Reading, Writing, Rowling

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