Wizards vs. Muggles: Essays on Identity and the Harry Potter Universe

by Christopher E. Bell (Editor)

Overview

Harry Potter has given the study of popular culture a unique platform for exploring the nature of human identity. "Potter Studies" is developing into a vibrant interdisciplinary field of scholarship.

This collection of new essays examines issues surrounding race, class, gender, sexual orientation and personal virtue, both in the wizarding world and in our own. The contributors discuss an array of meanings and contexts in the Harry Potter universe relating to identity issues, and the ways in which these manifest in fandom cultures and real-world schools and businesses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786499304
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	02/10/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Christopher E. Bell is an associate professor of media studies in the department of communication at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, specializing in the study of the ways in which race, class and gender intersect in different forms of children’s media. He is a TED speaker, a diversity and inclusiveness consultant for Pixar Animation Studios, a 2017 David Letterman Award winning media scholar and the 2017 Denver Comic Con Popular Culture Educator of the Year.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi

Introduction Christopher E. Bell 1

Transfiguration: Wizard Identity

"The anti-racist-white-hero premise": Whiteness and the Harry Potter Series Raymond I. Schuck 9

The Prisoner of Gender: Masculinity in the Potter Books Lauren R. Camacci 27

The HIV Metaphor: J.K. Rowling's Werewolf and Its Transformative Potential Brendan G.A. Hughes 49

Heroes and Horcruxes: Dumbledore's Army as Metonym Christopher E. Bell 72

"I'm a wizard too!" Identification and Habitus Hillary A. Jones 89

Gendered Heroism: Family Romance and Transformations of the Hero-Type Shira Wolosky 110

Muggle Studies: Muggle Identity

Quenching the Quill: How Fan Art Builds Meaning, Creates Bonds and Triggers Imagination Jelena Borojevic 133

Transcending Hogwarts: Pedagogical Practices Engendering Discourses of Aggression and Bullying Kristen L. Cole 149

Culpability for Curses in Jewish Law and Mystical Lore Levi Cooper 168

Building Harry Potter's Identity in Transmedia Contexts Pilar Lacasa Sara Cortés Rut Martínez-Borda 194

Creating Equality Through Quidditch: A Rhetorical Analysis of Quidditch Blogs Ryan S. Rigda 217

About the Contributors 233

Index 235

Editorial Reviews

Wizards vs. Muggles adds to this rapidly emerging field...and adds to it admirably. Nearly every essay is a high quality, well-researched, and well-edited contribution to our understanding of identity construction inside and outside the Potter universe”—Mythlore.

From the Publisher