Ethnicity in HP: A utopian depiction?

[christi0469]

No: HPFGUIDX 33759

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tabouli" <tabouli at u...> wrote:
> Kelly:
> > JKR has dropped hints about various secondary characters' 
ethnicity and
> now portrays them in the exact same way as all the other kids in
> Hogwarts.  That's the whole idea isn't it?<
> 
> Ahhh.  Well.  Time to unleash the cross-cultural psychologist 
again.  I see JKR's efforts in this department as utopian: 
presenting the world the way it "should" be to set a good example 
(all people should be treated exactly the same regardless of race).  
> 
> Tabouli.


 But why would JKR chose a utopian treatment of ethnic diversity 
when she has chosen a "shades of grey" approach for most everything 
else? My theory is that she is downplaying RL discrimination and 
prejudice in order to highlight the forms of discrimination specific 
to Potterverse. The first chapter of PS/SS reveals bigotry in the 
Dursley's opinion of the Potters (or anything un-dursleyish). We 
actually read from VD's POV so we can fully appreciate the depth of 
Vernon's bigotry. Petunia seems to share this bigotry, and Dudley 
takes advantage of it in order to bully Harry. The first wizard 
child Harry talks to is Draco, who introduces us to the concept of 
discrimination against muggle-borns, which proves to be important to 
the series so far. Draco later taunts Ron about being poor, which 
shows prejudice based on economic situation. Prejudice against 
muggle-borns is very important to the plot of CoS, and in this books 
we learn that mudblood is a very derogatory term for muggle-borns. 
We are also introduced to slavery in the wizarding world when we 
meet Dobby. Harry is disturbed by the treatment of Dobby enough to 
trick Lucius Malfoy into freeing him, but does not seem to wonder 
about the treatment of house-elves as a group. In PoA we learm of 
discrimination against werewolves. Lupin is a very sympathetic 
character, which enforces how unfair that particular prejudice is. 
Hagrid is also a very sympathetic character, which makes the 
article "outing" him as a half-giant seem very unfair indeed. GoF 
also gives us Hermione's reaction to the house-elf situation, and we 
see that it is more complicated than we might have imagined. With 
the exeption of Dobby, house-elves seem very happy and indeed are 
scandalized by the thought of being free. But how can slavery ever 
be fair? 

 Christi