IIR Colloquium: Immigrants, Athletes, and Civic Engagement

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM EST
Online Location

The Institute for Immigration Research (IIR) welcomes you to join us for our final Colloquium of the Fall 2023 semester. Dr. Jim Witte, Director of the IIR, and Dr, Marissa Kiss, postdoctoral research fellow at the IIR, will present their research on "Immigrants, Athletes, and Civic Engagement."

This colloquium builds on the IIR's efforts to determine the degree to which the visibility and positive influence of foreign-born athletes can promote a spirit of inclusion and equity to all of the Newest Americans. Sport participation or frequent, sustained, and positive exposure via “para-social contact” may help reduce anti-immigrant feelings and prejudice toward immigrant and minority groups in the United States.

In this colloquium presentation, we will discuss findings from an initial baseline survey conducted in seven U.S. metropolitan areas in 2023. Sponsored by AmeriCorps, the survey taps attitudes towards immigrants, contact with foreign-born individuals in their daily lives, and the participation in sports either as a player or a fan. We are now reaching out to community relations staff at professional and collegiate athletic organizations in four of these areas to encourage and assist them in showcasing the contributions of foreign-born athletes both on and off the field. In the following year, a second survey will be conducted in an effort to assess the short-term impact of these outreach efforts.