Potterversity: A Potter Studies Podcast

Unpack mental health in the wizarding world and how Harry Potter can serve as bibliotherapy for readers.

For insight into these topics, Katy and Emily talk to Nishi Ravi, a psychotherapist pursuing a PhD in Counseling Psychology at Marquette University. She recalls how reading Harry Potter as a preteen and teenager made her feel seen at a formative age - a common experience for many young readers.

Who deals well with trauma in the wizarding world, and who struggles? Although there is no singular definition of what constitutes trauma, Nishi generally thinks that people who can understand they're not responsible for their trauma but that they are responsible for their healing tend to be able to manage it better. Neville seems to be a good example as someone who can maintain social relationships, use his trauma as a moral foundation, and learn to stand up for himself. The antithesis is Snape, who has a sense of purpose from his trauma but hasn't found a way to cope and process, fails to forge interpersonal relationships, and projects his trauma onto others.

What about Harry? Although he shows resilience and strength, he is so constantly in danger, even at Hogwarts, that he rarely has opportunities to process his trauma, his conversation with Dumbledore at the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix being an uncommon event. Still, he makes a choice when he arrives at Hogwarts to surround himself with people who are good for him instead of befriending Malfoy and joining Slytherin. His experience in detention with Umbridge could be a form of masochistic reparation for him as someone whose life is based on other people sacrificing themselves for him and who is so focused on the greater good that he does very little for his own self-interest.

Are adults in the wizarding world good models for positive mental health? McGonagall is the embodiment of consistency and stability amid chaos. Still, Hogwarts is not exactly conducive to students' well-being. A glimpse into the Spell Damage ward at St. Mungo's shows that treatment for severe psychological trauma is lacking, and exposure to it in the form of the Cruciatus Curse and Dementors is common. In both the Muggle and wizarding worlds, unequal social structures create mental health challenges. Half-giants, elves, and Squibs are marginalized, which can cause emotional turmoil.

What can readers learn from reading Harry Potter? The deficiencies in wizarding society reflect our own and give us a glimpse of how to understand the world and eventually engage in real action as adults. The series provides a safe way to explore more serious realities, and although no work of literature can capture everything, it serves as a good starting point. When Nishi's clients worry that their depression or anxiety is just in their heads, she thinks of Dumbledore's words: "Why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" That idea is one of many in the series that can help reduce existential loneliness.

Fresh off of May the 4th, Emily and Katy talk about their love of and academic interest in Harry Potter alongside another fandom they hold dear: Star Wars.

Emily came to Star Wars relatively recently, after the birth of her son and a class at Signum University taught by Amy Sturgis, but Harry Potter was a gateway for her into speculative fiction and imaginative literature. Falling into fandom can be like learning a language - it becomes easier to understand others in the same group once you've mastered one.

Katy and Emily are not only fans but aca-fans with scholarly interests in the properties they enjoy. Fans have long noticed common threads shared by Harry Potter and Star Wars, and some of them hold academic appeal. Emily likes the clearly articulated sense of right and wrong in both series but also the fact that they don't shy away from exploring the complexities of morality. Soul triptychs, in which characters represent different aspects of humanity working together, are also present in both. Potter and Star Wars, although intended for children, have depth to them that makes them enjoyable for both kids and adults, allowing kids some insight into adult thinking and adults an opportunity to think like children - a phenomenon J.R.R. Tolkien discusses in his essay "On Fairy-Stories." Katy is interested in the intersection between pop culture and history and finds that both franchises use ideas about the past to understand the present and project into the future.

Katy and Emily are investigating some of these intersections in their current work, including a Star Wars conference and upcoming companion academic volumes on Star Wars and Star Trek. Katy compares the sequel trilogy to Potter, examining Rey and Harry's experiences with mirrors to explore reflected images of themselves, legacies from parents they didn't know, their destinies, and "time compasses" to orient them in their quests. Emily looks at the Star Wars television series Andor alongside the film 21-87. We also consider crossover actors from Potter who are appearing in Star Wars properties, like Fiona Show (Petunia Dursley) and Kathryn Hunter (Arabella Figg), creating the effect of a palimpsest for viewers who see the new characters painted over the characters they had previously portrayed.

