (^{Gutiérrez & Salazar, 2015}). Political ecology and especially community feminism defend the need to reflect on the links between people, and between them and everything that nurtures and encompasses them, this network of relationships being necessary to guarantee the reproduction of community life (^{Navarro & Gutiérrez, 2018}). Thus, “community feminism (...) rescues the ancestral struggles of great-great-grandmothers (...), and presents itself as the other side of hegemonic feminism, as it does not pose an inter-gender confrontation for individual rights, but rather affirms the being-woman from the community” (^{Cano, 2017}, pp. 59-60).

A construct closely related to the notion of community and community feminism is the sense of community, introduced by Sarason in 1974 (^{Távara & Cueto, 2015}). It is defined as the “perception of similarity with others, a conscious interdependence with others, a willingness to maintain this interdependence by giving or doing to others what is expected of them [and] the feeling of being part of a larger and firm structure on which one depends” (Sarason, 1974, p. 157). According to ^{Navarro & Gutiérrez (2018}), this community interdependence is materialized in a set of activities and synergies, in contexts where people interdepend on each other to move forward with our lives. ^{McMillan & Chavis (1986}) presented the most widely accepted model of community sense to date, consisting of a multidimensional structure: membership, shared emotional connection, influence and integration, and satisfaction of needs. Community and the social construction of a sense of community are two elements with a great capacity to explore the quality of life and social inclusion of immigrants. Through a sense of community, people can consolidate their identity in the context in which their lives unfold. This fact is based on belonging to a common space of coexistence and linked to the processes of social integration, which can lead to an awareness of collective solidarity (^{Gualda, 2011}).

Migration and adaptation to a new country involve a process of building a sense of community in an unknown context. People of Latin American origin feel closely linked to their community of origin, highlighting the interactions that occur between the social practices developed in the destination and their efforts to maintain their presence in the home community (^{Suárez, 2010}). The sense of community symbolizes par excellence the subjective manifestation of the community, in a historical era in which, despite continuing to be an important element, the influence of territory is being relativized due to technological development and a variety of social changes (^{Ante Lezma & Reyes Lagunes, 2016}).

Recently, the conceptualization of a multiple sense of community has been consolidated, understood as the social phenomenon in which people experience belonging to different communities and their own experience of their respective senses of community simultaneously (^{Mannarini & Rochira, 2014}). In the field of migration, few studies analyze the interconnections between community constructions, the multiple senses of community, and the development of a sense of attachment connected to different communities (^{Brodsky & Marx, 2001}). ^{Wiesenfeld (1996}) pointed out that local communities arise from the multiple personal identities of their members, where the interaction of individuals can lead to the social construction of a community. Through a dialectical process between the individual, sub-community, community, and social levels, the construction of “we” is created. This dimension, called macro-belonging, coexists with micro-belongings, the latter related to multiple collective identities and are based on diversity and privacy. People do not live in a single community but in a set of nested, and therefore interconnected communities in which specific needs are satisfied and that can coexist within a territorial community.

The notion of multiple sense of community contributes positively to the study of the process of immigrant social inclusion, by capturing the simultaneous orientations of individuals towards various communities and the consequent development of a compound sense of attachment towards them (^{Mannarini & Rochira, 2014}). Simultaneously, the multiple senses of belonging interact with each other to different levels of intensity and overlap and can influence people at the individual, organizational, and community level by, for example, reinforcing the collective identity in the place where they develop their lives (^{Ramos-Vidal, 2014}).

Transnationalism and multiculturalism are two essential elements if one is to understand contemporary migration and the development of multiple senses of community in an increasingly multicultural and technological society, where very diverse religions, traditions, and social relations coexist and revalue the recognition of cultural identity (^{Rodríguez, 2011}). Transnationalism understood as the sustained and dynamic interconnection between the origin and migrant-receiving societies are not incompatible with adequate social integration in the society of destination (^{Portes, 2005}). The transnational perspective supports that immigrants do not break their ties with the society of origin. Thus, “These practices contribute to developing what has been called ‘transnational communities’ (...), or new types of social formations within a 'transnational social space' (...)” (^{Parella, 2007}, p. 154).

