Black Panther and Philosophy. Группа авторов
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of Africana studies at Oberlin College.
Kevin J. Porter has been an avid fan of superhero comics, graphic novels, television programs, movies, and collectibles for over 40 years. After all this time, he still keeps by his bedside a fresh stack of single issues or trade paperback collections that he reads nearly every evening, sometimes staying up much later than he should even though he really ought to know better by now. After coming to the painful realization that he just wasn’t going to be the next Stan Lee or Frank Miller, Kevin pursued his true calling as an academic and is currently Associate Professor and Department Chair of English at the University of Texas at Arlington. This chapter marks his first contribution to a volume in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series.
Jolynna Sinanan has spent the past two decades watching movies when she should have been reading philosophy, reading philosophy when she could have been watching movies, and writing about neither. She is a researcher in media and anthropology and her fieldwork in Trinidad (which earned her a War Dog tattoo) is the subject of the books Webcam and Visualising Facebook (with Daniel Miller) and Social Media in Trinidad, where there are short sections on Breaking Bad and Paranormal Activity and an image of Iron Man in social media in Trinidad.
Ryan Solinsky is a spinal cord injury medicine physician and scientist at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. He lives so engrossed in the small field of spinal cord injury medicine that he can watch a Marvel movie and immediately start to think about neural connections and their correlations to societal undertones. He and co-author Dr. Wendorf grew up in the same small northern Wisconsin town and played on the same hockey line together.
Benjamin D. Wendorf, PhD, is a former Zamboni driver, now Associate Professor of History at Quinsigamond Community College and a lecturer at Clark University, specializing in Africa and the African Diaspora. He has published on neo-African religions in the Americas and is working on a manuscript on African Diaspora railway labor for Ohio University Press. In a previous life, he was an author and editor of NHL statistical analyses, and co-founder of the NHL research website Hockey Graphs. If you are concerned about the double life he has been living, understand that both things can be done wearing the same outfit. Ben is the quiet one in the office he shares with Michael J. Gormley.
Mark D. White is Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, where he teaches courses in philosophy, economics, and law. He has edited or co-edited seven volumes in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, including ones on Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and the Avengers; contributed chapters to many more; and authored books on Captain America, Batman, and Civil War. As of this writing, he is still waiting to hear back about his application to the Agents of Wakanda.
J. Lenore Wright is the Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning (ATL) and Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies & Philosophy at Baylor University. Wright’s scholarly interests include theories and modes of self-representation and feminist philosophy. She is the author of two books: Athena to Barbie: Bodies, Archetypes, and Women’s Search for Self (2021) and The Philosopher’s ‘I’: Autobiography and the Search for the Self (2006). She serves as an expert reviewer for the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics and a regular reviewer for Feminist Philosophy Quarterly. Wright is the co-editor of Called to Teach: Excellence, Commitment, and Community in Christian Higher Education (2020), and she is an academic consultant for the International Organization for Student Success, publisher of the College Portfolio for Success. Wright received Baylor’s Outstanding Professor Award in 2008/9 for distinctive teaching.
Introduction A Few Words from the Wakandan International Outreach Centre
Edwardo Pérez and Timothy E. Brown
When the character of Black Panther first appeared in Fantastic Four no. 52 in July 1966, legendary creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby didn’t just write a story about another hero with extraordinary powers, they birthed the first Black superhero. For Lee, “it was a very normal thing,” because “A good many of our people here in America are not white. You’ve got to recognize that and you’ve got to include them in whatever you do.”1
While it might’ve seemed normal to Lee, Black Panther’s (and Wakanda’s) significance cannot be overstated. After all, the first Black superhero isn’t just a Black superhero, he’s the King of an African nation endowed with otherworldly powers, and Wakanda isn’t just an African nation, it’s the most advanced civilization the Earth has ever seen. Indeed, it shouldn’t be lost on us that when Black Panther was introduced (during the Civil Rights era of the 1960s) the thought of a Black President – or an advanced, futuristic African society – would have been, well, unthinkable for too many people.
Perhaps Stan was being modest. Or, perhaps Stan was just being Stan, using his platform, his voice, and his characters to tackle the issues of society in a way only superheroes in comics can. Indeed, one of the most noteworthy columns Stan published, tackling social issues, was a “Stan’s Soapbox” in 1968 that began with the following statement:
Let’s lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. But, unlike a team of costumed super-villains, they can’t be halted with a punch in the snoot, or a zap from a ray gun. The only way to destroy them is to expose them – to reveal them for the insidious evils they really are.2
And ended with the following words:
[…] Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own merits. Sooner or later, if man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill our hearts with tolerance. For then, and only then, will we be truly worthy of the concept that man was created in the image of God – a God who calls us ALL – His children.3
It’s a powerful column, one that not only resonates with the issues of today’s world, but that also reflects the message of Ryan Coogler’s 2018 film: that we are all “one single tribe.”
Of course, to be fair, Black Panther isn’t a perfect hero and Wakanda isn’t a perfect nation. T’Challa recognizes this in the film and so do the contributors of this volume, who analyze the character of Black Panther and the nation of Wakanda (seen in the film and comics) with a critical, philosophical eye, tackling issues of racism, colonialism, slavery, sexuality, feminism, politics, morality, spirituality, Afrofuturism, technology, and the wonders of vibranium with a mixture of insight and humor that not only reflects the nature of this philosophical series, but that also honors the tradition Stan (and Jack) started all those years ago.
Yibambe!
Ed and Tim
Notes
1 1. Joshua Ostroff, “Marvel comics icon Stan Lee talks superhero diversity and creating Black Panther,” Huffington Post, September 1, 2016, at https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/09/01/stan-lee-marvel-superhero-diversity_n_11198460.html.
2 2. Stan Lee on Instagram: “Stan’s Soapbox, 1968,” at https://www.instagram.com/p/CBBlrsOp3Ox/?hl=en-gb.
3 3. Lee.
1 Challenge Day Tradition and Revolution in Wakanda
Armond Boudreaux