(Marvel Studios)
The impact of “Black Panther” hasn’t just been felt in pop culture — the economics of the fictional nation of Wakanda has made the film the perfect centerpiece for a Dartmouth College class.
Donald Steinberg, former deputy administrator for the United States Agency for International Development, has his students developing a 120-page paper espousing what T’Challa’s country might do with its technology to help assist nations around it like he promised at the United Nations at the film’s end, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. By the end of the class, though, I had four people come up and volunteer to be ‘deputy ministers’ to put the process together,” said Steinberg who noted the Wakanda’s inclusion in the class was inspired in part by the “goosebumps” he felt as T’Challa announced he’d end the country’s isolationist policy for its technology.
The class, titled, “The Challenge of Global Poverty: Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It,” has the students laying out Wakanda’s foreign policy plans for distributing $400 million to help Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda as well as Oakland, Calif., which played a part in the $1.3 billion worldwide grossing film.
As the class begins to prep the paper, THR reported Brookings Institution, the Ford Foundation and the National Youth Foundation have already requested the report.
In response to the class, several Twitter users have been buzzing with excitement.
“This movie continues to amaze me and how it has impacted the world on so many levels.”
“How many of us would have full degrees if each time [watching the movie] counting! 😂”
“*stays up all night frantically applying to Dartmouth*”