It was “shown that migrants are inserted in networks that extend across multiple states and that the identities, as well as the cultural production of migrants, reflect their multiple locations” (^{Levitt & Glick Schiller, 2004}, p. 64). Members of transnational communities, and the organizational forms of these collectivities, stand out for their capacity for resistance and opposition to the State and the hegemonic forces of the economic system, which makes it so that conceiving the transnational character of migration implies assuming that migrants and communities acquire the skills necessary to face the social risks, costs, and conditions of migration societies (^{Canales & Zlolniski, 2001}). The possibilities that technologically- mediated communication provide for maintaining contact with friends and family represent a breakdown of the space-time limit; at the same time, it provides important support for community connection and, therefore, for building a sense of community for immigrants in the host society (^{Li, Hodgetts, & Sonn, 2014}; ^{Martínez, Peñaranda-Cólera, Vítores, & Íñiguez-Rueda, 2011}).

The organizational capacity and relevance of women in coping with and satisfying community needs, and therefore in developing a sense of community, should not be overlooked, as it sometimes even destabilizes the previous gender order through mobilization of new synergies and resistance linked to coping with trauma or participation in social life (^{Fernández, Waldmüller, & Vega, 2020}). In this way, “In community networks whose activities are focused on guaranteeing the satisfaction of (...) needs (...), power relations are eminently fluid and derive from agreements” (^{Gutiérrez & Salazar, 2015}, p.38).

Methodology

A qualitative method of a phenomenological nature is proposed that makes it possible to know the meaning that phenomena acquire in the social and cultural contexts they emerge from. Thus, a deep understanding is provided about what people of Latin American origin living in Malaga understand as and how they socially build their sense of community. The work material employed is not only made up of documentary reviews, but also the products of work or discussion whose literal transcription generates a text to analyze within a specific social setting (^{Cubells, Calsamiglia, & Albertín, 2010}). These materials have been analyzed from a social constructionist approach (^{Ibáñez, 1994}), aiming at detecting which are the subject matters that the participants make use of in order to talk about the socio-cultural meanings that relate to their own sense of community. The gender approach has also been taken into account in the analysis, as it is deemed that the sense of community in contemporary Malaga society can be better understood this way (^{Taylor & Bogdan, 1990}).

A qualitative method of psychosocial orientation was employed; specifically, discourse analysis (DA) after ^{Potter and Wetherell (1987}). The analytical tool of the interpretive repertoires (IR) has been made use of.

Participants

This study is part of longitudinal research on the social inclusion of people of Latin American origin in Malaga. From the initial sample of 40 people, a total of 23 participants were selected as key informants in the process of construction of the object of this study. In line with ^{Glaser and Strauss (1967}), in this study, the concept of a statistically representative sample disappears in favor of a progressive construction of the same. The final selection process of the participants was carried out Ad Hoc and intentionally. This process ended once the informants no longer contributed anything different in the interviews (^{Bolseguí & Fuguet, 2006}). The sample was intended to be varied in terms of the place of origin, the time of residence in Malaga, and the age of the participants. In addition, an attempt was made to link both genders in the study to identify interests, roles and understand the social relationships between the different participants (^{Taylor & Bogdan, 1990}). Men and women between the ages of 23 and 45 years were selected from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Chile, and Paraguay, who at the time of meeting them had been residing in the province of Malaga for at least two years.

The selected sample includes characteristics of homogeneity, but also heterogeneous factors. Regarding homogeneity, it was considered that the participants were of Latin American origin and Spanish-speaking; also, familiarity with the social environment in terms of a minimum interaction of 24 months. Following after ^{Gouin, Zhou, and Fitzpatrick (2015}), people who had been living in Malaga for at least two years were selected, on the grounds that the initial experiences for immigrants, especially during their first year, are characterized by high adaptation difficulties both in psychological and sociocultural terms. The time spent in the host country provides meaning to life experiences and positively influences the adaptation of immigrants (^{Millán-Franco, Gómez-Jacinto, Hombrados- Mendieta, González-Castro, & García-Cid, 2019}).

The heterogeneity criterion shows the diversity of the participants themselves. Therefore, heterogeneity was presented as a function of sociodemographic characteristics (sex, age, marital status, and country of origin). No age limits were established regarding these data, but all participants were older than 23 years. Also, participation was not restricted based on marital status, academic training, employment status, or having a residence permit.

Inclusion criteria are the following: residing in Malaga, being a Latin American immigrant, and being of working age. In addition, accepting participation in the study that supports this article was required by means of informed consent. The consent document explained the object of the study and the research procedure. Participants were informed that they had the right to refuse participation or withdraw from it at any time. The exclusion criteria focused on non-compliance with these last requirements. Table 1 shows the characteristics in terms of age, sex, place of origin, and time of residence in Malaga of each of the participants.

