A couple of years back, I visited the British National Museum in London, England, with my wife. As we stood in front of the many Mesoamerican artifacts on display, objects that the hands of our ancestors had meticulously crafted, I was reminded of a scene from the Marvel film “Black Panther.” If you have seen the movie, I’m sure you remember which scene I am referring to. In it, the character Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, played by Michael B Jordan, stands in front of African artifacts at the fictional “Museum of Great Britain.”

The Museum Director soon approaches and offers to tell him where the artifacts had originated. After listening for a bit, Killmonger interjects and notes that the Fula tribe did not make a seventh-century war hammer in Benin. But rather “It was taken by British soldiers in Benin, but it’s from Wakanda. And it’s made out of Vibranium,” he then adds “Don’t trip—I’m gonna take it off your hands for you.”

When the director retorts that the artifacts are not for sale, Killmonger responds: “How do you think your ancestors got these? Do you think they paid a fair price? Or did they take it like they took everything else?”

Soon, the curator has collapsed to the floor. Killmonger tells her that She should have paid more attention to what she was drinking than to the galleries’ suspicious black man. He and his team, posing as EMTs, charge in, take out museum security, and escape with the artifact.

This scene caused an interesting discussion in the archaeological community and among museum professionals when the movie first came out. In an essay titled “Why museum professionals need to talk about Black Panther” Casey Haughin of John Hopkins wrote that Black Panther “presented the museum as an illegal mechanism of colonialism, and along with that, a space which does not even welcome those whose culture it displays.”

Now, I’m not gonna lie, part of me wished that I had my own team of highly skilled Nawa operatives with me at the museum in London. And that we were there to pull off a carefully orchestrated heist, liberating the objects of our Mesoamerican cultural inheritance and returning them to the land of their birth. Unfortunately, such acts of daring cultural restitution are the stuff of pure fantasy. More at home in the Marvel Cinematic Universe than in the real world.

 Or are they?

Your Hosts:

Kurly Tlapoyawa is an archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and filmmaker. His research covers Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the historical connections between the two regions. He is the author of numerous books and has presented lectures at the University of New Mexico, Yale University, San Diego State University, and numerous others. He is currently a professor of Chicano Studies at the Colegio Chicano del Pueblo, a free online educational institution.
@kurlytlapoyawa

Ruben Arellano Tlakatekatl is a scholar, activist, and professor of history. His research explores Chicana/Chicano indigeneity, Mexican indigenist nationalism, and Coahuiltecan identity resurgence. Other areas of research include Aztlan (US Southwest), Anawak (Mesoamerica), and Native North America. He has presented and published widely on these topics and has taught courses at various institutions. He currently teaches history at Dallas College – Mountain View Campus.
@Tlakatekatl

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