Black Panther through a Postcolonial Lens

The postcolonial power paradigm

This essay was written by Krishnav Tapuriah - a high school student from New Jersey, USA

Throughout global history, colonial regimes have dominated civilizations. While the impacts of colonization have always been harsh, the severity significantly accelerated with the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which reached its height in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Africans were being used for enslaved labor, causing them to lose parts of their identity due to conformity to colonial expectations. Although the Slave Trade was banned in the nineteenth century, the effects on African societies in America have continued to this day. This dynamic is explored in the 2018 Marvel film Black Panther (2018), which emphasizes the importance of reclaiming cultural heritage in a postcolonial world. Black Panther critiques colonialism by highlighting how Wakanda’s shift from an isolationist nation to a global power promotes African empowerment while helping others overcome colonial trauma and paving a path toward unity.

The colonial practice of constantly taking resources from African colonies demonstrates the role of colonialism in diminishing African autonomy. When Killmonger visits a British museum and asks the curator where an artifact is from, she says that it is from Benin. He points out that she is incorrect and says that “it was taken by British soldiers in Benin, but it’s from Wakanda, and it’s made out of vibranium” (16:34). By calling out the true roots of the artifact, Killmonger shows how colonial regimes have deprived African history of its genuine authenticity by taking over parts of African culture. This notion aligns with Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism, in which he states that the West strips colonies of their heritage and justifies colonial rule by emphasizing the colonies’ exoticism and lack of civilization. The belief that the artifact is from Benin as opposed to Wakanda also demonstrates that colonialism results in African heritage being misrepresented, as it is only shown through the lens of the colonizer. Although the British had taken the artifact from an African nation, the museum refuses to acknowledge this action. The curator is ignorant when Killmonger says that it belongs to his people, and she refuses to recognize the possibility that he is correct about it being from Wakanda. These actions demonstrate how colonizers frame their colonies’ narratives without giving them a voice. Killmonger, angered by the museum curator’s lack of understanding of where the artifact is from, asks her, “How do you think your ancestors got these? Do you think they paid a fair price?” (16:47). By sarcastically asking her if she thinks it was “fair,” he emphasizes the unjust nature of Western colonial practices. Similarly to the museum curator, Ulysses Klaue, a criminal who sells black market goods, views the resources of African nations as available for extraction. He compares Wakanda to “El Dorado” (56:25), which is a legendary city thought to exist in South America and contain large amounts of gold. Dorado translates directly into gold, so Klaue’s comparison of Wakanda to El Dorado highlights his belief that Wakanda can be used by white societies for its resources, neglecting its rich culture and civilization. This dynamic directly relates to the Scramble for Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where European nations colonized Africa in order to extract highly profitable resources like rubber, diamonds, and gold. Klaue’s racist attitude throughout the movie and his views on African society as uncivilized demonstrate the broader colonial perspective that African nations are unable to self-govern and instead require a more civilized society like Western nations to colonize them. Wakanda has seen these hardships faced by colonized African nations, which has caused it to take a more isolationist approach.

Wakanda’s decision to remain isolated, despite its military and technological advancement, expresses how centuries of colonial suffering from other African nations have led to its fear of being exploited for resources. Wakanda’s desire for seclusion can be understood through Frantz Fanon’s studies on the psychological impacts of colonialism. Though never directly colonized, Wakanda’s views on the hardships incurred by other colonized African nations for hundreds of years demonstrate how it is still suffering from the lasting trauma of other African peoples. Fanon explains that the despair that Wakanda has seen from African colonies has caused it to avoid putting itself in a situation where it would be forced to assimilate or lose any part of its identity. King T’Challa adopts this mindset and says, “I am not the king of all people. I am the king of Wakanda, and it is my responsibility to make sure our people are safe” (1:15:08). T’Challa is apprehensive of engaging with the outside world because he knows that it puts the people of Wakanda at risk of being colonized. He realizes that if Wakanda were forced to share its power and resources, it would have to abide by the needs and wants of other countries, potentially requiring it to give up part of its cultural identity. While T’Challa prioritizes the well-being of Wakanda, he also deals with moral dilemmas about Wakanda’s isolationism, which prevents him from helping countries and people in need. His father, T’Chaka, tells him that he is a “good man with a good heart, and it is hard for a good man to be king” (32:55). This internal conflict demonstrates the challenge of balancing the safety of Wakanda with the uplifting of others. The uncertainty T’Challa faces relates to Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of ambivalence within a postcolonial structure. He wants to embrace certain aspects of isolationism and others of globalism. Nevertheless, he understands that the two directly contradict each other, and he will not be able to do both. He decides, in the beginning, to continue with an isolationist approach. He even tells an American CIA agent Everett Ross that the rumors of Wakanda having great quantities of vibranium are simply lies, and Ross believes this, saying that he thinks Wakanda is mostly “shepherds, textiles, [and] cool outfits” (56:18). The outside world’s primitive view of Wakanda depicts Wakanda’s commitment to keeping its actual state hidden. It presents itself as a poor and simple nation to the West, not revealing the technological innovation behind its layers. The West believes this facade, as it aligns with the colonial view of African nations being uncivilized and inferior. However, Wakanda’s isolationist policy prevents it from connecting with the African diaspora, especially those who are still facing the ongoing struggles of colonization.

