Theory Of Segmented Assimilation

The theory of segmented assimilation provides a framework for understanding the relationship between transnational behavior and the integration of immigrants. Segmented assimilation attempts to explain the individual and contextual factors that determine which segments of the host society of immigrants became second generation incorporated (Zhou, 1997). Three distinct results of adaptation of immigrants are possible: 1) The upward mobility conventional, acculturation and economic integration in the middle class; 2) The upward mobility as a result of economic integration to the middle class, maintaining the values of the group of immigrants and affiliation; 3) downward mobility due to the acculturation and economic integration in the subclass

The African countries, it seems, are in a perpetual state of war or conflict. And gyimah-brempong traynor (1999) define the political instability "as situations, activities or patterns of political behavior that threaten to alter or change the political system in a nonconstitutional way". The political conflicts in Africa generally revolve around ethnicity, control of resources and power. The power is always at the center of these conflicts if they involve ethnic rivalries, resource management or a combination of all these factors and much more. The conflict is rarely only one of these factors. According to adepoju (2008), "From 1969 to 1990, seventeen of the world recorded forty and three civil wars that caused large refugee populations in Africa, including "high intensity" civil wars in Angola, Liberia and Mozambique. In the Sudan, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Burundi, ethnic tensions visibly played an important role in such conflicts" (23). In 1996, 20 African countries have been involved in some kind of political uprising or agitation (Tettey, 2002). Virtually all regions of the african continent have experienced some type of civil conflict or political instability since independence. Countries such as Nigeria, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have experienced extensive periods of instability. I selected these countries to represent the various regions in

In 1967, the attempt of Biafra (Southeastern Brazil), separate yourself from the rest of Nigeria was received with violence and a civil war that lasted three years. Somewhere between one and two million people lost their lives, many were homeless, while others were left to die of hunger after the rest of the country, cutting the supply of food for the southeast region of Nigeria (Smith, 2005). During this period, many employees educated and intellectuals who dared to challenge the government fled the country for fear of persecution. "Today, it is estimated that the United States is home to approximately 10,000 "Exiled Nigerian Academics' " (Tettey, 2003:4). The discovery of oil in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria in 1950 ushered in a new era of greater political instability. There are a number of different parties involved in the conflict, including the government, various ethnic groups competing on the oil, the identity and ownership of the land, militant groups and multi-national corporations. Although there has been an increase in economic activity in this area, the people of the Niger-Delta not benefited from revenues and approximately 70% of the population lives on a dollar per day (Rosenau, chalk, McPherson, Parker & Long, 2009). Oil activities of multinationals and the growing number of oil spills, the burning of gas and pipeline explosions have contributed to environmental degradation