Ethnicity in HP: A utopian depiction?

[jchutney]

No: HPFGUIDX 33770

I don't think JKR's depiction of race is utopian - I think it 
is "realistic" considering the rest of the wizarding world.  All of 
the kids at Hogwarts are presumable British born (we know there are 
wizarding schools all over the world).  This leads one to believe 
that even though Cho is ethnically Chinese, or the Patels are 
ethnically Indian, that all the children at Hogwarts were born and 
bred in the UK.  So "culturally", these kids act "British". Fred and 
Angelina undoubtedly have MUCH MUCH more in common than Fred and 
Fleur.  

We see a big difference between the British wizards and the non-Brits 
(Viktor, Fleur, Karkaroff, etc).  Fleur and the Beuxbatons are 
presented in a condescending manner -- flighty and emotional -- 
surely the British version of the Continent.  Viktor and his ilk seem 
harsh at first, stereotypically Eastern European.  Of course, once we 
get to "know" Viktor, he turns out to be very nice indeed.  In GoF 
there's a reference to Ali Bashir who wants to import flying carpets 
and Ludo Bagman says they'll never replace brooms.  There's 
definitely a tone of "our" broom are better than "their" carpets.  
And at the World Cup, the Irish and the Bulgarian are fanatical about 
their teams, etc.  

It seems to me that the wizarding world's view on race and culture 
is "realistic" given it's set-up.  Since there are very few wizards 
to begin with, why would they segrate based on race?  Even though JKR 
doesn't call "wizarding" a religion it effectively acts as one.  In 
this wizarding world, the most important things that would seperate 
people (wizarding or muggle) are  (1) their magical ability, (2) 
their wizarding blood line (different wizards place differnt value on 
this), (3) their "culture" and (4) their race.  I'd go as far to say 
that the other 3 things are so important to wizards that race becomes 
a non-issue (which makes total sense).