Story & Photos by Jesse Lerch and Jessica Ridgway
Curious students gathered in the EMU’s Ben Linder Room Monday night to learn more about the new Harry Potter-themed program offered by UO Study Abroad.
“Who here has read and seen everything Harry Potter?” asked Roger Adkins, the coordinator for this new program.
Nearly every hand in the room shot up. Obviously, he knew his audience.
The new summer program in London, “Harry Potter Comes of Age: The Social Politics of the Monstrous in (Post) Modern Fantasy,” focuses on the embedded social and political commentary found in the Harry Potter series and other fantasy literature.
“I wasn’t sure about [the program] before,” UO junior Kat Shannon said. “But now I understand that it’s more about working with the literature, instead of just reading the Harry Potter books.”
About twenty students showed up for the meeting, and some were pleasantly surprised at the level of depth that Adkins has gone to with the program.
“I’m really happy that Harry Potter is going to be taken seriously,” said Samantha Johnson, a senior who plans to apply.
The program uses the Harry Potter series along with other fantasy fiction to illustrate the complexities of social issues like race and gender. Therefore, it’s fitting that the program takes place in London, not only because Harry Potter is English, but also because London, as Adkins said, is “more multicultural than any other study abroad location.”
But it’s not all post-modern literary exploration. Students will have the opportunity to explore London and discover the influences it had on the Harry Potter series. Some planned excursions include visiting the “real” Platform 9 ¾ and touring the Gloucester Cathedral, which was used as the interior of Hogwarts. A ride on the Jacobite, the same steam train that appears in the films, might also be arranged. One excursion that is sure to please: students will be in London for the opening of the final Harry Potter film.
Adkins hopes that the students fortunate enough to experience this program will come out of it with the understanding that there is more to fantasy fiction than critics assume.
“I want people to have fun,” Adkins said. “But there is a serious academic component to it.”
Study Abroad Features Program Based on Boy Wizard
Ethos
February 23, 2011
More to Discover