Killmonger’s expression of the pain caused by isolationism reflects the negative effects of isolationism on promoting African unity. Killmonger was raised in Oakland in a society filled with poverty and institutionalized racism. With the death of his father at a young age, he did not have exposure to his ancestral Wakandan roots. His life in America is a representation of the life that many Africans around the world have faced after colonization. His lack of cultural understanding makes it hard for him to fit in with American society or Wakandan society. This notion reflects Homi Bhabha’s theory of unhomeliness, in which someone has a shared identity between two cultures but does not feel a sense of belonging in either. His lack of a home causes him to take extreme actions in an attempt to prevent similar problems for those like him. He embodies Fanon’s theory of the white mask, as he starts to believe that the only way to escape his struggles and help others is by impersonating the colonizer and utilizing their methods of oppressing others. This mindset leads to his desire to create a powerful military that can aggressively dominate nations that mistreat Africans throughout the globe. When he returns to Wakanda, his violent methods of helping others are questioned. In response, he states that he learned “from [his] enemies” (1:50:47), revealing his craving to become the colonizer. His pain is caused by an absence of support growing up, and he states that “there’s about two billion people all over the world that looks like us, but their lives are a lot harder” (1:14:38). The anger with which he says this line, echoed through his tone and facial expressions, demonstrates that Wakanda’s secrecy comes at a cost, reflecting his interventionist ideals. When he is dying, he even says, “bury me in the ocean with my ancestors that jumped from the ships ‘cause they knew death was better than bondage” (1:58:09). This reference to Africans’ historical preference of death over slavery highlights how the conditions enslaved people went through were worse than dying itself, and he feels as if he is in a similar position. Wakanda’s isolationist practices end up hurting those who could have used the vast resources and technology the nation has to offer. They leave the African diaspora vulnerable and disempowered, which leads to T’Challa reflecting on a potential need for change.

T’Challa’s realization that African unity is necessary for the overall betterment of society results in his Pan-African approach, where he tries to eliminate Wakandan isolationist policy to improve conditions for Africans around the world. Although he was once committed to his father’s policies of non-intervention, with the belief that he should center his focus on Wakanda, his interactions with Killmonger have exposed him to the shortcomings of Wakanda during a period of suffering for black people worldwide. He recognizes that despite facing significant challenges in the global landscape, he needs to abandon isolationism. When he is given the heart-shaped herb and begins to experience a surreal dream, he sees his father, T’Chaka, and tells him: “You were wrong! All of you were wrong to turn your backs on the rest of the world. We let the fear of our discovery stop us from doing what is right. No more” (1:37:20). T’Challa’s emphasis on his father being “wrong” shows a growing disparity from past Wakandan policies regarding isolation. T’Challa is unwilling for Wakanda to be a nation centered around “fear.” Rather, he wants it to be a nation that does “what is right” and helps the “rest of the world.” At that moment, T’Challa signals his desire to shift from a past of angst to a future that values Pan-African identity over self-preservation. T’Challa’s aspiration to redirect Wakanda to a nation that promotes inclusivity for all black people highlights his adoption of Garveyism, which is the ideology that people of African descent around the world should collectively cooperate and unite for greater dignity. He says that the current methods of Wakanda will be in effect “no more” because he is tired of seeing the suffering it causes people like Killmonger, who had significant potential but wasted it due to their harsh conditions growing up. Garveyism places a major focus on cultivating African societies that are independent of white systems, and T’Challa realizes that the only way for other Africans to gain this economic and social independence is by gaining support from well-established African nations like Wakanda. Marcus Garvey highlights the importance of promoting the African diaspora, which Wakanda does by endorsing its new philosophy of empowering other countries.

