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COURSE MANUAL

for

ELECTIVE COURSE

HARRY POTTER AND THE POWER OF IMAGINATION

Course Instructor:

Rashmi Raman rraman@jgu.edu.in

Office Hours: To be confirmed

Spring Semester 2020

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Table of Contents

Information on Harry Potter and the Power of Imagination...................................................... 2

Part I ............................................................................................................................................ 2

Part II .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Course description ...................................................................................................................... 3

Recommended Texts ................................................................................................................... 3

Intended learning outcomes ....................................................................................................... 5

Teaching and Learning Activities ................................................................................................ 5

Grading of Student Achievement ................................................................................................ 5

A Note on Plagiarism ...................................................................................................................7

Course syllabus with weekly readings ......................................................................................... 8

Information on Harry Potter and the Power of Imagination at JGLS

The information provided herein is by the Course Coordinator. The following information

contains the official record of the details of the course.

Part I

Course Title: HARRY POTTER AND THE POWER OF IMAGINATION

Course Code:

Course Duration: One Semester

Number of Credit Units: 4

Level: BA-LLB

Medium of Instruction: English

Pre-requisites None

Pre-cursors: Nil

Equivalent courses: Nil

Exclusive courses: Nil

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Part II

This course was conceived and formulated at JGLS for the first time in 2013. It has run three

times since then and each time new dimensions and approaches are added to the course to make

it relevant and interesting to students.

Course description

Harry Potter, the character and the series of novels, is a phenomenon both in terms of literature

and culture. The novels can be seen as the ultimate bildungsroman of a young, unloved and

unwanted boy who grows up to be the definitive hero. In this course, we will analyze different

themes raised in the novels. This course situates the phenomenon of Harry Potter at the

interdisciplinary intersection of history, ethics and literature. How can the historical

imagination inform literature and fantasy? How can fantasy reshape how we look at

history? The Harry Potter novels and films are fertile ground for exploring all of these deeper

questions. By looking at the actual geography of the novels, real and imagined historical events

portrayed in the novels, the reactions of scholars in social sciences to the novels, and the world-

wide frenzy inspired by them, students will examine issues of race, class, caste, gender, time,

place, the uses of space and movement, the role of multiculturalism in history and the idea of

translating the novels into different languages. The flexibility of the series may relate to its roots

in a wide variety of genres including the gothic novel, detective fiction, fantasy, adventure, and

even the dystopian novel. This course will examine the Harry Potter series in relation to all these

genres. We will read portions of the books alongside other novels and short stories that illustrate

the generic conventions Rowling works with.

Recommended Texts

The default compulsory core texts for this course are the seven books in the Harry Potter series

by J.K. Rowling. Students are advised to have a personal set.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Rowling, Joanne K., London, Bloomsbury (1997)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling, Joanne K., London, Bloomsbury (1998).

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Rowling, Joanne K., London, Bloomsbury (1999).

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Rowling, Joanne K., London, Bloomsbury (2000).

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Rowling, Joanne K., London, Bloomsbury (2003).

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Rowling, Joanne K., London, Bloomsbury (2005).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling, Joanne K., London, Bloomsbury (2007).

If students want a more in depth resource for studying Harry Potter through a structured

interdisciplinary lens, please see some recommendations below. There will be a study pack

available for purchase with selected readings from the reading list.

The Law and Harry Potter, Jeffrey E. Thomas and Franklin G. Snyder, eds. Durham,

North Carolina, Carolina Academic Press (2010).

Law Made Fun Through Harry Potter's Adventures: 99 Lessons in Law from the

Wizarding World for Fans of All Ages, Karen Morris & Bradley S. Carroll, CreateSpace

Independent Publishing Platform (2011).

Harry Potter, Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings, Abanes, Richard, Eugene, Ore, Harvest

House Publishers (2005).

Kids' Letters to Harry Potter: From Around the World. An Unauthorized Collection,

Adler, Bill (Ed.), New York, Carroll and Graf (2002).

Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle ran Hogwarts, Baggett, David/Klein, Shawn

(Eds.), Chicago (2004).

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Purloined Letter”

Arthur Conan Doyle, “A Scandal in Bohemia”

“The Wizard and the Hopping Pot” (from The Tales of Beedle the Bard)

Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Old Nurse’s Story”

Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four

C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Pardoner’s Tale”

“The Tale of the Three Brothers” (from The Tales of Beedle the Bard)

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Intended learning outcomes

By the end of the course students should be able to:

- problematise reality as a social construct;

- recognize how the Harry Potter series employs conventions from a variety of genres;

- understand the political, religious, moral, and philosophical underpinnings of the texts

on the course;

- develop an awareness of the social and cultural background contributing to the

continuing Harry Potter phenomenon.

Teaching and Learning Activities

Reading, comparison and analysis of varied writing from popular as well as academic works

Students will be assessed upon their ability to read and critically evaluate the essential readings

set out in this manual.

All students must attend the lectures and participate in the discussion seminar. Students must

come to class ready to discuss and critically evaluate the readings.

Grading of Student Achievement

50% Formative Assessment:

a) Oral presentations to be given during student-led tutorials (35%)

b) In-class activity (15%)

50% Summative Assessment: 2000 word essay on a topic related to the course

There will be continuous assessment of learning. Students must come to all of the lectures and

seminars and fully participate in class to contribute towards the 20% of the final exam grade for

class attendance and participation and to be able to make the oral presentation during tutorial.

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Letter

Grade

Grade

Value

Total Course

Marks )

Grade Definitions and Explanation

O 7 70 and above Outstanding Sound knowledge of the subject matter,

excellent organizational capacity, ability

to synthesize ideas, rules and

principles, critically analyse existing

materials and originality in thinking

and presentation.

A+ 6 65 to 69.75 Excellent Sound knowledge of the subject matter,

thorough understanding of issues;

ability to synthesize ideas, rules and

principles and critical and analytical

ability.

A 5 60 to 64.75 Good Good understanding of the subject

matter, ability to identify issues and

provide balanced solutions to

problems and good critical and

analytical skills.

B+ 4 55-59.75 Adequate Adequate knowledge of the subject

matter to go to the next level of study

and reasonable critical and analytical

skills.

B 3 50-54.75 Marginal Limited knowledge of the subject

matter and irrelevant use of materials

and, poor critical and analytical skills.

F 0 Below 50 Failure Poor comprehension of the subject

matter; poor critical and analytical

skills and marginal use of the relevant

materials. Will require repeating the

course.

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Class Participation

15% of the final grade is reserved for participation in class activities and active engagement

throughout the course, demonstration that participants have read and are engaging with the

recommended readings and completing tasks set as homework/in class presentations.

A Note on Plagiarism

Any idea, sentence or paragraph taken from another source must be credited to that source. If

you paraphrase or directly quote from a web source, presentation or essays, the source must be

explicitly mentioned. You SHOULD NOT plagiarize content, be it from scholarly sources (i.e.

books and journal articles) or from open source internet resources. The university has strict

rules with consequences for students involved in plagiarism. This is an issue of academic

integrity on which no compromise will be made, especially as students have already been trained

in the perils of lifting sentences or paragraphs from others and claiming authorship of them.

As law students, you are entering a profession that is responsible for upholding the rule of law.

Please do not harm the integrity of the profession or your reputation by being dishonest in your

academic work.

If you are unaware of rules of proper referencing and citation, please request your course

instructor to update you about the same.

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Course syllabus with weekly readings

Week 1: Why study Harry Potter in universities

This week introduces the idea of the Harry Potter by asking how relevant the stories from the

series are to university level students and how they interact with other areas of learning as tools

of law, policy, governance, politics, philosophy, ethics and human rights. This is done by looking

at other “children’s stories” and asking whether they influence thought and decision making in

the “real” world.

Readings

Thomas, Jeffrey E.: "Introduction: The Significance of Harry Potter" in Thomas, Jeffrey E. (Ed.): Harry Potter and the Law. Texas Wesleyan Law Review 12:1 (2005).

