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Wizarding in the Classroom: Teaching Harry Potter and Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2009

Stephen Deets
Stephen Deets
Affiliation:
Babson College
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Abstract

This article describes teaching a course called Harry Potter and Politics. Focusing on aspects of political culture, the class tackled themes of identity, institutional behavior, and globalization. Teaching Harry Potter has several benefits. Students are both familiar with the wizarding world and yet have enough distance to examine it dispassionately. The book is driven by ethnic conflict, political power struggles, and dysfunctional bureaucracies. Finally, there is an academic literature on the books. Beyond Harry Potter, teaching politics through popular culture is not only natural for addressing political culture, but taps into the ways undergraduates are increasingly experiencing politics.

Type
The Teacher
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , October 2009 , pp. 741 - 744
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 2009

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