News Article: Controversy About History of Magic in North America - What’s Your Opinion?

On Monday, March 7th, 2016, Pottermore revealed that J.K. Rowling would be releasing four new pieces about magic in North America, as a teaser for the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie, coming out this fall. In the teaser video (which can be found here: https://youtu.be/BBcKROEJgRQ), topics like Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, skinwalkers, the Salem witch trials, and the Magical Congress of the United States were all hinted at. Naturally, this announcement sparked massive excitement among Harry Potter fans of all ages, which only increased as the release date for the first piece grew closer.

Over four days, the four promised pieces were posted on Pottermore. The first, titled “Fourteenth Century-Seventeenth Century,” spoke mainly about Native American magic and beginning of magic in the U.S., as well as reiterating the use of the term No-Maj instead of Muggle. The second, “Seventeenth Century and Beyond,” covered a wider range of topics, including European wizards’ emigration to the U.S., wizarding mercenaries known as Scourers, the Salem witch trials, and MACUSA, the Magical Congress of the United States of America. The third piece, “Rappaport's Law,” did indeed discuss Rappaport's Law, which enforced separation of the magical and No-Maj communities, as well as the story behind it. It also mentioned that the American magical currency is a Dragot. The fourth and last piece, “1920s Wizarding America,” touched on many of the earlier topics again as well as talking about famous North American wand makers and their signature wands.

The full articles can be found here: https://www.pottermore.com/collection-episodic/history-of-magic-in-north-america-en

However, once the articles were released, reactions were mixed. Some were just pleased to have the new addition to the ever-expanding magical world, but quite a few others considered these new pieces to be offensive and built off of stereotypes. Both those for and against the content of the History of Magic in North America make fair points, which are touched on below, and it's up to you to decide what you think about the matter.

Against:

The complaints include that the pieces appropriated and fictionalized Native American culture, misrepresented and exaggerated the Salem witch trials, including MACUSA as only a minor detail, basing the secrecy of the American magical community off of a sex scandal, disregard many of the issues also happening in North America at the time, and that the character Dorcas Twelvetrees, “as dim as she was pretty,” was stereotypical and sexist.

For:

However, other readers of the Magic in North America piece disagree with these complaints, saying that the pieces are fictional fantasy writing, and therefore should not be judged on how realistic the events of the time were portrayed. As well, they say that J.K. Rowling should be supported instead of condemned for actually making the effort to include multiple cultures in her story, despite not obviously not knowing the others as well as well as she knows her own.

What do you think? Are you for or against the content of the History of Magic in North America pieces? Why? Submit your answers here and see other HiHers thoughts on the matter: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mH80-5Dg3i8nTFG1VM1MoHi2Zj_VwjaTQgFxu8e6pBY/viewform

-Misty Swanson