African Culture In Black Panther

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After watching Black Panther this weekend I realized that I was absolutely fascinated with the African culture aspects of the movie. The land of Wakanda, a fictional African nation made up by marvel comics, which is represented by the various African tribes and rich clothing (Chutel & Kazeem, 2018) but one of the cultures that stood out to me the most was a fictional character in the movie who wore a lip plate. After researching the various African tribes who are traditionally known for this ritual I stumbled across the rich and enchanting culture of the Mursi tribe which is located in southern Ethiopia in the Omo valley (Obamwonyi, 2016). The Mursi tribes are known to be nomads, meaning not having a fixed residence and moving from place to place and usually …show more content…

In the year 1994 only about 3,163 people identified as Mursi while only about 3,158 actually spoke Surmic as their first language (Mursi People, 1). The Mursi people have been recognized to be aggressive by tourist however the Mursi tribe lives an egalitarian lifestyle (Obamwonyi 2016). They live a pretty settled life, and when the Mursi aren’t herding cattle or depending heavily on cultivation, they have room for music and other recreational enjoyment (Turton, 2015). The Mursi tribe are heavily known for their aesthetic in beauty and their embellishments. The Mursi people are mostly bald, even the women, and therefore they wear different headgears which are made from unconventional items. These headgears are made from cow horns, insects, bones, and even clay (Obamwonyi, 2016). They also rub their entire bodies with clay to protect themselves from the extreme dry weather conditions, but they also consider it a form of ornamentation (Obamwonyi, 2016). Another form of embellishment for the Mursi people is the tattooing of different patterns on their body with ash (Obamwonyi,