Further Readings

Doniger, Wendy: "The sources of Harry Potter”, in Wiener, Gary/Parks, Penny J. (Eds.): Readings on J.K. Rowling. San Diego, Greenhaven Press, 2004. Zipes, Jack: "The Phenomenon of Harry Potter, or Why All the Talk?" In: Zipes, Jack: Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children's Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. New York, London: Routledge, 2001, 170-189. Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. Toronto: Penguin-Signet, Classics, 2000.

Discussion Questions

1. What is the relevance of popular literature in our studies of law and morality?

2. Where do we locate Harry Potter as a bildungsroman of our times? Should Harry Potter

be taught at university? Is it just another children’s novel or does it make sense to

include it in university curricula?

3. As young Indians, what parallels in the narrative traditions of India might you draw

comparable moral values from, as you have (presumably) from the Potter series you

“grew up with”? What does this indicate for the endemic culture of colonial conditioning

of our childhoods?

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Week 2: Situating the Harry Potter saga: Tale as Old as Time

People are fascinated by stories of good and evil because of our desires to feel and be all the things we are not, and also to believe that we have the power to save as well as be saved. We like to feel the things that a good story can give us. It enhances our imaginations and aspires us to dream, to go beyond what we have previously known. Every story needs a hero and a villain, whether it’s in a novel, a film, a religious sermon or just office gossip. The battle between good and evil is the essence of all storytelling. It is the duality we bring into life as human beings. The world itself is not about clear boundaries between good and evil; it is about the duality of these values in every actor and situation.

Readings

Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) selected excerpts. Mary Liston, The Rule of Law Through the Looking Glass, Law & Literature, 21 Law & Literature 42 (2009). Grimm’s Cinderella: Or, The Little Glass Slipper

Further Readings

Kork, Bert. "The People vs. Harry Potter." Pravda (21 March 2005)

http://english.pravda.ru/society/family/26-08-2003/3582-potter-0/

Skoglund, Kristin Flaten: The war between good and evil in children's literature: A study of

children's fiction by C.S. Lewis, Roald Dahl and J.K. Rowling. Bergen 2003.

Children's Literature: A Reader's History, from Aesop to Harry Potter, Seth Lerer, Chicago

University Press (2009).

Ballard, S. B.: "Thoughts on Harry Potter: Wizardry, Good and Evil." In: Anglican Theological Review 82 (2000), 173-176.

Discussion Questions

1. How does the series illustrate the dualism between good and evil? Does Harry Potter

perpetuate the Cinderella story or add another dimension to it?

Student Presentation

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Presentations will collect relevant excerpts from the texts that retell an old story of good versus

evil and trace their origins to ask what some of the common good/evil binaries the texts

borrow from are.

Week 3: Harry Potter and Gender

Essential Readings

Yeo, M. (2004). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Feminist Interpretations/Jungian

Dreams. Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education, 4(1), 1-10.

Heilman, E. (2003). Blue Wizards and Pink Witches: Representations of Gender Identity and

Power. In E. Heilman Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter. 221-237 New York, NY. Routledge

Gallardo, Ximena C., and C. Jason Smith. "Cinderfella: J.K. Rowling's Wily Web of Gender."

Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays. Ed. Gizelle Liza Anatole. Westport: Praeger, 2003. 191-

206.

Further Readings

Dresang, E.T. (2004). Hermione Granger and the Heritage of Gender. In D. Caselli The Ivory

Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon. 211-242. University of

Missouri Press, Columbia, MO.

Discussion Questions

1. Is there a gender bias or the perpetuation of a gender binary in the series? Where do

mythical creatures fall in the parabola of such a binary?

2. What would feminist critique of the Harry Potter series argue to change in the series?

Student Presentation

Arguments based on challenging a gender stereotype will be presented by students in this to

locate where in the text of the books gender stereotypes emerge.

