Anti-Colonist futures

Directed by Ryan Coogler, Black Panther is an afrofuturist film through and through. It investigates topics that are incredibly relevant to African history and modern-day African-American issues. To me, most interestingly is the relation to the pre-colonial occupation of Africa, and what an African country/ region would look like with no European influence. The partition of Africa which occurred late 19th and early 20th century resulted in the majority of once-free African nations, rapidly under the rule of different European countries. These European countries brought influence, disease, slavery, and misfortune for the worse and I’d argue that this is irrefutable.

Black Panther, shows an interesting idea for a region, Wakanda. This place is hidden from the world, and incredibly wealthy due to a mineral, vibranium which possesses seemingly magical powers. Wakanda becomes more advanced, culturally significant, and freer than any country in history. To me, this idea of a free country, without outside influence being so successful is really interesting. It makes you think if ancient countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria, etc. were never colonized, would they have resulted in such prosperous nations? I’d argue probably not, just due to the fact of some countries received very little outside influence and still have not reached the world stage of science at the level of Wakanda, but it’s a fun thought.