[HPforGrownups] Ethnicity of students (was Hogwarts Location)

[Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner]

No: HPFGUIDX 14463

> Rebecca wrote, without any spoiler space, sadly:

Well, this topic doesn't really need it, but just for you, Amy, a nice long
one.  :)

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(Ironically, nearly all of my spoilers are from movies I've never seen --
this one included.  Just goes to show how word gets around.)

> Same with Finnegan.  It's an Irish name, but they abound amongst the
> English.  It's like asking whether Bohner is an American name...<g>

Well, in this case, it really *is* first-generation German -- my husband
came over when he was six -- and on my part, it's Canadian.  So we're not a
good example!  But your point is taken.

> I assumed that your question was about ethnicity, not necessarily
> place of birth.  Seamus might be from Ireland or he might be 7th
> generation English, but he's of Irish ethnicity.

Judging by the rabid nature of his support for the Irish Quidditch team, I
suspect he came across on the ferry (for which I pity him, having taken that
ferry myself).  Which is not to say that old ethnic loyalties don't die
hard, but I got the impression that JKR was emphasizing his Irishness for
that purpose.  After all, Hogwarts is the only wizarding school in the U.K.,
and by far the closest, so they would naturally be getting all the students
from Ireland as well as the ones from Scotland and Wales.  It'd be odd not
to see some of those represented.

> Or are you really
> wondering whether anyone goes home to another country at Christmas?

It's a good question.  Actually, what I'm really wondering -- irrelevant to
this particular topic of ethnicity, but interesting to me nonetheless -- is
whether Snape goes home for Christmas.  I don't think we have any evidence
in the books that he does, do we?
--
Rebecca J. Bohner
rebeccaj at pobox.com
http://home.golden.net/~rebeccaj