Race, Power and Prejudice: An Exploration of Social and

Political vision of J.K Rowling in the Harry Potter Series

Background to the Research:

Generally speaking, it is very difficult to give an apt definition of racism. Race, however, can

be defined as a group of individuals belonging to certain ethnicity. The reason for one’s

inability to give a proper definition of racism is that the concept in itself, at its roots stems out

of distinctions based upon one’s own mentality, outlook or social construct that they were

born in. So, racism or rather ‘prejudice based upon someone’s colour, caste or creed’ is a

concept that is and will forever remain a matter of debate or contention. It was, is and will

always will be subjective and remain in a state of constant flux. However, one may wish to

analyze the concept, they will find that each and every writer was it from historical

perspective, social perspective or literary perspective has tried to describe it through the

glasses of their own outlook of the same. Whether they were vehemently critical or staunch

supporters of the concept, the researcher would like to point out here, that racism, power and

discrimination are relative terms, where the former arises out of power; the latter is an

offshoot of power. Racism is more than a sensitive issue; it is more of an ideology where the

majority considers itself above minority as the latter fails to incorporate some important

attributes of the former.

As pointed out earlier, the concept of racism, its social and political implications,

characteristics, impact and outlook differs from author to author and his or her individual

experiences of the same. In the similar vein, where racism in “The Untouchable” by Mulk

Raj Anand is more caste based, as it is found in India. Similarly, the theme finds a complete
expression in ‘The kite runner’ by Khaled Hosseini, where it has been examined from various

angles, religious intolerance, class, economic conditions etc. In ‘The Bluest Eye’ a novel by

Tony Morrison, race has been discriminated on sexist and racial grounds. In the novel, Pecola

Beedlove, the protagonist is a young black girl who is raped by her father. This tragedy

leaves her pregnant, distraught and broken throughout the work and towards the end she ends

up becoming mad. As one can see, prejudice can arise out of any number of sources and not

just race per se. However, ‘Differentiation based on Race’ is one of the most prominent

themes that finds and has found expression in the literature so far.

Joanne Kathleen Rowling is as an eminent British writer and screenwriter who was working

as a researcher and bilingual secretary with Amnesty International when she got the

inspiration to write the Harry Potter series on a train journey while she was on her way to

London in the year 1990. Over the next 7 year long duration during which the work was

written by her, she personally went through a series of life changes like: the death of her

mother, birth of her first child, her first divorce and a spell of poverty. By 1995, she had

finished her manuscript of “The Harry Potter and the Philosophers’ Stone “, the first

instalment of the series. It should be noted that the books have been written in 7 parts:

1. Harry Potter and the philosopher’s Stone ( 1997)

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakban (1999)

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003)

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)

 7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)

Rowling has received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University

of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, the University of Exeter (which she

attended), the University of Aberdeen, and Harvard University, where she spoke in

the 2008 commencement ceremony. In 2009, Rowling was made a chevalier de la

legion d’ honneur by the French president Nicholas Sarkozy. In 2011, she became an

honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

Nestle smarties book prize, Gold award for Harry Potter and the philosophers stone

(1997), Nestle smarties Gold award for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

(1998), British children’s book of the year, harry potter and the philosophers stone

(won), Whitbread children’s book of the year, Harry Potter and the prisoner of

Azakaban (won) and several others.

Racism in the Harry Potter books finds an implicit expression; it is indirect and requires

deep analysis for its proper examination. First and foremost difficulty is in the setting of the

novels, the Harry Potter series, in essence is based upon the imagination of JK Rowling,

nothing depicted in the work is real, the story itself deals with fantastical characters, witches,

wizards and elves, those cannot be found in the real world. Secondly, the author, JK Rowling

herself is a post modernist British writer. To the post-modernist ear, the very word racism

sounds alien, as according to them, it has basically disappeared and has no existence at all;

however, that is actually not the case.

Racism is very much a part of the Harry Potter series but it is depicted in such a subtle

manner that only an avid reader can pinpoint the numerous references contained in it. On the

surface, the series suffers under the superiority complex of the purebloods, where both the

fictional factions present a glaring parallel to the English society. This is one the most

apparent categorisation found in the books having racial undertones.

