I’m considering writing the merfolk in my story as a sort of metaphor for indigenous peoples, as well as other sea-dwelling or otherwise aquatic humans. Is this inherently problematic in and of itself, or is there a way to write this that works and is respectful to actual indigenous folks? If it’s inherently disrespectful, I can nix the idea, but as of current I don’t have any other equivalents to write them in with. I’m sure I could figure something out easily enough, though.
If you haven’t already explored the literary genre of Afrofuturism or Caribbean futurism, it would be good to read some exisiting literature. The Deep by Rivers Solomon depicts merfolk as the descendents of pregnant African women thrown overboard from slave ships. Tentacle by Rita Indiana doesn’t explicitly contain merfolk, but it does focus on water deities and mystical properties of the sea (as well as time travel and colonialism) in order to represent indigenous perspectives.