[HPforGrownups] Identifying with Muggles in Potterverse

[Ffred Clegg]

No: HPFGUIDX 158165

Ken wrote:

>Even if they didn't have a culture of their own you would think they
>would study English culture and history. Hogwarts has no art classes,
>no music classes, no literature classes. Hogwarts is like the engineering
>student's dream school, no humanities, just the "good stuff". That 
>strikes even this electrical engineer as an odd world for a writer to 
>create. A lot of hard science fiction novels I read have more cultural
>references in them than Harry Potter does. I supose that Muggle Studies

But then is not Hogwarts precisely the WW equivalent of the Muggle engineer's dream school. No surprises, just look at the title "School of Witchcraft and Wizardry". Does just what it says on the box.
 
But clearly the WW gets its culture elsewhere. As others have pointed out, the books are replete with references to music in its various forms, painting and photography, sculpture, jewellery, and so on. It's also a highly literate society, if you count up the number of periodicals that are referenced. 
 
I don't think you can argue from the limited perspective of the books that the WW is in any way disadvantaged vis a vis Muggledom.
 
Cheers
 
Ffred