Harry Potter and Convergence Culture

Amanda Firestone is an assistant professor of communication at the University of Tampa. Her research focuses on the heroine’s coming-of-age in Young Adult Literature. Leisa A. Clark is a professor of arts and humanities, teaching diverse class subjects such as art history, media studies, and film history. She is the author of a variety of books, ranging from fictional comedic space opera to critical edited collections. She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“An interesting look at ‘Millennial’ culture, and an enjoyable case study of the powers of the Internet.”— Against the Grain

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface (Leisa A. Clark)Wizarding Whirled: An Introduction(Amanda Firestone with Leisa A. Clark)I. The Great Hall: Fan Spaces and PlacesThe (Virtual) Race for House Cup Glory: Hogwarts RunningClub and the Journey to #SoMuchGood (Amanda Firestone) Fiber Fiction: How Two Different Affinity Spaces Developed into Another Potter World (Gail A. Bondi) Magic Goes Muggle: Inclusiveness in Quidditch as a “Spin-Off”­Practice (Alena Brunner) Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter: A Primer in Contemporary Media Concepts (Carissa Ann Baker) It’s Real for (All of) Us: Wizard Rock and the Audience as ­Co-Creator (Anne Collins Smith) II. The Forbidden Forest: Marginalized OutsidersInferior Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Shrinkingof Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws to Fit Gendered Space (Elise Payne) Fitting Him for Leather Trousers: Fanon and the Reclamation of Draco Malfoy and Slytherin House (Kali DeDominicis) “Witches live among us!” The Minorities Battle Prejudicein Fantastic Beasts (Valerie Estelle Frankel) Fantastic ­Non-Wizard Entities and How to Other Them: Representations of the Other in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Haley Herfurth and Clair McLafferty) Harry Potter and the Cursed Closet: Queerbaiting, Slash Shipping and The Cursed Child (Emily E. Roach) III. The Professors’ Lounge: Creating Cultural ConnectionGaining the ­Grown-Up Perspective in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Tara Moore) The Cloak of Many Canons: Establishing ­Cross-Contextual­Canonicity After Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Katelynn E. Carver) Of Memes and Muggles: Harry Potter, Facebook and the 2016 ­Presidential Campaign in the United States (Björn Sundmark) Who Tells Me Where I Ought to Be? The Sorting Community ­Hogwarts Is Home and Pottermore (Jonathan A. Rose)Muggles and Magic in America: Cultural Appropriation, Authorial Intent and Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Leisa A. Clark) Epilogue: A Note of Caution Amid a Chorus of Praise for the ­Ever-Expanding Potterverse (Mary F. Pharr) About the ContributorsIndex