Читать книгу Black Panther and Philosophy - Группа авторов - Страница 41

African philosophy offers a stark contrast to typical Western contributions to the global justice debate. Western views tend to focus on how best to distribute resources because they’re concerned with answering the question “what would you like us to do about it?” We do not spend enough time around typical Wakandans to get a good sense of their way of life. But the Wakandans featured in the film seem to embody this Western mindset. Beyond their borders exists only “the other,” who is to be feared or on occasion assisted, but not valued. The foreigners we encounter in the movie are to be pitied (the Nigerian girls being kidnapped) or feared and mistrusted (Klaus, Killmonger, and even Agent Ross, to some extent). There is no sense in which foreigners should be valued for their shared humanity or what we can learn from “the stranger.”

My argument is not that traditional African ideas should have been the dominant thinking of Wakandan society. Rather, my point is that it is strange that such ideas do not even feature on the lips of the elders or some characters, and given the long history of isolation, have not been the norm for a long time. The fact that N’Jabu and Killmonger are radicalized outside of Wakanda precisely reinforces this point – those who do go beyond the borders are the ones who begin to view others as “our people.” The fact that Wakanda had not yet changed its position suggests that very few citizens ever meaningfully interacted with those beyond their borders, thus reinforcing their parochial perspective.

Ultimately, we see that T’Challa is convinced of the need to respond to the injustice of the world. Yet, despite what T’Challa says in his speech to the United Nations at the end of the film, his decision to “no longer watch from the shadows” appears to be motivated by the need to help, not by a sense of oneness with all of humanity, as understood through African philosophy.