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Dirt After Dark: Getting in the Way of Water

Hot on the heels of 2009's Avatar, James Cameron is at it again with another journey to Pandora. It's Avatar: The Way of Water. Don't worry, this time it's not Bad Cultural Takes (well...it is a little). And don't worry, neither Amber nor Anna watched the movie. Instead, it's an exploration of Na'vi physiology. What's up with those weird lanky blue guys? How did they evolve, and why don't they have six legs? What's up with tails in general, and if the Na'vi aren't placental mammals, why do they have belly buttons and boobs? Much to consider.

Show notes (Content warning: weird)  

https://www.insider.com/avatar-james-cameron-inspiration-themes-colonization-indigenous-anime-2022-12#the-navi-language-has-maori-african-and-native-american-roots-7

https://nativenewsonline.net/arts-entertainment/indigenous-people-react-to-cultural-appropriation-in-new-avatar-movie

https://web.archive.org/web/20130520101514/http://www.businessinsider.com/james-camerons-45-page-declaration-proving-avatar-was-his-idea-2012-12?op=1

https://www.avatar.com/pandorapedia/prolemuris

https://www.space.com/7698-real-science-avatar.html

https://screenrant.com/avatar-navi-look-different-explained-james-cameron/

https://james-camerons-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Pandora

https://james-camerons-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Na%27vi

https://slate.com/culture/2009/12/on-na-vi-biology.html

https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast02aug_1

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/james-cameron-explains-wh_n_475156

https://www.reddit.com/r/Avatar/comments/zr1tvl/my_take_on_navi_if_they_were_not/

https://www.thegeektwins.com/2013/03/7-things-about-avatars-navi-that-dont.html#:~:text=The%20Na'vi%20are%20a,physical%20link%20in%20their%20heads.

https://mashable.com/article/shape-of-water-sex

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/ast.2013.1028

https://blog.everythingdinosaur.com/blog/_archives/2013/12/10/extraterrestrial-impacts-demise-of-the-dinosaurs-could-have-helped-fuel-life-elsewhere.html

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The Dirt Podcast
Archaeology, Anthropology, and our shared human past.

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The Dirt Podcast

As science communicators in anthropology and archaeology, we hosts of The Dirt acknowledge that we hold a position of considerable privilege and opportunity, and commit ourselves to continuous learning, unlearning and reflection. We recognize that our disciplines, as well as our own lives, are rooted in and propped up by settler colonialism, white supremacy, and dispossession.

We now reside on the stolen ancestral territory of the Shawnee and Haudenosaunee and on the lands of the Muscogee and Cherokee Nations, but over its lifetime, The Dirt has also been produced on the unceded traditional territory of the Piscataway Conoy and Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians, as well as that of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Patwin and Miwok peoples and all those dispossessed by Cession 296. We offer our show as a platform for Indigenous scholarship, history, and cultural expression, through citation and conversation, and we welcome the opportunity to host and compensate Indigenous scholars of archaeology and anthropology as interview guests.

Likewise, we encourage all listeners who reside in settler-colonial states to learn about on whose land they reside, their place in the ongoing process of colonization, and how to contribute materially to reparations and Indigenous sovereignty.