Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Justice, and Difference in the Wizarding World

by Sarah Park Dahlen (Editor), Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (Editor)

Overview

A fascinating reconsideration of the depictions and implications of race and diversity in the Harry Potter franchise

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496840578
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	06/27/2022
Series:	Children's Literature Association Series
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Sarah Park Dahlen is associate professor at the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences. She coedits the journal Research on Diversity in Youth Literature and coedited the book Diversity in Youth Literature: Opening Doors through Reading. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas is associate professor at the University of Michigan's School of Education. Her most recent book is The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from "Harry Potter" to the "Hunger Games."

Editorial Reviews

Devoted Harry Potter readers/viewers as well as those less enthusiastic about the franchise can appreciate the exploration of race and justice put forth in this solid collection.--KaaVonia Hinton "The Lion and the Unicorn"

The essay collection Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Justice, and Difference in the Wizarding World is a broad ranging and necessary addition to the ever-evolving field of Harry Potter scholarship.--Emily Lauer "Children's Literature Association Quarterly"

In this timely edited collection, Dahlen and Thomas assemble a tapestry of scholarship that brings a much-needed critical lens to the long-standing issues of discrimination and harm in the Harry Potter series. . . . A superb and necessary collection. Purchase and share this stellar collection with all the Potterheads in your library.--Jen McConnel "School Library Journal"

Harry Potter and the Other offers an essential intervention both in Harry Potter studies and in children's literature studies more generally, explicating with great erudition and care the promise and limits of Rowling's fantasies of multiculturalism.--Tison Pugh, author of Harry Potter and Beyond: On J. K. Rowling's Fantasies and Other Fictions

Harry Potter and the Other provides a current set of theoretical approaches to the Potter series that is extremely welcome. What sets this collection apart is its focus in meaningful ways on social systems that seek to silence and oppress.--Gwen Athene Tarbox, author of Children's and Young Adult Comics and coeditor of Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults: A Collection of Critical Essays

From the Publisher

★ 11/01/2022

In this timely edited collection, Dahlen and Thomas assemble a tapestry of scholarship that brings a much-needed critical lens to the long-standing issues of discrimination and harm in the "Harry Potter" series. In the introduction, the editors anchor the collection in the contemporary moment, acknowledging COVID-19 and the impact J.K. Rowling's anti-trans stance has had on them as scholars and fans. But Dahlen and Thomas have curated a text that will serve teachers and researchers far beyond this moment: the essays in this collection offer broad perspectives on topics of race, gender, gender identity, and justice in the Wizarding World. For instance, three of the selections center around the theme of #BlackHermione. Each entry is readable and worth returning to and sharing. The inclusion of fan studies and acknowledgement of the multiple ways in which readers have reframed their relationships with the series is worth noting. This is a text that will have many applications for teachers, researchers, librarians, and critical readers. VERDICT A superb and necessary collection. Purchase and share this stellar collection with all the Potterheads in your library.—Jen McConnel

School Library Journal