In her poem Our Voice (Chipasula and Chipasula 1995: 166–67) Noémia de Sousa (1926–2002) speaks about “our voice of Africa” as that voice that is liberative; that voice which opens “up new ways” and “lights up remorse … and burns glimmers of hope in the dark souls of desperate people” who cry out for emancipation from “slavery.” That voice which creates new possibilities by awakening a “cyclone of knowledge.” That voice which can persistently and effectively represent the aspirations of “millions of voices that shout, shout and shout!” for freedom and self-actualization.
Implicit in Noémia's poem is the contention that there is a particular kind of voice which situates Africans1 into “speaking positions” (Simbao et al. 2017: 12) from which they collectively generate knowledge, challenge hegemonic exploitation, and resist oppression. This is the voice that can overcome the power structures laid by the north against...