‘Did He Freeze?’: Afrofuturism, Africana Womanism, and Black Panther’s Portrayal of the Women of Wakanda

ABSTRACT

Some have viewed the internationally acclaimed blockbuster hit, the Black Panther film, as feminist; meanwhile, others have highlighted its aspects of African culture focusing on its traditional elements and Afrofuturistic aspects. One of the main characters, Actress Lupita Nyong’o, who played Nakia said that Black Panther signifies a balanced representation of women and men, and she later alluded to feminism as she explained the balanced idyllic gender representation between the sexes. This study found that the roles of the leading women characters in this Afrofuturistic film—the top characters were derived from the IMDB’s list—represented Africana womanism. The women at the heart of this study are warriors including Nakia, a War Dog of Wakanda; Okoye, the first lieutenant of the Dora Milaje and Ayo, a member; Princess Shuri, the head of Wakanda’s technological division; the Queen Mother of Wakanda, Ramonda, who was King T’Challa and Princess Shuri’s mother; and the Merchant Tribe Elder and the Mining Tribe Elder of the Wakandan Tribal Council. The egalitarian relationship between the women and the men in the film, and the representation of the women, showed a revisioning of African history in the recreation of an Afrofuturistic present. Thereby, the women’s portrayal emerged from the wider egalitanian Wakandan society, which depicted a mythological African utopian nation, and yet, simultaneoulsy reignited an African historical reality.

KEYWORDS:

• Black panther
• Africana womanism
• qualitative studies
• representations of African women
• Afrofuturism

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Notes on contributors

Tiffany Thames Copeland

Tiffany Thames Copeland, Ph.D. is a professor of communications at Montgomery College. She earned her doctorate of philosophy degree from Howard University in 2020. Her specialty is investigating social media at the intersection of communications, culture, race, and liberation. Professor Copeland’s recent book is titled, ‘We Are Not Scared to Die’: Julius Malema and the New Movement for African Liberation. Her published poetry includes, ‘The Bob Marley Effect,’ in The Caribbean Writer, and ‘Let’s Celebrate el Día de los Muertos,’ forthcoming in the Afro-Hispanic Review. She also hosts and produces a web series called I am African with Dr. Tiffany. Professor Copeland studied social justice as a former Smithsonian Faculty Fellow for the Paul Peck Humanities Institute. She also sat on the President’s Advisory Committee for Equity and Inclusion at Montgomery College. Professor Copeland has travelled all throughout the world. Her goal is to use communication tools to become an agent of social change.