All of these new Star Wars shows bring us to the announcement of a Harry Potter television series. Katy is looking forward to the opportunity to the revisit the stories in a way that brings out different elements. Emily is not surprised, considering the current flood of franchise content. How much will this series differentiate from the films, and how will it aim to be a "faithful adaptation"? Might Star Wars provide a map for how Potter television content will grow in the future?

Find out how breaking the rules leads to seeking justice in the wizarding world - and our own.

An early critique of the Harry Potter series complained that Harry, Hermione, and Ron often break the rules and don’t always get in trouble for it. In this episode, Katy and Emily talk with Dr. Beth Sutton-Ramspeck about how seeing the limitations of rules and having the courage to break them prepares the series’ characters for political resistance. Beth’s new book, Harry Potter and Resistance (Routledge 2023), fully explores these issues. Beth explains how she developed the idea behind her book, how it relates to her earlier work on “literary housekeeping,” and how Harry Potter helped her move beyond scholarly burnout.

We discuss concepts of “dirt” and “cleanliness” in the book series, and how they connect to the desire to clean up society and politics. The Potter books present a complex understanding of the value or dangers of that which is termed dirty or impure. Cultural rules determine what counts as dirty or clean, and so transgressing such rules can be an act of resistance. On the other hand, in some cases, the act of cleaning is a fundamental act of care for fellow human beings, which is a form of resistance in authoritarian regimes. The Potter series also embraces ambivalence in that characters are not always entirely good or entirely bad. Emily notes that a central aspect of early Christian ministry involved removing barriers to the supposedly “unclean” and that this was an act of social justice.

Beth notes that resistance is about principled opposition to rules that are unjust. It’s not just about Fred and George nicking food from the kitchens but defying rules that perpetuate inequality and oppression in the wizarding world. We talk about the rule-oriented, unjust forces in magical society and how characters like Cornelius Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, and Argus Filch use rules to entrap and suppress the marginalized. The wizarding world is built on unjust laws and systems that are open to authoritarian abuse. Beth explains that in such systems telling the truth is itself an act of political defiance, as we see with Harry when he reports Voldemort’s return. We talk particularly about house-elf rebellion and its difficulties. Dobby makes it clear that house-elves have the capacity for freedom, despite the various restrictions that keep them enslaved.

The Harry Potter books incorporate ideas related to nonviolent resistance that overlap with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s concept of creative maladjustment and Ibram X. Kendi’s antiracism writings. Characters like Dobby, Harry, and Hermione are maladjusted to the unjust rules of their society, and this provokes responses that challenge the corrupt dominant culture. Beth also explains to us how transformative it was for Ron, inheritor of pureblood wizard privilege, literally to walk in Reg Cattermole’s shoes at the Ministry of Magic. Being able to see fictional characters behaving in creatively rebellious ways helps us to see rule-bound injustice in our own society and have the courage and creativity to defy these rules to construct a better world.

We gotta get back to Hogwarts in this episode, where we chat about MuggletNet's Ultimate Unofficial Harry Potter Hogwarts Handbook.

Katy and Emily are joined by Potterversity producer Laurie Beckoff and Marissa Osman, two of the authors of the latest release in MuggleNet's Unofficial Reference Library. Following a spellbook, character compendium, and bestiary, this book branches out beyond lists to chronicle every known detail about the wizarding world's most famous school, from history to hallways to inhabitants.

Hear about the research, writing, and editorial process that went into such a massive undertaking. Laurie and Marissa talk about their approach and how their academic backgrounds came in handy. We discuss the difficulty of determining what counts as canon and how to reconcile information from the books, films, video games, interviews, tweets, and Pottermore. Even within the seven novels, Hogwarts is full of contradictions and mysteries - mistakes or magic?

Hogwarts feels like home to so many readers. We share our favorite spots in the castle, fun tidbits about the school, and what else we want to know. What secrets of Hogwarts are yet to be discovered?

Whether it’s love for Hogwarts or love at Hogwarts, this episode will satisfy your wizard school Valentine’s cravings.

What theme is more central to the Harry Potter series than love? On this special interactive episode, Emily and Katy open up their podcast to fans and listeners to talk all about love at Hogwarts. Fielding questions and comments from the webinar chat, Emily and Katy consider the various kinds of love relationships at Hogwarts, Harry Potter valentines gone wrong, and love for the famous British school of witchcraft and wizardry itself.

