On the Care and Feeding of a Young Shuri: Raise Your Own at Home!

Let’s say you went to see Black Panther, or people that you know did. Among the people you took, or those that you know who saw it were young girls, say, of the 8 to 16 crowd (or younger or older, we’re not choosy). Let’s say that when Shuri came on the screen their eyes got big and they leaned forward a little bit. Let’s say that the look on their faces was somewhere between astonishment and recognition. Let’s say, after the movie, while you and others were discussing the plot and the action, someone else was thinking. Planning. Dreaming. Wanting more than anything else to be like Shuri.  

Let’s say you want to keep that going – how would you do that?

First off, let’s get into the why, rather than the how.

Why Do We Want More Shuris?

For why, just look at the loving reaction the character of Shuri has received across the internet.

But gifs and memes aside, Shuri’s role in Black Panther brought out some touching, if not outright tear-jerking commentary from scientists and others.

Explaining what she calls “The Shuri Effect” at Scientific American, Marine Biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson says that not only did Shuri make her heart sing, she broke barriers.

“Shuri gave the middle finger to her older brother, King T’Challa, at the beginning of the film, but more importantly she gave the finger to every stereotype I’ve been battling.”

As Johnson said, Shuri is what she tries to conjure when she speaks at schools, trying to get young minority women interested in STEM, and plant the seed that as a career, science can be as cool and fun as you want it to be.

But – hopefully – prior to Black Panther – Johnson faced an uphill battle. According to the National Science Foundation, black women are severely underrepresented in science, a field that is still largely dominated by males, most of them white. While diversity has begun to edge in on the male side of science, the much smaller female side lags far behind. But Shuri might be able to help change that. Seriously.

Writing about Shuri at 538.com, general editor Walt Hickey cited the study, “In Pursuit of the MD: The Impact of Role Models, Identity Compatibility, and Belonging Among Undergraduate Women” from the Sex Roles journal. The study showed that exposure to short biographies of five successful female doctors, female students’ interest in medicine as a career rose. In addition, along with seeing the success of role models, the students reported a greater sense of belonging in pre-med programs and their idea that their gender was compatible with their planned career.

It’s so obvious that it almost sounds stupid – just seeing someone doing what you think you might want to do – someone with whom you can identify – can increase the chances of you pursuing that same goal, whether it’s sports related or career related. That exposure to a role model doesn’t even have to be in an academic setting:

The release of Raiders of the Lost Ark was accompanied by an uptick in students seeking to study archaeology.

Jurassic Park inspired and nurture the growth of paleontologists (and as 538.com’s Hickey said – math geeks, inspired by Dr. Ian Malcolm)

Star Trek – heck, half of the older generation of engineers and space folks currently at NASA look back at the original series as inspiration, and if you include Star Trek: The Next Generation – you’ll most likely pull in a lot of the younger cohort as well as more than a few Space X engineers.

And this short list skips the countless individuals who’ve seen themselves in the characters of literally hundreds of other television shows, movies, comics and more. But the large problem with that short list, and even some longer lists? White males. Sure, other inspirational protagonists can be found that aren’t white and male, but they were far fewer and far harder to come by.

In short, as has been said time and time again, representation matters. It’s not enough to have characters doing cool things that can be cool careers, the characters have to look like the audience member who wants to do those things. Otherwise, no matter how cool the character or job they have, if “they don’t look like me” they’re gatekeepers.

And Shuri is the biggest, most recent voice that is changing that.

Science fiction – especially that with inspirational scientists where science is not the enemy – is STEM propaganda, and it’s no secret. As Letitia Wright, who played Shuri told Vogue of her role, “I hope it can spark someone to say, ‘I’m not a superhero, but I can be a scientist or build the next spaceship, like Shuri.’”

How Do You Make a Shuri?

Let’s make sure we’ve got this from the start – we’re using “Shuri” as a generic, not a specific. STEM is not just looking for African-American, or in Shuri’s case, just African, girls to fill its ranks. No – STEM needs everyone who wants to get involved feel like there’s a home for them. The more diversity, the better. Specific race isn’t an issue, watching Black Panther and whispering “I am Shuri,” no matter the color of your skin – that’s what this is about.

First off, in making your Shuri, think of the characteristics and what made the character stand out – witty, confident, smart, practical, defiant, fierce, loyal, self-motivated and more. Be warned in advance: if your Shuri is going into STEM, those are the things that STEM education can sometimes unfortunately drum right out of young students. They’ll need extra helpings of all of those.

That’s a parent/grandparent/brother/sister/guardian thing to do. Find those parts of your growing Shuri and support them. Nurture them. Make sure they’re being supported and challenged at school. Stay on top of your growing Shuri, just as Ramonda must have. 

And of course, if you live close to a science museum, a science center, or the upcoming STEM Center in Oakland, CA that Disney is helping to set up and open, or any other STEM -centric center…take your young Shuris there, too. 

A Young Shuri’s Lab

And when you’re cultivating your Shuri in STEM, please don’t “girlify” it. As a whole, we here at The Science Of loathe anything that says “science for girls” either in design or name. Ick. If you’re looking for science toys, look for science toys. Not “Boys Science Toys” or “Girls Science Toys,” but science toys. It’s ridiculous to divide them.

We could go through list after list of toys, but A Mighty Girl has already done that. So go on over there and check out what they’re showing. We love their list and there’s not a single “girl’s toy” among them. Even the simplest, smallest and least expensive can spark imagination and curiosity.

