Harry Potter and a lesson of inclusion. 

During readings for Assessment Item 1, I came across a very interesting journal article titled, "Deconstructing the Grand Narrative in Harry Potter: Inclusion/Exclusion and Discriminatory Policies in Fiction and Practice, (Maza, 2012).  I read this article with great interest as my major is Inclusive Education and this article's purpose was to demonstrate how Inclusion and Exclusion was exhibited through this work of fiction.  Obviously inclusion is what we all seek, but who in Harry Potter is excluded and is this a bad thing?

We have all experienced feelings of inclusion and exclusion throughout our lives.  As a mother of two girls I am witness to their experience also.   And as my daughters are readers of Harry Potter I took particular interest in this article.  I too have read the works of J. K. Rowling and naturally sided with Harry and his comrades as they fought the one called "he who should not be named".  It was quite evident that Voldemort and his band of Death eaters were excluded from the "good" of the wizarding world, but Maza (2012, p.429) takes this a step further and says that,

"by the end of the first book, the predominance of magical over nonmagical is accepted.  There is no doubt that whatever is not magical is rendered either uninteresting or impotent and, by extension, not desirable and therefore excludable.  The Ministry of magic designs policy toward muggles informed by this encompassing grand narrative, where magical is superior to muggle.  And yet their policies require the magical world to be kept secret from the muggles... In the construction of the magical narrative, magic is much better than nonmagic, and all who are not included are resentful, uninteresting, underdeveloped, and often ignorant.  This discourse is constructed by the magical group; this is their perspective, how they perceive the world. ... All that is true, superior, and good will only come from the magical."

I see this form of exclusion occur at the schools my girls attend.  Those who are not listening to the "right music" or wearing the "right clothes" or carrying "a cool phone" are often excluded by the "in crowd" - they become akin to the "non-magical folk".

There has, and still is, enormous pressure placed upon young people to conform to a certain ideal before they are included in their peer group.  J. K. Rowling has highlighted this desire for inclusion through the jealousy of Harry's Aunt Petunia not being a witch like her sister Lily (Harry's mother).  Her sense of exclusion caused her to inflict the same feeling of exclusion upon Harry by forcing him to reside under the stairs!

By reading Harry Potter and analysing the dynamics of the inclusive/exclusive relationships we are provided with some wonderful talking points to illustrate to our children how labeling people can fuel discrimination.  "Despite its wondrous characteristics, the magical world of Harry Potter fiction is not so dissimilar from the read world" (Maza, 2012, p.432).

In all areas of society we see inclusion and exclusion taking place.  Even through reading we are confronted with images and stories that reflect the society we live in.  All of us are guilty of labeling those in the world around us.  In my desire for a more inclusive society I shall now be able to take Harry Potter and use these stories to enlighten my own children and students so that they are awakened to the knowledge that even novels can provide us about our 'real' world.  Sharing these stories with young people opens up opportunities for awareness of discrimination and exclusion and may help our young people move towards a more inclusive society.

References:

Maza, L. G. (2012).  Deconstructing the Grand Narrative in Harry Potter: Inclusion/Exclusion and  Discriminatory Policies in Fiction and Practice.  Politics & Policy, 40(3), 424-443.  Doi: 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00358.x

Harry Potter image retrieved from:  http://hdw.eweb4.com/out/1012927.html