We discuss the romantic relationships in the series - where they seem transgressive and where they seem traditional (hello, epilogue!) - and ponder our favorite noncanonical pairings. School spirit is also an expression of love, so we talk about how we show school spirit and what’s unique about Hogwarts that attracts not only fascination but also loyalty.

Thanks to all the listeners who joined us and helped create this fantastic conversation! What are your favorite Harry Potter loves? How do you show your love for Hogwarts?

This episode grapples with two omnipresent themes in Harry Potter: death and immortality.

Although the series has sometimes been deemed too dark for children, death can happen to anyone at any time, making it not purely an adult theme but something kids should also learn to encounter. Katy and Emily are joined by Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Associate Professor of New Testament and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and co-host of The Two Cities podcast, to explore the meaning of death and approaches to it in Harry Potter.

John disagrees with the popular fan theory, approved by the author, that Dumbledore plays the role of Death from “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” Voldemort seems much more closely tied to Death and Dumbledore to the Resurrection Stone. We discuss the connection between Death Eaters and ancient religious conceptions of death, in which death is something that consumes.

John argues that Harry Potter is an anti-transhumanist text. Transhumanism is the idea of an extreme extension of life, in which humans can advance and upgrade themselves with increased longevity and well-being. Potter pushes against that idea and rejects the desire for immortality, instead emphasizing the importance of living on by passing things onto the next generation, like the Invisibility Cloak. Creating Horcruxes through murder to extend life lacks the hopeful, humanist goal at the core of transhumanism, and someone who would go to such lengths for eternal life seems highly unlikely to have a child, despite the events of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We also talk about death in The Christmas Pig and the capitalist connection between hoarding life and hoarding money.

For the second part of our discussion about the 2022 Harry Potter Academic Conference, we discuss current themes in Potter scholarship, including the special section on the transgender community.

Katy and Emily continue their conversation with conference presenters and attendees Laurie Beckoff, Lauren Camacci, Louise Freeman, and Lana Whited. After talking about favorite presentations in the first half, we turn to overall themes we noticed throughout the conference. Lana sees difference and reaction to it as a major topic, reflected in the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, which included political, sociological, and psychological approaches. Social justice and critical reading have been at the forefront of Potter studies in recent years, featured in Christine Schott’s talk on house-elves and Julye Bidmead and Emma Brandel’s presentation on creating a critical engagement guide to reading the series.

Lana has observed a lack of attention paid to J.K. Rowling’s works for both adults (Cormoran Strike) and children (The Christmas Pig, The Ickabog) outside the wizarding world. We debate what might account for the relatively low scholarly interest, including Rowling’s controversial comments, genre, quality, generational appeal, and overall popularity.

Rowling’s remarks about transgender people have been a major point of discussion at the last few conferences, to the point that the organizers decided that the topic called for a special section. Our guests discuss Louise’s scientific approach to transgender identity, using the “transabled” characters who wish to amputate healthy limbs in the Strike books as a point of reference to view it as a neurological phenomenon. Other subjects included trans “spite fic,” or Harry Potter fanfiction focused on transgender characters to spite Rowling (Ben Cromwell); “half-blood fans,” or queer fans who face judgment from their fellows for remaining in the fandom (Brent Satterly); and how to read the scene in which the boggart that takes Snape’s form is forced into a woman’s clothing (Lorrie Kim).

This rich discourse is part of why we all keep returning to Chestnut Hill, and we look forward to more excellent conferences.

Join us as we reflect on one of our favorite annual events, the 2022 Harry Potter Academic Conference at Chestnut Hill College.

Katy and Emily talk with attendees and presenters from the 11th annual HPAC: Laurie Beckoff, Lauren Camacci, Louise Freeman, and Lana Whited. The conference was held entirely in person until 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated moving the conference online. In 2021, the organizers decided to try a hybrid approach, which continued this year. We discuss the benefits and drawbacks of that style, which allows presenters and attendees to join from all over the world and enables active discussion during presentations but can bring technical difficulties and make it difficult to engage with people attending in a different manner.