In the books, Rowling tries to present an utopian picture of the universe where there are no

distinctions whatsoever, where everyone is treated justly and equally in terms of morals,

characters, their respective actions, merits and demerits and no one even mentions the racial

side of the things, let alone discriminates against anyone on those grounds.

On the surface, the Harry Potter saga presents a perfect fantastical universe that spans 7

years filled with magic, love, friendship, trust, victory of light over dark--in short, a flawless

piece of literature devoid of any kind of discrimination, let alone racism. There are a handful

of non-white characters in the book that are created to bridge the between various factions but

on a closer look at the work, one can easily make out that these few characters, Cho Chang

(Harry’s first love interest), Angelina Johnson, Dean Thomas, Parvati Patil etc. have either

not been fully developed or been consigned to the background while the whites enjoy the

limelight.

 MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH WORK:

1. To explore the concept of Race, its changing perspectives; past and present.

2. To examine the theory of White Privilege.

 3. To understand the fluctuations in the expression of racism in literature.

4. To analyse the expression of implicit and explicit racism in the books and racism

as a social construct.

5. To study the themes of Power and discrimination as depicted in the Harry Potter

series.

6. To scrutinize the political aspects of racism in the series.

7. Narrative technique of Rowling.

8. To investigate the influences those led to the inception of the series.

 IMPORTANCE OF THE PROPOSED WORK:

Racism is interlinked with power and politics. Rowling herself once said that

she wanted to create an unreal world with the same issues as that of the real

one, as she was quite aware of the issues like bigotry and hierarchy found in

our daily lives. According to her it can be found all over the world and people

do consider themselves better than others in some aspects of their lives. It

doesn’t matter if the perception is real or not--the fact remains that it still is

there in their minds in one form or another. Therefore, one should always

question authority and not just blindly follow the system, so to speak. This is
 one of the one of the many questions that form the premise of the Harry

Potter series. As the series opens, we are introduced to Harry’s foster family,

the Dursleys, who have almost psychotic hatred towards witches and wizards,

whom they enjoy calling nothing but “freaks”, which is because they

absolutely loathe magic, due to their lack of understanding of it, which later on

develops into full blown racism when they start mistreating Harry, solely

because he is a wizard.

Quite like society in general, the protagonist in the books is also treated as an

outcast as people fail to understand him, much like the society he constantly

struggles to find his true identity, just like us, the people who struggle to

understand the government that has the authority over us. The novels teach us

to be brave and stand up for what is right, to not to succumb under the

pressure of arbitrary authority figures. This research project aims at trying to

sensitize the masses about globally sensitive issues of racism, power and

discrimination by using a fantasy classic as a tool. By juxtaposing the unreal

against the real, the main function of literature be it any literature, fiction,

nonfiction, fantasy, modern contemporary etc is to spread awareness, about

life, society, issues prevalent in the society of which it is a product. The

importance of the proposed work lies in the the fact it will try to address the

serious issues like that race, politics and society by putting in fictional setting.

 REVIEW OF LITERATURE:
Although, in its essence “Harry Potter books” are based in a fantastical universe, the

critics believe that “the texts” attitude towards race are contradictory, simultaneously

embracing both radical critique and conservative traditionalism” as pointed out by the

Jackie .O .Horne. in her article “ Harry and the other: Answering the race question in

JK Rowling’s Harry Potter.”

Some critics such as Harold Bloom (in an article in The Wall Street Journal.) are of

the opinion that the series, from the point of view of reading, the books have little to

no value at all , but the continued sales of the books, and the whole series being one of

the best selling series in history suggest that there is something to be considered in

them from the racial view point.

In “Ideology and Race in American History” Barbara J .Fields, a professor of history

and great scholar writes thus: “classes may have struggled over power and privilege ,

over oppression and exploitation, over competing sense of justice and rights; but in

the United states, these were secondary to the great overreaching theme of race”. This

perception of hers could be very well understood in the context of the “Potter” texts as

well. As in the magical world this very same struggle is the main theme. The problem

of race discrimination in the novels is basis from where all the action mainly arises,

and causes the conflict. The theme purebloods v/s mudbloods (non magic people) has

a crucial place in Harry Potter Plotline.

