Spiritual dimensions of migrant integration in Lisbon: a case study within the common home agenda and polyhedron of intelligibility framework

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the moral, political, and philosophical aspects of migrant integration, using Michel Foucault’s concept of subjectivation and Pope Francis’s Common Home Agenda as analytical frameworks. It dives deeper into the role of spirituality in the integration process, relating it to Foucault’s idea of a polyhedron of intelligibility. Later, it describes Portugal’s migration landscape and the research project, Researching Needs and Hope through Visual Storytelling, which aims to shed light on the local migrants’ subjective integration experiences. Based on the projects’ interview statements, the article then describes the different spiritual aspects of migrants’ integration into the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. Finally, it concludes with how spirituality includes many disciplines and ways of life choices and how the projects’ migrants interpret the concept of spiritual integration in a multifaced polyhedron manner. Creating strong ties to their homes, traditions, cultures, spirituality, sports, and culinary practices, as well as practicing, sharing, and teaching these practices, protects them from total subjectivation.