As usual, this year’s conference offered a huge variety of subjects, spanning literature, psychology, religion, education, and more. The first part of our chat focuses on some of our favorite talks. Lana, who usually connects intellectually with papers, felt emotionally stimulated by some of the presentations. Plenary speaker Loretta Ross, a recent recipient of the MacArthur Genius Grant, spoke on “Calling In, Not Calling Out” as a revolutionary strategy to discuss human rights issues. In the wake of J.K. Rowling’s comments about transgender people, fans and scholars have struggled with how to broach this topic. We consider Loretta’s suggested approaches and social media as a platform for serious and sensitive discussions.

John Anthony Dunne and conference organizer Patrick McCauley both examined death, an ever-present topic in Potter scholarship, while David Martin considered secrets, lies, and deception. Such weighty topics were balanced out by more light-hearted papers. Caitlin Harper, a regular presenter on (and defender of) Quidditch, this year talked about how the sport makes exactly as much sense as it needs to, comparing it to real-world sports that have odd or complicated rules. Laurie shared literary antecedents for Peeves and analyzed his overlooked role as a prankster in the series.

Other character studies included Beth Sutton-Ramspeck’s examination of Ron’s transformation into Reg Cattermole, bringing a minor character to the forefront and analyzing his position in wizarding society and Ron’s experience of literally putting himself in someone else’s shoes. Mark-Anthony Lewis looked at Snape alongside Victor Frankenstein in their relationship to techne, which encompasses art, science, and ethics. Katy, inspired by our episode on Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, looked at mirrors in the new film and how the various Dumbledores interact with them.

Stay tuned for part two, where we discuss current themes in Potter scholarship, the conference’s special section on J.K. Rowling and the transgender community, and why we keep coming back to Chestnut Hill year after year.

It’s the holiday season, so it’s time for the magic of food on this month’s episode.

Food has a special role at this time of year . . . and in the Harry Potter series. Katy, Emily, and Louise Freeman talk about the food of the wizarding world: pumpkin pasties, cockroach clusters, butterbeer, cauldron cakes, and all things wizard food. We look at how food operates as a metaphor and how it develops mood and setting in the series.

In the Harry Potter books, food serves important purposes in providing social opportunities for the magical community. Food is conspicuous in the Potter stories, even from the very first chapters. It’s used for humor, world-building, and character-building across the series. The quality of food available to Harry often mirrors the quality of his life at various moments, representing alternately deprivation or abundance.

Food fellowship also pervades the series, from Harry and Ron’s first meeting on the Hogwarts Express to Weasley family dinners and Hogwarts feasts. Ron particularly has a hard time with food scarcity in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, one of the catalysts for his leaving Hermione and Harry. We also talk about where food is portrayed as morally “good” and “bad,” its use to signal nationalist or ethnic identity, food symbolism in myth and ritual, dangerous foods, and the tantalizing questions about magical creatures as both predators and edible prey.

For all its growth into a global media franchise, Harry Potter is first and foremost a work of literature.

Katy and Emily talk to Dr. Cecilia Konchar Farr, Professor of English and Dean of the College of Liberal and Creative Arts at West Liberty University and editor of the recent anthology Open at the Close: Literary Essays on Harry Potter. For all the scholarship the series has generated, many of the literary qualities of the books are frequently overlooked while attention is instead paid to the cultural phenomenon surrounding them.

The idea for Open at the Close germinated at the Harry Potter Academic Conference at Chestnut Hill College, where the series is examined from a wide variety of fields and perspectives. Cecilia discusses her chapter, co-written with Amy Mars, which uses digital humanities techniques to analyze the changing language throughout the series. Emily talks about her own chapter in the book, which also tackles the language of the series, albeit in a different way, asking what constitutes “good” writing and Potter’s style is often criticized. How have patriarchal standards influenced what is considered good literature?

J.K. Rowling has been a particularly hot button issue over the past few years, with some scholars reframing their approach and thinking more deeply about the idea of “death of the author.” Separating the art from the artist works better for some than others. Nonbinary contributor Tolonda Henderson decided to step away from Potter fandom and scholarship because of the author’s behavior. Cecilia, however, has long been more concerned with the relationship between books and readers than authorial intent. She believes that relatability and discussibility should be legitimate topics for discussion. Many influential writers throughout history have been deeply problematic, but their writing still holds significance and value. Whatever the author’s views, books in general, and the Potter books specifically, can - and have - made a difference.