The Inuit* are a nation of many communities in Arctic & Subarctic regions in Russia, the US, Canada, & Greenland and totalling about 170,000 people The N/S Water Tribes are positioned similarly in the world of Avatar, on the coldest extremes

The creators of Avatar have openly admitted to basing the Water Tribes after Inuit, though the association is clear as demonstrated by these hair loopies: (Photos are from Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (ᐊᑕᓈᕐᔪᐊᑦ) a 2001 film directed by Zacharias Kunuk)

A number of names are derived from Inuit names: Tonraq, Unalaq, Noatak, etc (I’m not going to get into what words they’re derived from and the meanings, but you could if you wanted to)

And then there’s stuff like the igluvijait (snow houses) in Katara and Sokka’s Southern Water Tribe village, while iglu/igluit means any kind of house in many Canadian Inuktitut dialects

Avatar has even taken our modern disputes for their inspiration, the conflict over oil and ‘progress’ in the the graphic novel Avatar: The Last Airbender—North and South has been taken straight from conflicts in Inuit territory in Alaska

And bottom line, if you’re looking to take inspiration for a people with an ice-based lifestyle, the Inuit are pretty much the only option Sea ice is an integral part of Inuit life, necessary for hunting, travel, and environmental stability

The creators of Avatar: the Last Airbender have borrowed a lot from the Inuit, and without our permission So remember when you hear news about the new live-action Avatar series, it wouldn’t be possible without us We deserve to be represented on screen https://deadline.com/2018/09/a...

*The Inuit are formerly known as Eskimo, but if you’re not familiar or intimate with any of this, absolutely do not use Eskimo

As of right now, I don’t have any concrete leads on who’s responsible for making sure the show has Inuit actors, but you can’t go wrong tweeting at @netflix

If you want to get more acquainted with Inuit cultureS (plural, because we’re diverse): https://x.com/tulukaruq/status...

And if you want to compensate me for the hours of work to put this together, put some money in my PayPal http://paypal.me/tulukaruq

On the advice of many people in this thread, Here’s the Instagram and Tumblr of showrunner Bryan Konietzko: https://www.instagram.com/brya... http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.c... And the same for Michael Dante DiMartino: https://www.instagram.com/mike... https://michaeldantedimartino.... Send them a comment/DM!

@tulukaruq The creators said they’d get “non-whitewashed” actors on screen for the live action remake. I assumed this meant hiring Inuit actors to play the Water Tribe people. I did not know it was taken without permission, assumed they had done research for show etc

@Trassel242 I’m skeptical, because for White people that usually means Native actors, not specifically Inuit actors, but we’ll see

@tulukaruq Was I the only one that thought they should been Indian or south east Asian?

@Maurice1Charles Some of the other nations in Avatar should be, but the N/S Water Tribes should be Inuit That’s what the thread’s about

@LowArctic Hi! I'm a writer at Indian Country Today - we're doing an article on Indigenous representation in Avatar the Last Airbender -- would it be alright if we featured this thread in our article? (I saw it was featured in a past ICT story but wanted to ask this time) Thank you!!

@meghanfate yes that is okay

@pettythreadds haha . . . . . make me

@tulukaruq @guacamomole can y’all stop

@MaHamma_Time @guacamomole . . . . . . . . . . no

@tulukaruq Thank you for this GREAT thread. ATLA has obviously heavily incorporated Inuit & Asian cultures. I love the show so much but they absolutely MUST hire Inuit, Asian, & other diverse people behind the camera (writers, directors, etc) & in front.

@LowArctic @charitieropati I always saw it like this. Fire nations is Japan, Earth nation is China, Air nomads are Tibet/Bhutan, and Water nation are Inuit.

@tulukaruq This is just amazing 🖤🌿 way' lm'limt for putting it together 🙌🏽 in awe of you!!