Black Panther and European Colonialism in Africa
Using Black Panther scenes to pre-teach vocabulary
We are so excited to invite Jenna Vandenberg to be this week’s guest writer on the Lit Think blog. She helps demonstrate that English teachers aren’t the only ones challenging students to use pop culture to better understand their world.
LitThink readers know that media and pop culture are full of history references, rhetorical devices, and nods to various cultural moments. But students sometimes need help to see these nuances in the songs, shows, and movies they consume. As a social studies teacher, I love pointing out historical references in popular video games and movies.
Black Panther gives us cultural references about colonialism…finally!
I was thrilled when Black Panther came out, because there is a dearth of references to colonialism in Africa in the zeitgeist. There are zillions of picture books, blockbuster movies, and best-selling novels about World Wars and the Age of Exploration, but it’s been hard to find any pop culture references to the time in the late 1800s when Europeans attempted to control the entire continent of Africa.
Until Black Panther.
Not only does the 2018 Marvel film reference colonialism, but it does so through an Afro-centric lens, in which African culture and autonomy are celebrated.
Black Panther is set in Wakanda, a fictional African nation exclusively and secretly chock-full of vibranium, a Marvel-imaged metal that can store and release kinetic energy. While the world sees Wakanda as a struggling sub-Saharan nation, it’s actually the most technologically advanced nation in the world. The movie follows Wakanda’s dynastic struggle and leaders' conflicting feelings on whether to share their vibranium and technology with the world.
Tucked amongst Black Panther’s scenes of sci-fi technology and fight sequences are several references about European colonialism in Africa.
Wakanda and Colonial History
As a World History teacher, I spend nearly six weeks teaching my 10th-grade students about European colonialism in Africa.
In 1884, European leaders met in Berlin and divided up Africa amongst themselves. No Africans were invited to the meetings. The result was a new map in which Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, and Belgium created countries and controlled nearly all of Africa. Armed with newfangled machine guns, colonizers headed South.
Surrounded by a fog of paternalistic racism, Europeans extracted African resources under the guise of bringing civilization and enlightenment to Africa. In Congo, Belgium’s King Leopold II ordered his men to brutally force the extraction of rubber and ivory from the colony. King Leopold II became the richest man in Europe and was celebrated as a great philanthropist while over 10 million Congolese died.
Africans naturally resisted this European encroachment. By the 1960s, most African nations had wrestled control back from Europe, but the effects of colonialism touch every aspect of life today for people across the globe.
Because this colonial era is relatively unknown to most students, I begin the unit by teaching basic vocabulary. I use Black Panther scenes to do this, as the movie imagines Wakanda as an African nation that successfully resisted colonialism.
Using Black Panther Scenes to Pre-teach Vocabulary
On the first day of the unit, I begin the class by showing students the opening scene from Black Panther (from the opening credits until the 1:45 mark), which tells the story of vibranium and how Wakanda came to be. This provides some quick context for students who haven’t seen the movie or need a refresher.
Then, I give my students this note-catcher which lists vocabulary words, movie quotes/timestamps, and two spaces to write their thoughts: One space for the beginning of the unit and another spot for reflection after the unit.
For each vocabulary word, I play the corresponding scene in the movie. Then, I instruct students to complete the column with the prompt: “Pre-learning thoughts: What do you think the word means? How might it connect to Africa during the 1800s and 1900s?”
For example, the first word is “colonialism.” I show students two scenes. In the first scene, a White American comes up behind a Black Wakandan doctor. The doctor says “Don’t scare me like that, colonizer!” (1:09:20 - 1:10:00). In the next scene, there is a quick monologue including the words “...the sun will never set on the Wakandan Empire…” (1:29:50 - 1:30:55). From these clips, students might write down that colonialism might have something to do with white folks and/or empires. That will be good enough for now.
We continue through the process for the words diaspora, foreign aid, colonial exploitation, natural resources, and media bias. The time stamps for each scene are on the note catcher, along with a quote of the scene. After we’ve watched all the scene clips for all six vocabulary words, students should have the “pre-teach” column of their note-catcher filled out.
Then I collect the note-catchers and save them until the end of the unit. For the next six weeks, I teach my students all about European colonialism in Africa. (My entire unit can be accessed here for free.) After the unit has concluded, we return to Black Panther.
It will hit different the second time around.
I pass back the note-catchers I’ve been saving for the past six weeks, and students get to see what they’d originally thought about the vocabulary words.
Then I play the same scenes from Black Panther and give students a space to reflect. The prompt reads: “Post-learning thoughts: What does the word mean? How does it connect to Africa during the 1800s and 1900s?”
This time, while watching the colonialism clips, students will laugh at the “don’t sneak up on me, colonizer!” comment because they’ll understand the joke. They’ll connect the “sun will never set on the Wakandan Empire” with the famous quote about how the sun will never set on the British Empire. Their answers are much more reflective, and students can see how much they’ve learned. As a bonus, they’ll realize that studying history makes pop culture even more enjoyable.
If you are interested in diving further into Black Panther, I recommend checking out KidLitCrit for their list of resources and links on teaching Black Panther.
Thanks for reading!
In addition to teaching World History (and parenting and running and being obsessed with Seattle Mariners baseball), I write the newsletter Jenna Repeats History. Each week the newsletter features a historical book to read, a place to explore, and a lesson to teach. The lessons include student worksheets and teacher slide decks, all available to download for free.
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