Disrupting the Coloniality of Gender through Collective Voices in Abi Dare’s The Girl With the Louding Voice (2020) and And So I Roar (2024)

Abstract

This paper examines the coloniality of gender in Nigeria as depicted in Abi Dare’s The Girl With the Louding Voice (2020) and And So I Roar (2024), focusing on how coloniality of gender is disrupted and decolonised. While African women’s writing has been widely studied in relation to patriarchy, education and resistance, Dare’s fiction remains underexplored within decolonial African feminist scholarship, particularly regarding coloniality of gender and the role of language and a collective voice. Addressing this gap, the study analyses how colonial‑patriarchal legacies, such as the denial of education and child marriage, continue to shape Nigerian girls’ and women’s lives. It also examines how resistance is enacted through voice, solidarity, and education, alongside the semiotic significance of “louding” and “roar” as linguistic strategies of intervention. The findings show that, although coloniality persists, it is actively disrupted through interconnected practices of voice, education, and collective solidarity. Female characters transform individual oppression into collective resistance, while language functions as a key mechanism of disruption, marking a shift from individual voice to collective empowerment. The paper argues that Dare’s novels reimagine empowerment through a collective voice, offering pathways for Black girls and women to challenge colonial‑patriarchal constraints.