Harry Potter author JK Rowling may have put her foot in it. The author’s newly announced series of Pottermore releases named The History Of Magic In North America is angering Native American critics, who argue that the portrayal teased in the trailer falls back on stereotypes and “situates [Native Americans] as fantasy creatures.”
That last quote was pulled from an open letter from Dr. Adrienne Keene, who runs the website Native Appropriations, about the portrayal of Native Americans in popular culture. Her letter reads:
But we’re not magical creatures, we’re contemporary peoples who are still here, and still practice our spiritual traditions, traditions that are not akin to a completely imaginary wizarding world (as badass as that wizarding world is). In a fact I quote often on this blog, it wasn’t until 1978 that we as Native peoples were even legally allowed to practice our religious beliefs or possess sacred objects like eagle feathers. Up until that point, there was a coordinated effort through assimilation policies, missionary systems, and cultural genocide to stamp out these traditions, and with them, our existence as Indigenous peoples. We’ve fought and worked incredibly hard to maintain these practices and pass them on.
Keene tweeted later that he hopes that Native Americans were consulted, but is happy to be proven wrong on that point:
Also, if there are any Native people that were in touch with JK Rowling about this series, please let me know. I’m happy to be proven wrong.
— Dr. Adrienne Keene (@NativeApprops) March 7, 2016
Rowling herself did not directly address these concerns on her very active Twitter account, but she did reply to a fan about something to do with race in the wizarding world.
.@ridd1kulus No, there was mutual respect and a sense of kinship between all wizards, no matter what their race.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 8, 2016
The original tweet has since been deleted, because there is really no other option when a celebrity .@ replies you and you’re suddenly having their entire online fanbase spit fire at you.
The discussion raises a few obvious concerns as Rowling branches her series out into historical content beyond the British Isles. There’s a lot of real dark shit in American history that she’s not particularly close to, and it’ll be interesting to see how she handles it with both the Pottermore stories and the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film.
Source: Native Appropriations
Photo: Getty / Cindy Ord
