Muggles and International Wizarding Relations

[temporary_blue at yahoo.ca]

No: HPFGUIDX 39537

	My name is Ann (or Northlight, or papillon depending
on the context).  I'm new to the list, and from what
I've seen, I'm not even _half_ the fan that most of
you are!  I've recently been pondering a few
things--and believe me, my poor brain can't take that
kind of stress during summer vacation--and I wondered
if anyone here could clarify.  

	1)  Let me, for lack of a better term, refer to this
one as 'Muggle Magic.'  The HP universe seems to be
dealing with a fairly Euro-centric fantasy form of
magic.  As we know, however, the 'real world' exists
alongside this magical one.  But what of those
societies that accept the magical and supernatural? 
Consider the amount of societies who believe in
supernatural beings or powers; and in shamans
("part-time religious practitioner who is believed to
have access to supernatural power that may be used for
the benefit of specific clients, as in healing or
divining"), sorcerers ("practitioner of magical
rituals done to harm others") and witches ("persons
believed to have the innate supernatural ability to
harm others without the use of ritual") [1].  What
about Wiccans (who, I am aware, are _not_ HP style
witches): "Many witches, wizards, druids, Cabalists,
and shamans. . . practice modern magic in contemporary
England and the United States, where their ranks are
comfortably reckoned in the tens of thousands" [2].

	Would HP-style witches consider this type of magic to
be trickery or to have a rational anthropological-type
explanation?  Or would this be considered an equally
valid form of magic?  (I think it would be nifty to
have a class on "Comparative Magic" if these other
kinds are accepted as real.  Might be able to use a
"Philosophy/Ethics of Magic" as well).


	2)  How, exactly, do HP magicals manage to remain so
completely incompetent in the Muggle world?  It isn't
as if they live _outside_ of it.  Hagrid and Harry
take the metro with Muggles in PS (Ch. 5); the
Ministry car in PoA, though magical, is on the street
with Muggle cars and drivers (Ch. 5); and seeing as
Hogsmead is the only all-magical community around,
almost all wizards would be living in or near Muggle
communities.  In GoF, neither Arthur Weasley or Amos
Diggory seemed to be especially involved with the
fellow Magicals in the neighbourhood:  

	"Do you know whether we're waiting for any more,
Amos?"

	"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already
and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets," said Mr.
Diggory.  "There aren't any more of us in this area,
are there?"

	"Not that I know of," said Mr. Weasley.  (Ch. 6)

	Their children must be quite bored without many other
magical children around to play with.  If they played
with Muggles, I'd imagine being a bit more aware of
how things worked.  At the very least, the children
must be quite isolated--unless long trips are made
regularly (at what age would something like floo
powder be safe for kids?  What kinds of family
transportation are there?  Would working parents
really be able to regularly chauffeur their children?)


	3)  The UK wizarding world seems to be quite
tight-knit--they're always rattling off names of other
wizarding families, and some of Hogwarts' students
have some expectations pinned onto their last names
(Potter, Weasley, Malfoy, Longbottom all have Old
Magic Family Names, as well as many other just
mentioned in passing).  

	How large is the wizarding world as a whole?  Thus
far, we've only been exposed to one non-Brit Death
Eater (Karkaroff in GoF).  If Durmstrang is so taken
with the Dark Arts, I'd expect more Slavic Death
Eaters in Voldermort's ranks (although even the
British Death Eaters were a fairly small bunch for a
group that terrorized the entire country. . .). 
Exactly how far did Voldermort's reach extend?  Was
his focus on the UK, leaving wizards in other
countries fearful while they watched but weren't
directly attacked themselves?  And if you look at the
_entire_ world, Dumbledore was really the _only_
wizard that Voldermort feared?  

	We saw that wizards can be patriotic/nationalistic
during the World Cup Quidditch match.  Does Muggle
politics spill into the international wizarding world?
 Would real world language tensions in Canada, for
example, spill into the magical world?  Does racism
exist there?  Would any magical institution protest
that there were too many magical immigrants around? 
Or is prejudice primarily based on purity of blood? 
Are Magicals involved in Great World Events?  Did they
participate in any of the World Wars?  Watch the moon
landing?  Fear nuclear war?

	Is the wizarding world more united than the Muggle
world?  Are Galleons, sickles and knuts British
wizarding money or do all Magicals share the same
currency?  Are they interested in promoting their
nations (a magical take on something like the CBC,
national galleries, etc.) or does magic transcend
nationality and/or ethnicity in most cases?  Was the
Quidditch World Cup more a case of rival teams than
any _real_ national sentiment?


	4)  Was I the only one who went: "animal abuse!" while
reading some sections of the books?  I do hope that
they turn all those teacups back into turtles and so
on.  (hmm. .  . Lupin and McGonagall both harass
animals/creatures--they're _both_ evil!)


	And that's that.  No need to worry--I probably won't
say another word after all of that!

[Ann]


Works Cited

[1]  Richley H. Crapo, "Cultural Anthropology:
Understanding Ourselves & Others" 4th ed.
(McGraw-Hill, 1996):  340, 341.

[2]  William A. Haviland, "Anthropology," 7th ed.
(Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1994): 599.


______________________________________________________________________ 
Movies, Music, Sports, Games! http://entertainment.yahoo.ca