Reconstructing black identity: The Black Panther, Frantz Fanon and Achilles Mbembe in conversation

• Main Author: Jaco Beyers
• Format: Article
• Language: Afrikaans
• Published: AOSIS 2019-10-01
• Series: HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies
• Subjects: black identity; culture; race; religion; mbembe; fanon; black panther; postcolonialism
• Online Access: https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5469

It is dehumanising to identify people in terms of colour. Stereotyping and discrimination come with racial identification. Black identity has been expressed in different forms over the centuries. For a long period black identity was a constructed identity assigned to black people through a white-dominated matrix. After the end of slavery, efforts were made to reconstruct black identity. This developed into two divergent lines: one resulting in an illusionary identity as identified by Frantz Fanon and a second line of thought of a continued search for a true authentic black identity as explicated by the Cameroon-born philosopher Achilles Mbembe. This process of creating a new authentic black identity is still ongoing and viewed by some as a pessimistic futile attempt. An example of the ongoing attempt for establishing an authentic black identity is illustrated by the movie Black Panther, which attempts to portray a different side of being black.