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.

• 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

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