Week 4: Symbolism, Allusions and Imagery in Harry Potter

Essential Readings

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Of Grammatology, Corrected Edition, Jacques Derrida, translated by Gayatri Chakravorty

Spivak, Johns Hopkins University Press (2013).

Orlando, Virginia Woolf (1928).

The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass (1959).

Further Readings

Duriez, Colin: "Voldemort, Death Eaters, Dementors, and the Dark Arts: A Contemporary

Theology of Spiritual Perversion in the Harry Potter Stories." In: Christopher H. Partridge, Eric

Christianson (Ed.): The Lure of the Dark Side: Satan and Western Demonology in Popular

Culture. London, Oakville, CT.: Equinox, 2008.

Discussion Questions

Student Presentation

Week 5: Why Harry Doesn’t Cast a Spell Over Me – The Problem with

Derivative Imagination and the Politics of Harry Potter

“I must confess to being completely unmoved by the Harry Potter phenomenon. The books

strike me as derivative and bland, and the film versions are, if anything, even worse —

faithful adaptations of schlock. Pulp fiction can be transformed into art, but only if the

film-makers treat the source material with a healthy amount of disrespect (see The

Godfather). The various writers and directors who’ve worked on the Harry Potter

franchise behave like Talmudic scholars adapting the Holy Book. Or, rather, seven Holy

Books, God help us.”

The Spectator, July 2011

Situating itself in reading the political crisis in 2019 India over the Citizenship Amendment

Act 2019 and the National Registration of Citizens by the Indian Government, this week

asks questions about where in the Potter series one may find political references to dissent

and disrespect for “authority”. How does Potter help young (or otherwise!) readers engage

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with and understand the political world around them? Isn’t that what makes literature

“great” or at least relevant to all times anyway?

Readings

Robbins, Ruth Anne. “Harry Potter, Ruby Slippers and Merlin: telling the client’s

story using the characters and paradigm of the archetypal hero’s journey.”Seattle

UL Rev. 29 (2005): 767.

The Veldt, Ray Bradbury (1950)

Dawkins, Richard. "Human chauvinism." (1997): 1015-1020.

Pieces on dissent and authoritarian regimes TBA

Further Readings

Gupta, Suman. Re-Reading Harry Potter. New York: Palgrave, 2003

Remke Kruk, “Harry Potter in the Gulf: Contemporary Islam and the Occult”, British Journal of

Middle Easter States, May 2005, 47-73.

Discussion Questions

1. Is the Harry Potter phenomenon worth all the adulation it receives? Some criticize it as

rehashing old ideas and suffering from derivative imagination that deserves no credit –

how well founded is this criticism?

Student Presentation

Presentations will highlight parts of the texts / movies that strike them as being a product of

derivative imagination and challenge the class to see this aspect of the Harry Potter

phenomenon.

Week 6: Fairy Tale and Allegory from The Mahabharata to the Order of the

Phoenix

“Tell me a story...”

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There is a lot of power in a simple story, especially when we are the age in which we believe

whatever we are told. When we are older, we are still ready to listen to a story and enjoy it even

if we do not really believe it. That is why a story is such a powerful medium for ideas, and some

of the most powerful stories are also some of the simplest—such as fairy tales and allegories.

An allegory is a fictional story that presents a spiritual truth. To outward view it is simply a

story, but when properly understood, it is a careful picture of something that is difficult to draw.

It is a story that takes truths that are hard for the oldest people to understand and shows them

to us through the eyes of a child.

Allegories often use make-believe elements such as spells and magic and mythical creatures; but

this is not true of all allegories. Some seem only an ordinary everyday story until you discover

the hidden meanings underneath the characters and storyline. Some very familiar allegories are

the parables in the New Testament. They are simple stories that can be enjoyed on their own,

but when they are explained in a spiritual sense their meaning suddenly becomes much deeper.

An allegory employs techniques such as symbolism, which is using objects to represent ideas like

love, honour, or envy; and personification, meaning that ideas are represented by people or

animals with personalities and appearances. It is like a miniature theatre where the ideas are the

roles and the characters are the actors who play the roles. An allegory is often much simpler

than an ordinary story. The plot usually has only one main goal, and the characters have one

major characteristic that defines them, such as fear or fury or faithfulness.