Tess Stockslager, author of “What it means to be a half- blood” is of the opinion that

“Being a Pureblood comes with a privilege (The wizards with complete magical

lineage.) but it comes with expectations.”. Neville Longbottom, is a Pureblood, but he

finds it difficult to totally embrace his abilities, he is constantly harassed and

mistreated. At one point, his parents start thinking that he might be a squib (A non

magical child of magical parents.) which we find he is not, most of his fears and

inability to grow as wizard comes from the fact that he was psychologically pressured.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN:

The main domain under which this research can be put and studied is cultural studies.

It can be applied to literary analysis as well as resolving the race question which this

proposal shall mostly be looking into. Cultural studies can also be utilised to

understand the society and how racism applies to the contemporary scenario. Now,

going from the generic to specific the particular theory that will be applied and used i

this research project is the cultural race theory or CRT. Cultural race theory will be a

great tool in scrutinizing and understanding Rowling’s treatment of racism in the

books. This theory can further be used to point out differentiation and polarisation

issues in literature and society in general. This theory along with the theory of

defamiliarization can be used to study the aforesaid research topic at length and in

great depth.

Defamiliarization can be used in relation to fantasy literature; which is the genre that

the Harry Potter books primary fall into, a rough or somewhat simple definition of the

term is to put ‘familiar ‘or regular situations in unfamiliar and different surroundings.

In the Harry Potter books, real issues like politics, racism and society have been put in

an unreal imaginative universe. Hence this theory can also be used as a tool during the

course of this research.

 The research methodology shall constitute the in depth study of the primary sources,

those include, the 7 parts, that the novel is divided into, it should be noted that the

since thesis is mostly text based, hence, the concepts and theories involved, the

narrative techniques adopted by the author shall be minutely and critically analysed

and inferences shall be drawn from the same. Furthermore, the secondary sources

comprising of the critical books, papers and commentaries made on the subject will

also be utilised during the course of the research work.

TENTATIVE CHAPTER WISE SCHEME OF THE RESEARCH WORK:

Chapter 1 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK-

Chapter 2 METHODOLOGY AND THEORIES INVOVED: cultural studies, theory

of defamiliarization, the cultural race theory and their usage in the Harry Potter series.

Chapters 3- 5- TEXTUAL ANALYSIS: The themes of Race, Power, Prejudice and

society in general and as depicted in the Potter series.

Chapter 6- Rowling’s art of narration

Chapter- 7- Conclusion
 EXPECTED CONTRIBUTION FROM THE PROPOSED STUDY

‘Humanities’; the very name suggests a relation between a human and literature.

Literature of any language and not just English is a reflection of life, culture of a

society it pertains to, therefore, no matter what the type of work under consideration

in the field of humanities is, be it gender studies, cultural studies, linguistics, modern,

post modern, fantasy, fiction, nonfiction, Every genre has three things in common;

1. It draws inspiration from the trends and tribulations of an age and social order.

2. It is based (whether partially or totally) upon the experiences of the author.

3. It is accepted or viewed by the reader from his or her own perspective.

These are three filters that decide the value of any literary piece in the long run. If

it is relatable, new and different than others, it is gains success; otherwise it is read

and forgotten.

Similarly, the proposed research work will be contributing to the literary genre

certain new and different insights into the problems of racism, politics and society

by placing them into imaginative yet contemporary and socially relevant

perspective.

 EXPECTED DURATION OF THE WORK : 3 YEARS.

 1st Year- collection of primary and secondary sources

2nd year reading and analysis of the collected sources\

3rd year- writing the thesis

 FACILITIES AVAILABLE FOR WORK AT THE RESEARCH CENTRE: The

university library has a rich collection of books; it has multiple books on the history

of English literature by various eminent authors, this provides the student an

opportunity to study his/ her topic of research in depth and gives them food for

thought so that they can formulate and write a well-planned and knowledgeable

research thesis. The supervising and teaching staff at the university is very helpful and

genial in their approach towards the research scholars. They are always ready to guide

the students as much as they can during the course of the research. All in all, I would

like to say that the learning and teaching environment at the university is very

research conducive and suitable. - Shivali Chopra.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY:

PRIMARY SOURCES: the Harry Potter books:

 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic 1997.print.

