A Different Racism (WAS:Ethnicity in HP: A utopian depiction?)

[pigwidgeonthirtyseven]

No: HPFGUIDX 33774


Just a short response to Tabouli's insightful post:

My impression is that JKR has very strong opinions on ethnicity, and more generally, diversity questions which are- sadly- linked to xenophobia and racism. And I think that she has chosen a very intelligent means of communicating her POV to the readers, above all the younger ones, by avoiding traditional settings for conflict (i.e. black vs white, Christians vs. Muslims) and shifting it to another level: As far as we can see from canon, ethnicity doesn't seem to have overwhelming importance in the HPverse, whereas the eternal Pureblood/ Halfblood/ "Mudblood" questions works as a substitute, and very effectively so. I won't bother everybody with examples from the books, for the terminology problem as well as the various characters' attitudes towards those who are different have already been subject of lengthy discussions. But IMO, the HPverse is far from utopian as far as coping with "difference" is concerned, and I believe that JKR's ideas about how to handle it are more than clear.

Just my two cents (Euro-Cents of course- how lucky we are to be able to use this expression now as well, and rightfully so ;) )

Susanna/pigwidgeon37



"And how come those portraits seem to be alive?"

"What'ya mean? All paintings move."

"No, they don't. We have lots of paintings in our villa, among them a real Chagall, and none of them..."

"And d'ya expect that something painted by a jackal will move? Now really..."



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