Essential Readings

Burke, Jessica. "" How Now, Spirit! Whither Wander You?." Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on

Shared Themes and Language 2 (2007): 25.

Natov, Roni. "Harry Potter and the Extraordinariness of the Ordinary." The Lion and the

Unicorn 25.2 (2001): 310-327.

Further Readings

Warner, Marina. From the beast to the blonde: on fairy tales and their tellers. Random House,

1995.

Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser (1590)

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Discussion Questions

1. Does Harry Potter employ allegory and symbolism to tell a fairy tale? What are the

instances in the texts of the books that convey allegory / personification of qualities that

inspire the characters in the plot?

Student Presentation

Students will present examples of allegory from Harry Potter and relate them to the virtues /

morals they then inspire in the characters in the books.

Week 7: Gryffindor and Slytherin: Rivalry and intolerance in Harry Potter

In Harry Potter, a student can persuade the Sorting Hat to an extent, to be allotted to the house

of their choice; this choice is later revealed as essential to the assignment scheme of the hat.

How the rivalry between the two houses affects the characterization of the main actors in the

story influences throughout the series.

Essential Readings

Tonry, Michael, Julian Roberts, and William Schabas. "Encouraging Difference at Hogwarts:

Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff as ‘the Other Ones’(Mónica Reina)."THE HARRY POTTER SERIES:

168.

Long, David. "Quidditch, Imperialism, and the Sport—War Intertext." Harry Potter and

International Relations (2006): 127.

Discussion Questions

1. What characteristics do the different houses symbolize in the books – how do these affect

the destinies of the actors in the plot?

Student Presentation

Presentations will be made based on parts of the text that evidence rivalry between the two

houses and how they go on to influence the characters in the novel.

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Week 8: Harry Potter and Torture: From the Cruciatus Curse to Hamdan v.

Rumsfeld During this session we examine the right to life and the prohibition against enforced disappearances, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment which are core human rights that protect the integrity of the human person. We explore both the status and scope of the right to life and the prohibition against torture in the context of the magical curses as well as in case law.

Essential Readings

Schwabach, Aaron: "Unforgivable Curses and the Rule of Law" in Thomas, Jeffrey E. (Ed.): Harry Potter and the Law. Texas Wesleyan Law Review 12:1 (2005)

Boumediene v. Bush 553 U.S. 723 (2008) Rasul v. Bush 542 U.S. 466 (2004) Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006) Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004) Why Not Torture? Simon Chesterman, December 17, 2014 (working paper)

Further Readings

Brown, Stephen: "Torment Your Customers (They'll Love It)." In: Harvard Business Review 79:9

(October 2001), 82-88.

Discussion Questions

1. Why is torture an unforgivable curse? What does the use of the word unforgivable

suggest in the context of the series?

2. In later books, parts of the Harry Potter series appear to speak to a system which

endorses the use of torture not only as a means to gain information, but also as a tool to

prove one’s superiority – how does this observation engender a modern reading of the

texts from the perspective of a universal prohibition against torture and the right not to

be tortured as a human right?

3. Was torture used against defenseless non-magical beings in Harry Potter?

Student Presentation

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Presentations will find evidence in the texts that form the series that show the use of torture in

the magical world and show points of convergence and divergence between torture as a

human rights violation and as an unforgivable curse.

Week 9: Harry Potter and the Law and Ethics of the Death Penalty

In a world where offenders and the condemned co-exist in forboding Azkaban, what is the Harry

Potter series’ take on capital punishment? This week studies contemporary legal writing on the

cultural uses of capital punishment and excerpts from the Harry Potter series on invocation of

the death penalty by bureaucrats, the Wizengamot, and even in duels between wizards.

Essential Readings

Garland, David. "The cultural uses of capital punishment." Punishment & Society 4.4 (2002):

459-487.

