The Fire Nation and the United States: Genocide as the Foundation for Empire Building
Publication Date
11-4-2022
Document Type
Contribution to a Book
Publication Title
Avatar: The Last Airbender and Philosophy: Wisdom from Aang to Zuko
Editor
Helen De Cruz and Johan De Smedt
DOI
10.1002/9781119809838.ch23
First Page
207
Last Page
215
Abstract
Genocide results from a complex process of intentions, ideologies, and actions that are put in motion to achieve an outcome that benefits the perpetrators. Genocide is part of the history of the United States and of the Fire Nation in Avatar: The Last Airbender that is typically unquestioned and underplayed. Avatar: The Last Airbender opening refers to the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept the balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. The United States' intentional extermination of diverse peoples is an inseparable part of the processes used to build its continental empire. Seen as a means to securing the land, destroying Indigenous peoples is understood as a necessity, rather than a tactic of empire building. The foundations of the Fire Nation and the United States were built on unstable grounds, causing one to collapse and the other to wrestle with a reckoning on its origins.
Department
Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Recommended Citation
Kerri J. Malloy. "The Fire Nation and the United States: Genocide as the Foundation for Empire Building" Avatar: The Last Airbender and Philosophy: Wisdom from Aang to Zuko (2022): 207-215. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119809838.ch23