Data analysis

The analysis process has been divided into two phases: the textual phase and the conceptual phase. The textual phase began once the interviews were transcribed. From that moment on, the task consisted in identifying the textual excerpts that fulfilled the two requirements that ^{Íñiguez and Antaki (1998}) assign to discourse in order to differentiate it from any other type of text: that through the excerpt it is possible to interpret what the participants say, and that said textual excerpt suffices to describe and explain the reality of the participants themselves. Once this task was completed, the discourse analysis began.

Thus, the conceptual phase followed. Here the information was unified into groups that contained the same meanings to encode them and obtain our basic unit of analysis: the interpretive repertoire. Indeed, this analysis process was carried out by identifying a series of discursive strategies on which the speakers are constructing the discourse regarding the multiple senses of community.

This phase of the analysis involved a series of meetings for the researchers to make decisions about the texts and find out where to place them in terms of their function. The work team analyzed the information separately and together, from the obtainment of the first fragments and throughout the information production process, enriching its treatment and validity (^{Guba & Lincoln, 1989}). The discursive strategies resulting from this were modified over and over again, until in a consensual way a structure was achieved able to explain the object of study. Establishing relationships between codes to identify the set of strategies led to the formation of the IR. Generally speaking, repertoires are the discursive frameworks in which the participants base the rhetoric of their communication (^{Domínguez & Montalbán, 2017}). The study relied on the software ATLAS.TI (version 8) to carry out this analysis.

Results

This section presents the representations that the participants have built around their multiple senses of community and the relationships established between them. It is through these relationships that the interviewees explain and experience their feelings about the communities to which they belong. Three interpretive repertoires have been identified: the diffuse limits of the sense of community, communities as the backbone of the sense of community, and the language of love as a factor that facilitates the sense of community. These repertoires are closely related and have been used as analysis tools to explain how Latin American people living in Malaga build a sense of community typical to the place of residence.

Closing remarks

This article has aimed to show the contents, positions, and relationships that convey the discursive production on the social construction of a sense of community proper to the place of residence. Three interpretive repertoires have been identified: the diffuse limits of the sense of community, communities as the backbone of the sense of community, and the language of love as a factor that facilitates the sense of community. These repertoires are linked and explain how people of Latin American origin living in Malaga build “their” sense of local community.

The evolution of the sense of community towards a relational phenomenon has been evidenced, noting that the various lifestyles within the collective enable the sense of community to develop, even if a common territory is not shared (^{Maya-Jariego, 2004}). For Latin Americans, the place of residence is losing relevance as a relational context, this is reflected in their lack of rooting in neighborhoods. The links to other people, established through memberships in formal and informal organizations, are providing them more and more the social support, trust, sense of belonging, and reciprocal commitment that they once obtained from family and neighbors (^{Royal & Rossi, 1996}). Active participation in relational communities, specifically in various formal and informal groups, is key to experiencing these elements that contribute to building a sense of community in one or more communities (^{Mannarini & Fedi, 2009}).

These new forms of participation focus on informal and spontaneous self-help groups, non-governmental organizations, and what has been defined as semi-virtual communities. Participants highlighted how cultural closeness, and especially friendship, constitute new alternatives on which the feeling of belonging to one or multiple locations is founded (^{Briones, Verkuyten, Cosano, & Tabernero, 2012}).

People of Latin American origin residing in the province of Malaga build a community from a very personal and subjective vision, encompassing very diverse and particular mental and territorial conceptions, where feelings are a transcendental element of conceptualization (^{Ante Lezma & Reyes Lagunes, 2016}; ^{Mannarini & Fedi, 2009}). There has been a redefinition of the importance of the territorial component for the social construction of the sense of community. It has been confirmed how the public spaces and the public and private resources that the church and the associations or AMPAs provide constitute themselves into spaces for coexistence. This fact makes the person-environment relationship relevant for the social construction of “their” sense of community (^{Berroeta, Ramoneda, Rodríguez, Di Masso, & Vidal, 2015}).

Community feminism has become evident, especially in the AMPAs, demonstrating the organizational capacity and relevance of women to mobilize resistance and face community needs (^{Fernández, Waldmüller, & Vega 2020}). In addition, these organizations are based on a system of values and customs that reproduces the traditional roles of women.

Over time, people of Latin American origin adapt to the lifestyle in Malaga, where they become more individualistic in their relationship with the neighborhood (^{Uña, Clemente, Espinosa, & Fernández, 2009}). When it comes to forms of participation, although reciprocal altruism is appreciated, they are mostly focused on communities that require less commitment and may conceal individualistic attitudes. Currently, the sense of community of people of Latin American origin residing in Malaga is based more on shared interests than on physical closeness (^{Maya-Jariego & Armitage, 2007}). A transformation of community participation is evident in the collective, which explains their participation in religious centers or associations rather than in the neighborhood.