Barton, Benjamin H. "Harry Potter and the half-crazed bureaucracy." Mich. L. Rev. 104 (2005):

1523.

Further Readings

Bryan, Charles S.: "Myth, Magic, and Muggles: Harry Potter and the Future of Medicine."

In: The Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association 96:12 (2000), 514-518.

Mroczek, Breanna. "Split Seven Ways: The Magic of Death in the Harry Potter Novels." Magic is

Might 2012 (2013).

Discussion Questions

1. What are the cultural connotations of capital punishment in the series? Is there

punishment for wrongly imposing the death penalty? Is there a rule of law mechanism in

the wizarding world and what judicial checks and balances exist in curbing the excesses

of bureaucracy?

Student Presentation

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Presentations will locate portions of the text from the Harry Potter series to collate a narrative

that will then be used as material in an in-class policy debate with the motion – “The Harry

Potter series supports the imposition of capital punishment but does not define capital offences”

Week 10: From Thucydides to Harry Potter: Might as Right

Harry Potter and the philosophy of governing with the motto ‘might is right’ in studied in this

week. What is the role of the state in the magical world? How is the determination of the

mightier made?

Essential Readings

Whited, Lana A. "Magic is Might: Social Control, Hierarchy, and the Wizarding Economy in

Harry Potter (Kyle Ritchie)." THE HARRY POTTER SERIES: 174.

History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides (431 BC) [excerpted]

Mendlesohn, Farah: "Crowning the King: Harry Potter and the Construction of Authority."

In: Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 12:3 (2001), 287-308. [reprinted in Whited (Ed.), The

Ivory Tower and Harry Potter, 159-181.]

Further Readings

Chappell, Drew. "Sneaking out after dark: Resistance, agency, and the postmodern child in JK

Rowling’s Harry Potter series." Children's Literature in Education 39.4 (2008): 281-293.

Discussion Questions

1. Magic is Might – meaning and relevance to the development of the story; how does it

connect the destinies of the main characters in the series?

Student Presentation

Presentations will be made that connect theories of utilitarianism in governance to the

philosophy of governing under “might is right” using a historical sketch from Thucydides to

modern international law.

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Week 11: Suspension of Disbelief in the Harry Potter series & Interactive

Harry Potter quiz and movie screening

There will be a Harry Potter quiz based on all the books and a screening of the movies based on

the series. This will be followed by a student lead story telling session on how the series creates

suspension of disbelief.

Week 12: Muggles and magic: Innocence Lost and the Recovery of

Enchantment

This week we read magical realism into Harry Potter and study utopian and dystopian

caricaturing in literature as powerful tools of narration for the young adult. We look at examples

from the Harry Potter series to see how magical tales must be told forcefully, with extreme

situations and impossible conquests, in order to emphasize the enchantment of the narrative.

Yet, there is a relatability about a boy who lives in suburban London with unkind relatives that is

hard to situate in an otherwise magical world.

Essential Readings

Beahm, George, and Tim Kirk. Muggles and Magic: An Unofficial Guide to JK Rowling and the

Harry Potter Phenomenon. Hampton Roads Publishing Company Incorporated, 2007.

Totaro, Rebecca Carol Noel: "Suffering in Utopia: Testing the limits in young adult novels." In:

Carrie Hintz, Elaine Ostry (Eds.): Utopian and dystopian writing for children and young

adults. New York: Routledge, 2002, 127-138.

Kern, Edmund. The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us about Moral

Choices. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003.

Further Readings

Baggett, David. "Magic, Muggles and the moral imagination." (2004).

Orme, Jennifer. "Lies That Tell the Truth: Magic Realism Seen through Contemporary Fiction

from Britain (review)." Marvels & Tales 22.2 (2008): 339-341.

Discussion Questions

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1. How does a utopian / dystopian story create its basic story? Into what fit does the Harry

Potter series fall?

2. How does the breaking of magical realism occur in Harry Potter? How does it connect

reality with enchantment?

