Afronowism and Afrofuturism: A Kinesic and Proxemic Study of Black Panther.

Abstract

This research explores Afronowism and Afrofuturism in Ryan Coogler's 2018 film Black Panther from a conceptual framework drawn from Edward Hall's Proxemics theory and Ray Birdwhistell's Kinesics theory. The main goal is to investigate how characters’ body language and spatial interactions depict African cultural diversity and Afrofuturist ideologies. Drawing on the theories of Kinesics and Proxemics, the study explores the fundamental connections between cultural heritage and Afrofuturism as reflected in the nonverbal communication of the main characters i.e., T' Challa and Kill Monger, among others. The article argues that using the Afronowist motifs, the movie challenges historical stereotypes about African culture while also presenting an Afrofuturist perspective through the contrasting utopian ideologies of the main characters. The research uses a triangulation technique based on three different methods i.e., film visualization, beat and beat analysis, and a descriptive qualitative method to explore the Afronowist motifs as well as the Afrofuturist ideologies that represent an empowering image of Africans and African Americans. The study hopes to make a contribution to the newly emerging field of Afronowism as well as that of Afrofuturism in the context of African American film studies.