Ethnicity in HP: an Utopian depiction?

[charisjulia]

No: HPFGUIDX 33908

       This discussion on the different nationalities in the 
potterverce and the wizarding handling of ethnicity has quite 
intrigued me and definitely set me thinking. I do believe that there 
is a rather utopian presentation of inter-nationality relations in 
the HP books- and also that there is not! Allow me to expand on this. 

       The series is overwhelmingly British. The way people speak, 
the way they act, the way they think. That *is* in fact one of the 
things I like most about it! - I can spend hours fantasizing about 
living with people that use words like "blimey" or "crikey" and "all 
that jazz" and even "ruddy" or "git"! I love that "Wicked!" Ron 
blurts out when Harry shows him his scar on the Hogwarts Express in 
the movie! I could watch him say it again and again! J (There are, of 
course, other evidences of a seriously British mentality in the books 
besides accent, but I won't get into that now.) And at least up till 
now I can find no indication that the ethnically other than British 
students aren't in fact "culturally British" as jchutney suggests. At 
any rate Harry –whose POV we follow- seems to regard them as such.

         However I also agree with Tabouli that when one moves to a 
foreign country assimilation is neither easy nor even desirable. 
Allow me draw from my own experiences here: I am half Greek and half 
English, that is, my mother is English and my father is Greek and I 
am both. I've lived all my life in Athens, but I definitely feel just 
as much British as Greek and whatsmore I seriously intend to move to 
England at some point in the future at least for a while. I don't 
believe, nor has my observations of other bi-cultural persons given 
me any reason to believe, that you have to make a choice of where 
your values lie, of what nationality you are more. One can be both 
simultaneously. As Tabouli points out, one can end up being "more 
Greek than the Greeks" (ha, ha, pun in my case! :-)): Through 
comparing two or more nations with each other you get a clearer idea 
of the group characteristics of each (though must point out I do not 
believe in stereotypes). Otherwise you just end up thinking that the 
greek way for instance is just the "human" way, they way people are. 
But this does not mean that one cannot be more of lots of 
nationalities than the people of only those nationalities (if you get 
my meaning?).

        Anyway to get to my point, I do not see that there is 
anything stopping Angelina, Cho or Parvati from being completely 
British in every way without losing the values or mentality of their 
respective ethnicities. They don't have to be undiluted anything! 
However the book is unrealistic in that the distinguishing features 
of the different nations are rather ignored (inside Hogwarts I mean 
obviously .It is not only Fleur and Krum's accents that tell us they 
are foreigners). And there is a Utopia in that there are no clashes 
between people of different ethnic origin-it doesn't even seem to be 
an issue- something unfortunately untrue of the Muggle world. However 
taking into account the particular circumstances at Hogwarts I do not 
think that would be an unrealistic Utopia (!). 

        Once more I must call upon my own experiences to explain 
this. My mother is a teacher here in Greece at an English, that is 
English-speaking, school. Being an English-speaking school it has 
naturally drawn to it not only the British and Americans in Athens 
but also foreigners from all over the world who cannot send their 
children to Greek school. The result is the creation of a mini 
multinational community with a mentality, values, even an accent (no 
kidding) of it's own. Inside it there is no racism--in fact race 
isn't even an issue. Everyone is aware of their own ethnic identity 
and origin, but as far as other people are concerned, everybody is 
welcome, no problem! The more the merrier! And the same has happened 
to the French-speaking and German-speaking schools in the city as 
well, as I know from people who attended them. I kind of think of 
Hogwarts like this. The wizards are a small independent community 
inside a larger one. And they are divided from this larger community 
in a much deeper way then say a Scotsman is from the average 
Athenian. So they have to stick together. 

        Or maybe it's just pride. Maybe they just don't want to adopt 
Muggle prejudices not because they see the wrongness, but solely 
because they're Muggle prejudices.

        And then there's the very sensible "literary" argument: JK 
Rowling couldn't approach racial prejudice in a big way in the books, 
it's too sensitive a subject. So she choose to take a stand against 
prejudice by creating one herself (Muggle/Wizard) and presenting the 
real-life one as none existant.

        I'm not sure I've made what I'm trying to say clear. It's a 
complicated subject. Anyway, in a nutshell my view is that there are 
people of none-British origin at Hogwarts, not in the great 
percentage however for the simple reason that it is situated in 
Britain. But because the pupils there seem to consider themselves 
firstly wizards and then English or Irish or Indian (so during the 
panic at the Quidditch World Cup the Beauxbatons girl who was looking 
for Madame Maxime when she realizes H, R and H can't help her, turns 
away saying "`Ogwarts", while Hermione mutters "Beauxbatons": They 
identify each other as different not by they're nationality but by 
the magical school they attend.), ethnicity and the differences of it 
between people do not present an issue.

       Charis Julia.