 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic 1998 print.
 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban. New York: Scholastic 1999 print.

 Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire. New York: Scholastic 2000 print.

 Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. New York: Scholastic 2003 print.

 Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince. New York: Scholastic 2005 print.

 Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows. New York: Scholastic 2007 print.

Secondary Sources: Critical Works:

 Walters, Tiffany, L, “Not so Magical Issues with Racism, Classicism and

Ideology in Harry Potter” (2015) NMU Masters Theses, paper,42.

 “Adolf Hitler: Was Hitler Jewish?” Jewish virtual Library. 24.Nov. 2017

 Berratt, Bethany. The Politics of Harry Potter. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

2012. EBook.

 Brief on Behalf of American Civil Liberties Union American Ethical union Jewish

committee Anti defamation League of B’nai B’ rith Japanese American Citizens

League and Unitarian fellowship for Social Justice as Amici Curiae p. 11. Brown

vs Board of Education of Topeka. Supreme Court of the United States (1952)

 Fields, Barbara J. “Ideology and Race in American History.” Region, Race and

Reconstruction.

Eds. Kousser and McPherson. New York: Oxford UP, 1982 print.

 Green, Melanie C. “Resisting Social Influence: Lessons from Harry

Potter.” The Psychology of Harry Potter. Ed . Neil Mulholand. Dallas:

Benbella, 2006. 299-310 print.

 Horne, Jackie C. “Harry and the Other: “Answering the Race Question in

JK Rowling’s Harry Potter.” Lion and the Unicorn. 34.1 (2010): n.

Page.Web. 24. Nov. 2017.

 Maza, Luisa, Grijalva. “Deconstructing the Grand Narrative in Harry

Potter: Inclusion/Exclusion and Discriminatory Policies in Fiction and

Practice.” Politics and Policy. 40.3 (2012): 424-443. Web.

 Mendelhson, Farah. “Crowning the King: Harry Potter and the

Construction of Authority.” The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter:

Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon. Ed. Lana.A. Whited. Columbia

and London.: U of Missouri P, 2002 .Print.

 Nash, Claudia Peralta and Celia Den Hartog King. “Harry Potter and the

oppression of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse U.S Students. “Social

Advocacy and systems change1 (2008-2009) 43-62 web

 Rattansi Ali and James Donald. Race, culture and difference 1st ed.

London : The Open University and Sage Publications ltd. 1992 print.

 Open Book Tour, Morning Appearance. New York: Carnegie Hall, 19 Oct.
2007.
 ---. The Tales of Beedle the Bard. London: The Children’s High Level
Group, 2008. Print.
 Shulzke, Marcus. “Wizards Justice and Elf Liberation: Politics and
Political Activism in Harry
 Potter.” J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter. Ed. Cynthia J. Hallett and Peggy J.
Huey.
 Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 111-121. Print.
 Snell, John L. The Nazi Revolution. Boston: D.C. Heath, 1959. Print.
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 Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982. Print.
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 Stockslager, Tess. “What it Means to Be a Half-Blood: Integrity versus
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 Biracial Identity.” J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter. Ed. Cynthia J. Hallett and
Peggy J. Huey.
 Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 122-134. Print.
 Upton, Sue. “New Interview with J.K. Rowling for Release of Dutch
Edition of “Deathly
 Hallows’.” The Leaky Cauldron. Web. 24 Nov. 2017
 Vick_hpfan. “The Influence of Nazi Germany on J.K. Rowling’s Harry
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 Cauldron. Web. 24 Nov. 2017
 Waite, Robert G. L. Hitler and Nazi Germany. New York: Holt, Rinehart
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 Print.
 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. and J.K. Rowling v. RDR Books, 575.
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 1992: The Theme of Race in the Harry Potter Series. 10.1 (2006): n. page.
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 <http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/view/97/82>.

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 Wikipedia contributors. "J. K. Rowling." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

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