This book examines Black Panther not only as a film grounded in Afro-futurism, but also as an invitation for viewers to think about relevant real-world social questions about identity, liberation, and racial justice, ultimately posing the question of how Black Panther invites a reimagining of Blackness.

Afrofuturism in Black Panther: Gender, Identity, and the Re-making of Blackness, through an interdisciplinary and intersectional analysis of Black Panther, discusses the importance of superheroes and the ways in which they are especially important to Black fans. Aside from its global box office success, Black Panther paves the way for future superhero narratives due to its underlying philosophy to base the story on a narrative that is reliant on Afro-futurism. The film’s storyline, the book posits, leads viewers to think about relevant real-world social questions as it taps into the cultural zeitgeist in an indelible way. Contributors to this collection approach Black Panther not only as a film, but also as Afrofuturist imaginings of an African nation untouched by colonialism and antiblack racism: the film is a map to alternate states of being, an introduction to the African Diaspora, a treatise on liberation and racial justice, and an examination of identity. As they analyze each of these components, contributors pose the question: how can a film invite a reimagining of Blackness?

Preface

Zeinabu irene Davis

Chapter 1: I Dream a World: Black Panther and the Re-Making of Blackness

Renée T. White

Chapter 2: The Power in Numbers: Ensemble Stunt Performance in Black Panther and Histories of Practice

Lauren Steiner

Chapter 3: From Expressivity to Equanimity: New Black Action in Black Panther

Wayne Wong

Chapter 4: Paid the Cost to be the Boss: Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther, and the Future of the Black Biopic

Mikal J. Gaines

Chapter 5: Let Ayo Have a Girlfriend: Resisting Black Lesbian Erasure on Twitter

Sarah E. S. Sinwell

Chapter 6: “Tell Me a Story Baba”: Black Panther and Wakanda’s Foreign Policy in the Age of Neo-liberalism

Clarence Lusane

Chapter 7: The Underground Railroads as Afrofuturism: Enslaved Blacks that Imagined Freedom, Future, and Space

dann j. Broyld

Chapter 8: The Evolution of Dora Milaje: Wakanda’s Greatest Warriors in Comics and Film

Josh Truelove

Chapter 9: “The Prince Will Now Have the Strength of the Black Panther Stripped Away”: Reading Disability and Queerness in Killmonger

Dominique Young

Chapter 10: Only When She Wants To: Code-Switching in Black Panther

Paul Moffett

Chapter 11: The Dore Milaje in Real Life: A Continuing Legacy of African Warriors

Myron T. Strong, K. Sean Chaplin, and Giselle Greenidge

Chapter 12: Echoes of the History of Black Utopian Visions, “Black Manhood,” and Black Feminism in the Making of Black Panther

Dolita Cathcart

Chapter 13: Tradition, Purpose, and Technology: An Archaeological Take on the Role of Technological Progress in Black Panther

Shayla Monroe

Chapter 14: Reflections on Black Panther and the Traditions of Third Cinema

Cynthia Baron

Chapter 15: The Depiction of Homeschooling, Black Identity, and Political Thought in the Film Black Panther

Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman

Chapter 16: Two Paths to the Future: Radical Cosmopolitanism and Counter-Colonial Dignity in Black Panther

Neal Curtis

Chapter 17: My Blood Right: A Critical Analysis of Black Panther’s Killmonger, Colonialism, and Hybrid Identity

Gabriel A. Cruz

Chapter 18: The Other Worlds of Black Panther’s Purple Heart-Shaped Herb

Paul Karolczyk

About the Contibutors