Student Presentation

Presentations will be on understanding Harry Potter as a dystopian / utopian novel; on

finding the imagery in the text that conveys the element of magical realism; and discussing

where the real and magical interface in the text of the books.

Week 13: Boys in Literature: Ideals of manhood: courage, ingenuity and

integrity

Popular culture is heavily influenced by literature in creating boy heroes from epics and famous

novels. From Krishna to Peter Pan, and Tom Sawyer to Harry Potter, the Lord of the Flies

imagery of brave young men taking on all the challenges the world throws at them and emerging

victorious against all odds is a timeless strategy to create a loyal readership.

Essential Readings

Robbins, Ruth Anne. "Harry Potter, Ruby Slippers and Merlin: telling the client's story using the characters and paradigm of the archetypal hero's journey."Seattle UL Rev. 29 (2005): 767.

Green, Martin. "JM Barrie: Peter Pan and the Idealization of Boyhood, Children's Literature 10.1 (1982): 159-162.

Wannamaker, Annette: Boys in children's literature and popular culture. Masculinity, abjection, and the fictional child. New York: Routledge, 2007 (Children's literature and culture 46).

Wannamaker, Annette: "Men in Cloaks and High-heeled Boots, Men Wielding Pink Umbrellas: Witchy Masculinities in the Harry Potter novels." In: The Looking Glass: An On-line Children's Literature Journal 10:1 (2006).

Further Readings

Mullen, Alexandra: "Harry Potter's Schooldays: Tom Brown, Harry Potter, and other Schoolboy

Heroes." In: The Hudson review: A magazine of literature and the arts53:1 (2000), 127-135.

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Whited, Lana A., and M. Katherine Grimes. “What Would Harry Do? J. K. Rowling and

Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theories of Moral Development.” The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter. Ed.

Lana A. Whited. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2002.

Van Praagh, Shauna: "Adolescence, Autonomy and Harry Potter: The Child as Decision-Maker." In: International Journal of Law in Context 1:4 (2005), 335-373.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain (1876)

Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up, J.M. Barrie (1902)

Discussion Questions

1. What are the characteristics of hegemonic masculinity and its idealization through

creating boy heroes in the Harry Potter series? What are the manifest conditions that

emulate this characterization in society?

Student Presentation

Presentations from the Harry Potter series and other boy-hero books of instances and stories

that illustrate the boy-hero perspective of the narrative.

Week 14: The Sorting Hat - The Indian Caste system mirrored in the magical

world: Of goblins, house-elves and untouchability

This week is full of conversations about the “other” in Harry Potter. We discuss the second class

citizens in light of the Indian caste system and trace parallelisms in the narrative of societal

hierarchy and discrimination.

Essential Readings

The Threats to Secular India, Amartya Sen, Social Scientist, Vol. 21, No.3/4 (March-April 1993)

pp.5-23.

Galanter, Marc, "Untouchability and the Law", Economic and Political Weekly(1969): 131-170.

Dickerson, Darby. "Professor Dumbledore's Advice for Law Deans." U. Tol. L. Rev. 39 (2007):

269.

Further Readings

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Elaine Ostry, “Accepting Mudbloods: The Ambivalent Social Vision in J.K. Rowling’s Fairy

Tales,” in Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays, ed. Giselle Liza Anatol (Westport, Connecticut:

Praeger, 2003).

Discussion Questions

1. Who are the “others” existing outside the system in the Harry Potter series? What are the

instances of reifying their “otherness” in the series (brought out through student

presentations from the books). By standing up for their “rights”, does Harry Potter

endear himself to these groups?

2. What are social parallels in the Indian caste system? What common criteria can we distill

from these projections?

3. How is the giving of a sock symbolic in the Harry Potter series? How does it correspond

with affirmative action / positive discrimination policies?

4. Are there further parallels to be drawn between the disabled and squibs?

Student Presentations

Presentations from the Harry Potter series on instances and stories of oppression and

discrimination against the “others” by the magical community. These could include, among

others, house elves, goblins, giants, muggles, mud-bloods and squibs.

Week 15: Review