Names (wizarding world and empire)

[Amy Z <lupinesque@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50971

Richard wrote:

> Purely on a probability basis, Angelina Johnson and Dean Thomas are 
> more than likely to have Caribbean forebears, and thus it would be 
> normal for them to have Europeanised names (yes, thanks to the 
Empire 
> and slavery!) rather than ethnically African ones. I really don't 
see 
> what all the bother is about.

No bother--but you just upheld Ebony's original assertion that the 
wizarding world, alongside the Muggle world, had Empire and slavery.  

*Unless* Angelina and Dean are both Muggle-born, in which case all 
bets are off; however, there are still no African or native Caribbean 
names showing up at Hogwarts, suggesting that wizards follow largely 
the same migration patterns as Muggles.

The question to my mind is not whether JKR or the contemporary 
wizarding world is racist, but whether the WW had Empire, slavery, 
colonialization, etc. in its past.  The evidence of names indicates 
yes, as you have just attested.

Amy Z