[HPforGrownups] Re: Blacks in HP

[Pam Hugonnet]

No: HPFGUIDX 21168



Ebony Elizabeth Thomas wrote:

>
>
> Lee's never mentioned as being black... it just states that he has
> dreadlocks.  Anyone with a certain type of hair can twist it into
> dreads.
> So the probability of him being of another ethnicity is there, because
> I
> went to school with a Jewish guy who wore dreads.

        Quite true.  When I was in college, there was an Asian guy who
tried and tried to develop dreds; unforutnately, he never got anything
but long, tangly braids.  But while there is the possibiliyt that Lee
could be of any ethnicity, I think we have to assume some things about
JKR's real life cultural contexts and experiences.  After all, don't
these form the bases of the things that are written about?  While it's
*possible* that Lee is white, it us more probable that he is a person of
color.  We'll not know for sure until someone asks JKR.


> Dean's mentioned as black in the American edition of PS (SS 122).  If
> he's
> not black in the UK, then the obvious conclusion is that Scholastic
> did some
> tampering with the MS for profit's sake.  A great selling point for
> modern
> kidlit is "multiculturalism"--fellow American teachers, how many
> inservices/workshops/conferences have you attended on this theme?  The
>
> United States has a significantly greater "ethnic" population than the
>
> United Kingdom does... bet you anything Scholastic would've put a
> Hispanic
> character somewhere in Hogwarts if they could have gotten away with
> it.  :-D
>

    How about a different explanation for this one, too?  When I read PS
the first time, I was a bit confused by all of the dialogue and page
time devoted to Dean Thomas.  Who was he?  Did I miss him in the
Sorting?  I kept turning back to look for him.  It may be that an
American editior had the same trouble and said to JKR, can we put him in
the Sorting, just to give him a bit more context?  so, in she drops a
little reference to and description of Dean.  It's likely that his
ethnicity is JKR's creation; she saw him as a tall black boy.  If it
were more likely a creation of American editors, then I would expect to
see Julio Garcia just before Hermione or Miranda Perez just before
Harry.


drpam