Black Panther is more than a movie, it is a manifesto of possibilities and a vivid expression of Postcolonial imagination. Much has been said about the importance of having an African super-hero. I want to discuss why Black Panther matters to all of us, Western white people included. I never thought I would be able to address Postcolonialism, Theology and Technology in one blog. Black Panther allows me to do just that. I encourage everyone to see it and will do my best to keep this piece free of spoilers.
Back in Seminary, I did an independent study on Theology and Postcolonialism (you can check one of my papers from that class here). In the middle of the last century, as most colonies had gained their independence, Majority World scholars realized that political freedom was not enough to undo the shackles of Colonialism. They realized that colonial paradigms still persisted in the very sources of knowledge of Modernity. Therefore, what was needed was a full deconstruction of knowledge as it was handed to them by Euro-centric scholars. Inspired by Foucault’s idea that speech is power, this movement started first in Literature and then moved to the Social Sciences. This project of deconstruction continues till this day. In my view, Black Panther represents the next step in this progression. If the first Postcolonial authors were there to identify and de-construct Western biases embedded in literature, the writers of Black Panther start the re-construction in the creation of a Postcolonial imagination.
How is that so? First, it is important to say what Black Panther is not. It is not a depiction of African suffering under the White oppressor like 12 Years a Slave. As necessary as this type of movie is, it is still enclosed in a Colonial paradigm that albeit critically still puts the White man at the center of the story. It is also not a depiction of African harsh social realities like Moonlight and City of God. While such narratives are also important and represent progress from the previous category (here minorities are at the center of the story), they lack a prophetic imagination of how things could change.
Black Panther represents a new category of its own. It paints an alternative hopeful image, grounded in the Sci-Fi genre, of what these societies could be if they were to realize their God-given potential independent of Western Colonialism. What impress me most is that the writers went to great lengths to imagine a future that was authentically African even as it become technologically advanced. Therefore, this African Futurism not only portrays a future of what it could be for Majority World but also challenges our current Western ideals of technology. It portrays a technology that is not there to replace but to merge with nature. This sustainable picture is maybe the best gift of African Futurism to the world.
Moreover, I thought that it was important that not only the hero but also the anti-hero was of African descent. Here there is some controversy and push back as Christopher Lebron’s essay brings up. Fair enough, yet a movie that depicted an African hero against a White villain would have missed the opportunity to re-imagine a postcolonial future by re-enforcing the colonial past. I cannot speak for those of African descent. Yet, as one born in the Majority World and inevitably linked to its story of struggle, I can say that true postcolonial imagination happens when we are able to see that our main problems are the ones coming from within. This is very difficult task given the burden of oppressive structures that persist even to the present day. Yet, it is only when the problem become our own, and not the Colonizer’s, that we can recover the power taken from us.
It is encouraging to see how this movie has become a catalyst for the African diaspora all over the world to re-think and re-imagine their identify. It is not just a fantasy that imagines a perfect world without problems but one in which good redeems a hopeless present. Here is where Theology comes in. Wakanda is a great picture of what the Jewish writers envisioned as the Kingdom of God coming to Earth. It does not happen through power or violence but through invitation and outreach. This is the type of Christ-like upside-down power that the white Evangelical church in this country has forgotten. When we align ourselves with those who protect guns and against refugees we have failed to understand the very heart of the gospel. I could say much more but for now, let those who have ears hear.
Black Panther is an invitation for new Postcolonial imaginations to emerge. I call on Latin Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders to give us their version of a hopeful future. Our world will be richer for it. Let the forgotten find their voice, not only of pain but also of creativity, joy and transformation.
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A year after I posted this, I wrote a blog going more into the actual architecture of Wakanda. To read that blog, click here.