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      The Invisibilities of an Afrofuturistic utopia - the erasure of Black queer bodies in Black Panther

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          Abstract

          Although Black Panther (Coogler 2018) has been revered as a cultural text that presents an Afrofuturistic way Black people could imagine and see themselves, it is not void of societal prejudices. Such prejudices include the treatment of Black queer people in the film's narrative. Much like the society in which Black queer people find themselves, the kingdom of Wakanda in Black Panther fails to acknowledge and depict their humanity and existence. As such, this article interrogates Black Panther's erasure of Black queer individuals from its plot and narrative. It explores the complicated position that Black queer individuals find themselves in, in a society where they are in constant danger of violent erasure from the public discourse. Drawing on a close reading of the Black Panther's narrative, this article argues that, as a cultural text, Black Panther fails to employ ubuntu in its treatment of all identities. At the core of my reading of Black Panther is a critique of how the Afrofuturistic kingdom of Wakanda as a symbol of affirmative Black identity mirrors the same prejudices of present society by not recognising the existence of Black queer identities, erasing them from reality. I ultimately argue that Black Panther's potential to be reflective and inclusive is not optimally reached.

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          Most cited references48

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          Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing

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            Decoloniality as the Future of Africa

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              Ubuntu in South Africa: a sociolinguistic perspective to a pan-African concept

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                it
                Image & Text
                IT
                Department of Visual Arts at the University of Pretoria (Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa )
                1021-1497
                2617-3255
                2022
                : 36
                : 1-21
                Affiliations
                [01] Pretoria orgnameUniversity of South Africa South Africa mntunml@ 123456unisa.ac.za
                Article
                S1021-14972022000100003 S1021-1497(22)00003600003
                10.17159/2617-3255/2022/n36a3
                da9b7720-4eeb-4187-82ca-89ba346668ed

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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                Page count
                Figures: 0, Tables: 0, Equations: 0, References: 51, Pages: 21
                Product

                SciELO South Africa

                Self URI: Full text available only in PDF format (EN)
                Categories
                Articles

                African society,Erasure,Afrofuturism,Ubuntu,Black queer individuals,Black Panther

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