Repatriation in Black Panther

    One of the parts that I found most interesting in the Black Panther film was the way in which the movie introduced Killmonger into the narrative. Before we know that the child seen playing basketball at the beginning of the film is a young Killmonger, we are first introduced to him as he and Klaw are staging at robbery at the Museum of Great Britain. Killmonger is initially admiring the objects on display in wing of the museum that features West African cultural items, and begins asking a collection expert about the origins the museum's items. With one item in particular, Killmonger confronts the expert about the misattributed origins of the object, saying, "Nah... it was taken by British soldiers in Benin, but it's from Wakanda. And it's made out of vibranium. Don't trip, I'ma take off your hands for you." When the expert objects, Killmonger replies, "How do you think your ancestors got these? You think they paid a fair price? Or did they take it, like they took everything else?"

Shortly thereafter, Killmonger, Klaw, and their crew stage an elaborate escape with the vibranium artifact. Even though the group steals this item primarily for the raw material that can be resold at a high price, this act can be interpreted as a form of repatriation, taking the item from the Western institution that initially stole it and returning it. The fact that the collections expert misattributes the origin of the item (saying that she thinks it's from Benin) speaks to the way in which many items in art collections—whether that be African, Indigenous, or Pacific Islander items—have been removed from their original context or cultural understanding; in this process, these institutions have lost information regarding the origins or intend use of these items because of the historic robbery, colonialism, or salvage ethnography that brought them there. 

Killmonger sees through this, though, and his knowledge of the item is exactly what allows him to understand the material value of the tool that the expert has no knowledge of. Furthermore, I think this scene is particularly relevant to Killmonger's history. Throughout the rest of the film, we learn that Killmonger, too, feels like he's been removed from the cultural context he originally came from, having been abandoned as an orphan in America after his uncle, the king of Wakanda, murdered his father, thereby denying him the opportunity to return to his home and exist in the space that he's heard so many stories about. Even though the item that Killmonger takes from the museum does not end returning in its full form to Wakanda (thereby not fully living up to the repatriation Killmonger hints at in his dialogue with the collections expert), this event sets off a string events that eventually allows Killmonger himself to return from the Western society he's been left in back to Wakanda. In that sense, this museum heist acts as a repatriation for Killmonger, returning him to the cultural context he feels he's been denied and living up to the purpose he's set himself on a path towards.