Decolonial Ecology, Linguistic Hegemony and Indigenous Environmental Epistemologies in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness

This study investigates the relationship between linguistic hegemony and environmental consciousness in postcolonial Africa through Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness. Drawing from Anibal Quijano’s theory of the coloniality of power, the study argues that language functions as an instrument through which colonial and neo-colonial systems shape relationships with land, ecology and indigenous knowledge. While existing scholarship on the novels has emphasized religion, politics and identity, the ecological implications of linguistic dominance remain underexplored. Integrating coloniality of power with decolonial ecology, the study demonstrates how colonial-modern concepts such as development, progress, civilization, globalization and modernity legitimize environmental exploitation and distance communities from ancestral ecological knowledge. The findings show that colonial discourse normalizes environmental degradation, cultural alienation and neo-colonial dependency. However, the novels also present indigenous languages, oral traditions, cultural memory and hybrid speech as forms of epistemic resistance that restore communal and sustainable relationships with the land. The study concludes that sustainable ecological futures require prioritizing indigenous epistemologies over colonial-modern paradigms that commodify nature.