Don’t let anything be off the table. If they’re interested in electricity, go for it. The insides of animals – sure. Let their curiosity be the guide, not yours. And aim high with the toys. No, don’t get an Arduino kit for toddler, but don’t be afraid to get something at the higher end of the age range they may fit into. They’ll grow and surprise you.

Along with A Mighty Girl’s suggestions, you may want to check out MAKE Magazine’s kids and family section. Also, a making-comic hybrid that we love is Howtoons, which just kicked off a monthly subscription box service. For more straight-ahead science gear, we love Educational Innovations. For the more hard-core makers, there’s Instructables.com and DIY.org to name just a couple. 

Coding! Wakanda’s Shuri knows her coding, and yours might be into it as well. For kids learning to code, the 700 pound gorilla of teach yourself coding for kids is Code.org. There’s also Code Academy as well, and fully bringing in comics with the coding, you cannot go wrong with Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes’ Secret Coders. Please don’t skip putting a hook in the water in front of your Shuri for coding. Estimates predict that the United States will be millions of coding positions behind when it comes to employment in the coming decades, with virtually all high tech STEM-based jobs requiring some knowledge of coding. The resources for coding online are limitless. Find one for your Shuri.

Shuri’s Library: Helping Your Shuri Find Herself in Pop Culture

As mentioned earlier, the presence of role models, either real or fictional in a young person’s life has a tremendous impact on what they feel they can achieve. But – until relatively recently, finding role models in popular culture had been…tough to say the least. A few of our favorites that are out there and coming up:

A Wrinkle in Time opens in theaters on March 9th. If you’re looking for a return to the movies for another dose, the story features the children of the Murray family – a blended family – with the protagonist (and STEM whiz kid) being played by Storm Reid. The film is directed by Ava DuVernay, and stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mindy Kaling, and Oprah Winfrey among others. In the film, Meg Murray (Reid) leads her siblings on a rescue mission to save their father who’s trapped by evil forces far, far away.

The Invincible Iron Man comic series currently stars Riri Williams as Ironheart. Created by Brian Bendis, Riri is a 15 year-old genius who, while attending M.I.T., reverse-engineered Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor and built herself a suit. While the earlier issues of her run feature more Riri doing solo Riri things and fighting with big issues, the more recent issues heavily feature the search for Tony Stark, which has been limiting Riri’s “on page” time. Still – seeing “Iron Man” take off the helmet to show the smiling face of a young girl is pretty cool. Trades here. 

The Marvel comic series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, written by Brandon Montclare stars Lunella Lafayette, a 9 year-old prodigy who just might be the smartest person (not girl, mind you, person) in the Marvel Universe. She’s often (but not currently) teamed with a red T. rex (the aforementioned Devil Dinosaur). If we didn’t know better, we’d say that at least some of Shuri’s personality and smarts was transferred over from Lunella. Currently, she’s working with the Thing and the Human Torch to figure out where the missing members of the Fantastic Four might be. Trades here.

The (sadly) cancelled (but unapologetically empowering) The Unstoppable Wasp series at Marvel written by Jeremy Whitley starred Nadia Pym/Van Dyne as the new Wasp incarnation. Instead of being a throwback to the traditional, Nadia was the orphaned, half-Russian daughter of Hank Pym (Giant Man, Yellowjacket in the comics). Upon coming to the United States, Nadia quickly established herself as a STEM superhero, going so far to set up Agents of G.I.R.L. (Geniuses in Action Research Labs). Two volumes collect the whole series.

And while we’re talking about Marvel, even though she’s young, Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan is the grandmother of all of the publisher’s titles that feature empowered young, smart girls. Kamala, a Pakistani girl who happens to be Muslim and living in New Jersey has been filling the role of Ms. Marvel since 2014, and has had a huge impact both inside and outside the comics industry. There are plenty of trades available, and in the current issues, Kamala has gone missing, allowing many regular folks to try and fill her shoes. The character has been written by G. Willow Wilson since her first appearance and is just as strong as ever. 

On the non-Marvel side of things, one of the stand-outs is Princeless: Save Yourself, a comic series that Shuri would love. Written by Jeremy Whitley, it stars Adrienne Ashe as the princess who never wanted to be a princess. At 16, she was locked away in a tower, guarded by a dragon by her parents who intended for a prince to come and rescue her. She’s decided to take things into her own hands. Though it may sound all fantasy, Princeless has a strong STEM streak running through it. Trades here.

(No slight to artists who are unnamed is meant – the series above have had more than one artist during their runs and we didn’t have room to list them all…)

And that’s just barely scratching the surface. For tons – literally tons (okay, maybe hundreds of pounds when taken together) more graphic novels, we again turn to A Mighty Girl’s list of graphic novels, as well as their list of science and technology titles. And more real-world examples of surely Shuri-approved science role models can be found right here with Buzzfeeds list of 23 Black Female Scientists Who Changed the Damn World.

Oh, and think that you need to spend money to grow a Shuri? They’re relatively inexpensive, when it comes down to it. Check out Daily STEM’s list of 77 simple things parents can do with kids to spark their curiosity and interest in STEM. 

Whew.

And this – all of this, is just the start. 

And of course, if you’re just dying for more Shuri, Wright will return to Wakanda in May’s Avengers: Infinity War. We’re sure she’s going to be showing off more technology and one-liners, and being inspirational all over again. 

Now go – raise your own Shuri, and help her change the world.

Oh – okay, one last thing…as Black Panther comic series’ fans know well…there’s possibly waaaay more in store for Shuri.