#writing this as someone who is not indigenous
sopeople have explained the anti-indigenous narratives in the rise of kyoshi and I wanted to write a bit about the obvious ways that I see these harmful narratives show up in the shadow of kyoshi. specifically with how Atuat - the main water tribe character present in this novel - is characterized.
while I find Atuat to be a likeable character for her expressiveness, humor, and intelligence, she is a blatant example of the “alcoholic native” sterotype that is used to dehumanize indigenous people and dismiss the cumulative and ongoing trauma colonizers inflict. in her first scene in the novel, Atuat is introduced like this
“I couldn’t remember if you liked plum wine or sorghum liquor,” a short, plump woman in blue robes said to Hei-Ran in a loud, piercing voice. She wielded a glass in each hand, threatening to spill the different-colored contents. “So I got both.” ….. Atuat held up a finger while draining one of the glasses she’d brought for Hei-Ran. “I am,” she said once she’d finished it.”
the narrative seems to stop short of condemning atuat for her behavior. kyoshi is initially judgemental but moves quickly into liking Atuat for her personality. instead Atuat is posited as the lackadaisical individual within a group of otherwise disciplined people. for me, this is part of what makes her character interesting because she *is* deeply disciplined in her values as a healer. yet, with the surrounding context of the novel, I feel it feeds into the prevalent idea that alcoholics are “that way” from a lack of personal discipline, from choosing to be, rather than chemical dependency and lack of support.
Atuat is also the only character to play a gambling game on north chung ling, a town that is described as, quoting from the avatar wiki for the location
“The city was once known as a place where spiritual experiences were common and anyone could see a vision of the other side, but the village cashed in on its reputation rather than maintaining the supposedly hallowed ground. Visitors paid charlatans for fake spiritual encounters and cheap entertainment, and the city turned into a carnival town and glorified gambling den.”
despite being in the fire nation, this sure sounds like a colonizers depiction of the casinos some nations choose to create in order to escape the crushing poverty colonizers construct. it is significant that this is the place where Atuat is shown to gamble - not at say, a high ranking fire nation party or even a game with a dao fei group. this occurs on “hallowed ground” that “cashed in”. atuat in this demonstrates the sterotype of native people as greedy gamblers lacking impulse control, unlike “civilized” colonizers who know better.
there is a short line in the novel that I found to be somewhat dismissive of Sifu Amak, another water tribe character, and with Atuat’s position as a sister. when Kyoshi tells Atuat that she is sorry about her brother’s death, her response is
Atuat sighed. “That you. Amak was never going to have a peaceful end, to put it mildly. But he died protecting people. That’s far more an honorable end than what he was doing before.”
despite her brother’s profession and whatever their relationship when he was alive, a little bit more sadness feels warranted? why is she not allowed to mourn, why is Master Amak not allowed to be mourned?
this isn’t meant to be a comprehensive post about the anti-indigenous narratives in the kyoshi novels, but to point out what are, to me, some of the most obvious pieces that f.c yee wrote in to the novel.
