Material Girls

Special guest, Lucia M. Lorenzi, PhD, joins us to unpack trauma theory and helps us understand both the characters in Harry Potter and the world they inhabit as affected by traumatic events. We also explore the narrative form of the text itself—its gaps, inconsistencies, and unreliable narration as sites where trauma lives.Content warning: this episode, broadly, discusses various experiences and consequences of trauma throughout. Of particular note are discussions around child abuse and neglect, starvation, parental death, nightmares, and flashbacks. Please take care of yourselves and feel free to skip this episode if you need.Be sure to follow Witch, Please on Twitter and Instagram @ohwitchplease and let us know what you think of the episode through a review on Apple Podcasts. As always, you can join our Patreon for exclusive content including bonus interviews, Q&As, Watch Alongs and more — our tiers range from $2-$13! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dearest Witches, gather round for some lessons in class solidarity! In this episode, we'll discuss the formation of class structure in Western society, the inherent relationship between race and class, and the ways in which the Harry Potter books reach for but don't quite deliver a vision for a cross-class uprising against the powers that be. How do some characters occupy complicated or shifting class positions? What would it take for Harry, or other characters of privilege to be true class traitors?Content warning: at 01:06:30, there is a brief mention of the history of eugenics as it pertains to Neville Longbottom's early childhood.Be sure to follow Witch, Please on Twitter and Instagram @ohwitchplease and let us know what you think of the episode through a review on Apple Podcasts. As always, you can join our Patreon for exclusive content including bonus interviews, Q&As, Watch Alongs and more — our tiers range from $2-$13! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Snuggle up to your familiars, Witches, because today's episode is all about animals (and critical animal studies!). What distinguishes the "animal" from the "human" and why did Western society come to arrive at that distinction? How does separating humans from their fellow animals work to enforce destructive social, political, and ecological power dynamics? What do we make of the way magical and non-magical creatures (and the humans who care for them, commune with them, or use them) are portrayed throughout the Harry Potter books?Content warning: This episode includes discussion of anti-Black racism including racial stereotyping, dehumanization, and physical violence. This discussion largely occurs in the Transfiguration segment of the episode (24:22 to 39:57) and is marked by a content warning at the beginning of the episode and at the beginning of the Transfiguration segment. Please take care of yourselves and feel free to skip all or parts of this episode as needed. Be sure to follow Witch, Please on Twitter and Instagram @ohwitchplease and let us know what you think of the episode through a review on Apple Podcasts. As always, you can join our Patreon for exclusive content including bonus interviews, Q&As, Watch Alongs and more — our tiers range from $2-$13! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we unravel the many layers of Orientalist tropes that permeate the Harry Potter world. How do some not-so-subtle visual and narrative cues--turbans, hooked noses, and mysterious powers from the "East" tell readers who to fear, dislike, and distrust in these books? How can we heighten our awareness of tropes like these and call out these negative portrayals when we see them?Be sure to follow Witch, Please on Twitter and Instagram @ohwitchplease and let us know what you think of the episode through a review on Apple Podcasts. As always, you can join our Patreon for exclusive content including bonus interviews, Q&As, Watch Alongs and more — our tiers range from $2-$13! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s FINALLY HERE! In honor of Hogwarts day, September 1st, we present to you the first day of class you’ve always dreamed of from your two favourite lady scholars: Witch, Please | Ep. 1, The Chosen One. Our first episode goes back to the very beginning–to the concept of origin stories themselves–to explore how and why Harry Potter fits into a long tradition of “chosen one” narratives. Harry, we learn, is a very special boy in all the ways English literature tells us special boys ought to be. Harry is a hero, following the tidy path of the classical hero’s journey. But what are the limitations of building characters and building worlds this way? What kinds of stories and perspectives are missing when authors rely on such tried tropes? Join us for a thorough unpacking of Harry’s special-boy-hero-complex and don’t forget to prepare your quills and parchment–you may want to take notes. Be sure to follow Witch, Please on Twitter and Instagram @ohwitchplease and let us know what you think of the episode through a review on Apple Podcasts. As always, you can join our Patreon for exclusive content including bonus interviews, Q&As, Watch Alongs and more — our tiers range from $2-$13! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BIG NEWS, WITCHES! Through a brand new partnership with Not Sorry Productions (the brilliant team behind Harry Potter and the Sacred Text), we’re coming back! New and better than ever, which is to say, produced by somebody else and not actively losing money. W O W.Speaking of not losing money, if you’d like to support this reboot, check out our new Patreon! Rewards include unedited audio from the first season, bonus interviews, Q&As, and movie watch-alongs!Enjoy our extremely goofy teaser/reboot announcement, and meet us back here on September 1 for the first episode of the brand new Witch, Please! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WE ARE GETTING ROGUER EVERY EPISODE TBQHSo this one’s on time, but witches? It is pretty. silly. We sat down, in the same room, with our favourite guy-with-a-film-degree, and we talked about the fan-made prequel film Voldemort: Origins of the Heir. If you don’t mind spoilers, this Telegraph review will set the tone for the episode.This episode contains fewer sound effects than usual because it was too hard to fit them in between all the laughter. It also contains an above average amount of us being delighted with ourselves. Strap in!OH P.S. there is brand new merch in our store with more to come, so go get your Malcoy and #NoTallMen swag and hold out for even more in the future!http://ohwitchplease.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Witch-Please-Goes-Rogue-On-Prequels.mp3Download this Fan-Made Episode (because we are clearly fans of ourselves)  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OH MY GOLLY WE ARE SO ROGUE IT IS RUUUUDE.But we are ever grateful for your patience and love, dear listeners! This episode comes to you after much travel and celebration and exhaustion and desperately-needed rest on the part of your hosts. It means the world to us that you’re so chill about the lag since S03E01. (Also, time is just a social construct so, like, what even is a fortnight?)This episode contains the audio recoding from Marcelle’s keynote lecture at the 86th Annual ABQLA Conference. (Librarians are AWESOME! I had the BEST time!!!) Maybe you want to scroll through the slides as you listen? This is a grand idea because our erstwhile tech support Trevor Chow-Fraser made them and they are beauuuuuutiful. You can find a PDF at the bottom of this post. (Just assume it’s a new slide every minute or so; sorry there’s no indicator of when to flip the page…)In this lightly edited episode, Hannah and Marcelle get heavily silly. We hope you enjoy!http://ohwitchplease.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/WitchPlease_S03_E02_RogueHistoryLesson.mp3Download this Rogue Lecture about Early 20th Century Canadian Print Culture HermioneSLIDES: Hermione Keynote FINAL (Slide deck c/o Trevor Chow-Fraser, Robot of our hearts!) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OKAY IT IS NOT JUNE ANYMORE SO THIS IS LATE but we’re back with a brand new episode for this, the final season of Witch, Please: WITCH, PLEASE GONE ROGUE! We’re coming to you straight from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, except that we didn’t want to bring our recorder into the park and then we were too tired to record a proper episode that night and then we got really busy for a couple of months but LISTEN. It’s a great episode. Just trust us, okay?Mega extra special thanks to Julie Frances for being our Orlando guide and to Raimi and Steph and the Baby Hippogriff and Nana Hippogriff for making the trip so special, and to ALL OF YOU who donated for making it possible, and especially to Katie Robison for setting up the GoFundMe! EVERYONE IS GREAT!http://ohwitchplease.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/S3E1-Wizarding-World.mp3Download this rogue episode Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

image credit: Melbourne Writers FestivalWell, witches, it’s that time of year again for the first time (technically the second time): time to say “later witches” and actually mean “see you in a few months.” This is our first ever (intentional) Season Finale, but don’t desair! We’ll be back again next summer BIGGER, BOLDER, and SEXIER THAN EVER! You’re gonna love it. So, until then… later witches xoxo.http://ohwitchplease.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/S02E08_WitchPleaseAndTheMelbourneWritersFestival.mp3Download this Season Finale Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.