Due to the development of ICTs, migration no longer implies the absolute loss of connection with the country of origin (^{Peng, 2016}). In the Latin American community in Malaga, one can speak of the birth of informal communities of a semi-virtual nature. These communities have been formed in an offline context, yet they still rely heavily on ICTs to maintain and strengthen themselves. Online social networks and technology can redefine the physical space of traditional communities using the cybernetic world, enriching social relationships, and therefore are transcendental support for the construction of a sense of community and the integration of immigrants in the context where they are welcomed (^{Li, Hodgetts, & Sonn, 2014}; ^{Martínez et al., 2011}; ^{Vancea & Boso, 2014}).

ICTs improve the fluidity of contact with both the society of origin and that of destination, making it possible to break the human space-time limit and positioning cyberspace as a new public space wherein to develop local identity (^{Melella, 2013}). Technological development encourages transnationalism and the construction of multiple identities and belongings among immigrants (^{Li, Hodgetts, & Sonn, 2014}). It is quite telling that in the context of semi-virtual communities the discursive strategies of the feeling of belonging, and mutual exchange, support, respect, and commitment are resorted to as a way to sustain those identities and belongings. These elements largely reflect the traditional components of the sense of community (^{McMillan & Chavis, 1986}), demonstrating that semi-virtual communities can also be the basis for building a sense of community. Also, understanding the transnational nature of migration implies acknowledging that these migrants stand out for their ability to resist and face the social risks of migration societies (^{Canales & Zlolniski, 2001}). The sense of community towards the place where people of Latin American origin living in Malaga develop their lives could be understood as somehow transnational, in as much as it is not linked to a specific context, and because the support of family and friends regardless of their location favors their integration in Malaga.

Both everyday situations and feelings of love and affection towards other people are discursive categories employed by speakers that, in a certain way, contribute to the development of a sense of community typical to the place of residence.

The emotional component acts as social glue between the multiple senses of belonging that people experience simultaneously. These, through mutual interaction, can reinforce the collective identity as related to the place where they develop their lives (^{Ramos-Vidal, 2014}). Everyday life is associated with notions of love, feeling, and participation, which can be understood as unifying elements of the sense of community of the place of residence and promoters of social well-being (^{Mannarini & Rochira, 2014}). Once again, the relevance of the emotional component is reflected by the fact that forming an adoptive family and the development of fraternity can explain the attachment to the place of residence and an own construction of a sense of local community (^{Eguren, 2011}).

Multiculturalism relates to the concept of an adoptive family, given that living with people of diverse origins ultimately results in a feeling of familiarity key to the development of the process (^{Mannarini & Fedi, 2009}; ^{Távara & Cueto, 2015}). In addition, the very experience of the passing of time in these communities and the obtaining of a residence permit are two aspects that are related to greater social standing and inclusion. The combination of time, space, and place are relevant elements in the construction of a sense of community and citizenship (^{Waters, 2011}).

Ultimately, this study invites the scientific community to continue generating new information regarding the sense of community. For this reason, the need to analyze the construction of the sense of community in other groups of immigrants living in Malaga and to deepen the gender approach arises. One of the limitations, at the same time a potentiality, is that the sense of community is par excellence the subjective manifestation of a community, so its social construction is highly influenced by the experiences of each person. Consistent with ^{Berroeta et al. (2015}), the territory and the spaces for coexistence also have a notable influence on the construction of the sense of local community. The need to revitalize neighborhoods requires rethinking how to establish social intervention strategies that from Social Work and related disciplines value the importance of common space and territory in social inclusion and the well-being of the population. Social policies must be oriented towards the implementation of measures that, from the respect of cultural diversity, promote intercultural relations and consolidate the sense of local community.

Wrapping up, both the importance of formal and informal social organizations as mediators between the individual and community levels, and as promoters of participation in the place of residence, has been highlighted, as well as the relevance of the family concept for the development of a sense of local community (^{Ramos-Vidal, 2014}). Love and affection, the satisfaction of needs, interdependence, the passage of time, and the use of ICTs all enable migrants to participate in the society of Malaga, resulting in a balance between their autonomy and the connection to the place where they develop their lives. The sense of local community -in a way common, yet also individual- is the result of each person’s processing of their emotional experiences from the social relationships they keep in every day. It has been shown how this sense of community typical to the place of residence is the result of a mental process of overlapping senses of community towards the various communities in which the individual regularly participates, wherein the “language of love” is a protagonist.

Translation: Fernando Llanas.