ABSTRACT
The Black Panther film’s US debut weekend not only took place in the midst of Black History Month but during Carnival Week celebrations for communities who honor the pre-Lenten festivities. Black Diaspora carnival celebrations serve as community-centered rituals that honor African resistance to enslavement within the Americas and hold a space for Black excellence and Black joy. Focused on the community-centered #WakandaForever pageantry, festivities, costuming, and play that marked Black Panther’s opening weekends throughout the Black Diaspora, this chapter uses theories of Afrofuturism, cultural performance, and ritual performance to map this phenomenon as a spontaneous iteration Black-world carnival.
