Wakanda as a Vigilant Techno-Utopia

Territory, Sovereignty, and Control Technology in Black Panther

Abstract

This article analyzes the social construction of space in Black Panther (Coogler, 2018) through the representation of Wakanda as an African techno-utopia. From a sociocultural perspective, it examines the articulation between territory, border, technology, surveillance, and sovereignty in the configuration of a fictional nation that challenges colonial imaginaries about Africa while simultaneously reproducing forms of state control over bodies, data, and mobility. The analysis draws on contributions from imaginative geography, critical cartography, Afrofuturism, surveillance, and contemporary transformations of the public and private spheres. The central argument positions Wakanda as an ambivalent imaginary: while projecting an anticolonial and technologically sovereign political possibility, it reveals tensions between emancipation, secrecy, security, and the technological administration of social life.

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