Episode #163 - Squibs, Disabilities, and Harry Potter with Emma Brandel and Dr. Julye Bidmead

Carrying on in our series on Disability & Theology, we turn to think critically about the representation of disabilities in popular culture. In particular, we focus on the representation of Squibs in the Harry Potter series with Emma Brandel and Dr. Julye Bidmead. Emma Brandel is an undergraduate student at Chapman University (Orange, California) majoring in ancient cultures and languages, and Dr. Julye Bidmead is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and the Director of the Center for Undergraduate Excellence at Chapman University. Over the course of our conversation Emma and Dr. Bidmead highlight the ways that Squibs—magical born people in the Harry Potter world who are not able to use a wand to produce magic—function as a metaphor for people with disabilities. What is most problematic about this connection, as we discuss, is that there is no educational accommodation for Squibs at Hogwarts, and further, that they are broadly denigrated within that magical society. This discussion stems from work that Emma did in a course taught by Dr. Bidmead in which she and a few of her fellow classmates produced a reading guide for people coming to the Harry Potter series 30 years later (or more) after readers have grown more sensitive to the unchecked biases in the series against various marginalized groups, including people with disabilities. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Rev. Dr. Chris Porter, and, introducing for the first time on the podcast, Stanley Ng.

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