T’Challa puts Wakanda’s technology and innovation at the forefront of its newly opened borders, using it to serve as a means of boosting African morale. After seeing the failure of isolationism first-hand, T’Challa notices that Wakandan technology can be used to reverse the long-term consequences of colonialism. He realizes that his method of uplifting can be different from Killmonger’s vision and cause little harm to Wakanda or other societies, with vibranium, futuristic weapons, and technology being at the forefront of helping others. When Agent Ross, a CIA agent from the United States, is wounded after taking a bullet for Nakia, he is taken to Wakanda to be healed by its advanced technology. Shuri calls Agent Ross a “colonizer” (1:09:35) and mentions that there is “another broken white boy for us to fix” (1:01:08). However, by coming to terms with the fact that technology can be used to help those who have been historically considered the enemy, T’Challa and Shuri state that it can also be used to help other Africans, who have been considered allies. They reinforce the notion that Wakanda is not dependent on the West but rather possesses the ability to be self-reliant. This reversal of colonial roles indicates Wakanda’s innovative strength in its ability to provide global aid. As a country that has built everything from within, Wakanda has modernized entirely without Western support. Wakandan knowledge is not dependent on Western colonial structures but rather unique in its own fashion. Its goal extends beyond helping nations resist colonization but instead allows them to fight against generational cycles of poverty, inequality, and systemic oppression. Through its technology, Wakanda is at a place where healing and unity are at the center of its mission. Wakanda can share its innovative knowledge with other third-world countries on its own terms in order to enhance their social and economic outcomes. By rejecting colonial stereotypes of Africans, Wakanda uses its resources to share its accomplishments with the rest of the world rather than keeping them for itself.

T’Challa ends up positioning Wakanda to adopt globalism and abandon isolationism to promote a pan-African identity, making use of Wakandan outreach and presence to support other countries in their paths to success. T’Challa acknowledges that African countries around the world have had their history stolen, been isolated, and experienced the pain of diaspora, but they also have a significant potential for growth. As a result, he builds an outreach center in Oakland where his uncle was killed and puts Nakia and Shuri in charge of it. This outreach center is one of the first initiatives toward his new vision of African support. Its location is not only a tribute to his uncle but also a broader representation of its dedication toward uplifting the underserved Africans across the globe, with Oakland being a city largely populated by African Americans, many of whom are facing poverty. T’Challa helps other Africans around the world because of his belief that Wakanda has a responsibility to strengthen those suffering from colonial and postcolonial trauma. Even though Wakanda was never colonized, the rest of Africa was, resulting in many African descendants around the world being cut off from their heritage. T’Challa’s global empowerment could help all of them regain it. The outreach helps black individuals claim their own identity without having to put on a Western front. Although Africans have often felt the need to accept white practices in order to assimilate into Western society, they now do not need to since T’Challa is giving them another way out. With a newfound identity, they can build stronger cultural and ancestral ties, rejecting Bhabha’s mimicry and Fanon’s white mask in the process. While these two theories have commonly been used to describe attempts from the colonized to imitate their colonizer, Wakanda’s resources promote black sovereignty and autonomy through freedom. In alignment with Frantz Fanon’s theory of négritude, through Wakandan support, Africans can rediscover the identity that colonialism deprived them of. T’Challa’s concluding speech at the United Nations signifies that Wakanda is now taking an active role in ensuring the betterment of African and non-African communities around it: “Wakanda will no longer watch from the shadows. We cannot. We must not. We will work to be an example of how we, as brothers and sisters on this earth, should treat each other” (2:05:53). Wakanda has finally taken an entirely globalist stance, advocating for its desire to support others. The repetition of “we cannot, we must not” highlights its sense of responsibility in ensuring justice across the globe. By referring to the people of the United Nations, who all come from different backgrounds, as “brothers and sisters,” T’Challa promotes a unified identity for all people, showing how a postcolonial world should be rooted in mutual aid and respect.

Wakanda’s transformation from an isolationist nation to a global power represents the potential for a postcolonial utopia. Although Wakanda was never colonized, Black Panther demonstrates that African nations without colonization have unlimited potential and are able to play a role in the improvement of nations across the globe. Wakanda exemplifies a utopian society where technological advancement and preservation of culture can coexist. Through its adoption of pan-Africanism, Wakanda promotes a shared African identity and helps other nations reclaim their heritage. It symbolizes a world where traditionally marginalized communities, with cooperation and determination, can not only survive but also thrive.