Rowling Offends Native Americans

[spongebending.livejournal.com]

I don't know if anyone on here heard about it, but Rowling is writing a new series of sorts called the History of Magic in America.

Not only does she seem to have done barely any research at all on American history (if there are any Americans on here, check it out and have a laugh!), but she also seems to have caused a bit of controversy as many Native Americans have found her portrayal of them to be backwards and offensive.

Can't say I'm surprised, I've always felt that in Potter fans could reread the books without their nostalgia goggles on they'd find the series has a lot of unfortunate implications and overall nastiness. Without the protective shield of nostalgia, it seems that people are starting to see the many of the faults of Rowling's writing that this community has been pointing out for years.

Comments

[muisjelief.livejournal.com]

I like to pretend that there is an unusually large number of wizards living in Great Britain, and that magic did not really evolve in other places outside a few interrelated ethnic groups. Magic is a freak occurrence that emerged largely among some small pockets of people near the Mediterranean sea who mostly immigrated to France, Middle-Europe and Britain. Shamanism does exist, but there exists no culture of witchcraft, sorcery and spell craft, it's something weaker and more intuitive that remains in the domain of sacred rites and is not something used for concrete purposes.

I know this is a very Eurocentric way of thinking, but to me it eliminates inconvenient questions like: "why did Native Americans not use magic to fight against foreign invaders", or, "why wasn't magic documented and discovered by colonialists in Africa and India".