Acculturation Imperatives and Language Shocks in Virtual Sub- Saharan Migration Narratives

Abstract

This study is an appraisal of the hurdles that sub-Saharan migrants encounter in the contemporary Diaspora space in the Global North. The question of the ever-changing migration rules and the current deplorable trends about the welfare of African migrants are so topical that they have attracted the attention of meaningful stakeholders in the African social affairs. These include social media vloggers. The study employed the Progressivist theoretical principles as guide. The research is also qualitative and interpretative in mode. The vloggers have featured live interviews with some migrants in the West who have lamented some social improprieties as social shocks in their acculturation process in the societies they have relocated to in the Occident. Such include restricted job access, language impediment, revalidation of learning as well as exorbitant taxes and bills. These are being put in place by the host government as protectionism. This is because of a number of allegations against the sub-Saharan migrants. These include the commercialization of migration by many Africans. Also, Africans schemes to obtain permission to stay in the West as seen in such phantom claims as pseudo-marriages. Many African also engage in illicit activities including drug peddling. The migrants’ lament their ordeals and opine that African governments should put machinery in motion by ensuring good governance. Such can manifest in the elimination of avarice in the official quarters, institutionalization of strong institution, and apolitical jurisprudence. This will lead to even distribution of commonwealth and discontinue the humiliation of African citizens in the Global North.