UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Trust, Friendship and Houses:

An Ethnography of Fans

by

Heather Victoria Dunphy

A THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY

CALGARY, ALBERTA

September 2011

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1+1 Canada Abstract

Millions of people worldwide have enjoyed reading the Harry Potter books and watching the film adaptations. Some enjoyed the series so much they actively participate with the text and interact with others sharing their mutual interest. This thesis explores the community of Harry Potter fans and how cross-cutting ties contribute to group cohesion. It also explores the pervasive sense of trust within the Harry Potter and how trust contributes to group membership and fandom unity. I draw on participant observation and qualitative interview data collected during my fieldwork with Harry Potter fans during the summer of 2010.1 argue that the Harry Potter fans have memberships in overlapping subgroups. These subgroups help build a unified community that is similar to the close-knit community that Harry Potter experiences at Hogwarts and yet is at odds with the social structure of the non-fandom lives of fans.

11 Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who participated in my research. I am forever grateful for their time, generosity, stories, and goodwill. Thank you to Dr. Charles Mather who supervised me throughout the thesis process, challenged me to think deeper about my data, and calmed my fears of complete inadequacy. Thank you to Dr. Anne Irwin who inspired me to pursue my Master's degree in the first place and was always a friendly listener. Thank you to Dr. Mary Pavelka, Dr. Doyle Hatt and Dr. Erin Gibbs van Brunschot for their valuable feedback. Thank you to the Department of Anthropology for all of their contributions to my Master's program. Thank you to Paul Bridger, Matthew Esau, Juli Finlay, Ian MacNaira and Sarah Sandham for your support and friendship and for coffee runs to Mac Hall. Thank you to Geoffrey Cartwright who listened to my ruminations with attentiveness and patience. Finally thank you to my parents for being incredibly supportive throughout my university career. I would not be without them.

The research for this thesis was supported by the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada, a graduate scholarship from the Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary, and a Queen Elizabeth Graduate Research Grant from the Government of Alberta.

in Dedication

To all Harry Potter fans who told me of their experiences And invited me along on their adventures. May Harry Potter be the boy who lived on.

IV Table of Contents

Introduction 1 A History of Magic - Ethnographic Background 9 i) Harry's Journey to Bookshelves and Backpacks 9 ii) Canon Synopsis 15 iii) Literature Review 20 iv) Theoretical Background on Fandom 23 v) Anthropological Theory 27 vi) Conclusion 34 Accio Ethnographic Data!: Methods for Conducting my Fieldwork 36 i. The Anthropologist as a Research Instrument 37 ii. Caput Draconis: Access 42 iii. Ethics 43 iv. Sampling 44 v. Recruitment 45 vi. Data Collection Methods 47 Participant Observation 47 Social Diaries 53 Focus Group 55 Interviews 56 Autoethnography 61 vii. Analysis 62 Life at Hogwarts: Results and Discussion 65 I. Quantitative/Qualitative Summary of Themes and Demographic Background 70 Demographic Background 72 II. Trust 75 iii. Activities 85 IV. Sorting 95 How to Sort 97 House Identity 102 Competition between Houses 104 Impermanence 109 In the Common Room Ill V. Famous Fans 114 Fans Without Houses 117 Famous Fan Benefits 118 Personal, Competent and Legitimate Authority 121 Infamous Fans 129 VI. Friendship 131 Connecting Online 136 VII. Conclusions 139

v Conclusion 142 Sources Cited 151 Appendices 162 Appendix B: Analysis of Word Count Comparison Chart 163 i. Interview Informants 163 ii. Themes 164 Appendix C: Word Frequency Report from Max QDA (Top 100 Words) 168 Appendix D: Informant Demographics 170

vi Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?-

- J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p. 579)

Vll 1

Introduction

It was 10:30 p.m. on March 31, 2009 and I was just returning home from a long day of study at the university. My parents had been calling me repeatedly all evening asking me when I would be getting home. When I finally walked through the front door, I saw an owl sitting on my kitchen counter. A plastic owl, left on my doorstep two years before, with an

RSVP to my Harry Potter party attached to its leg. The owl, normally stashed in my basement, now sat on the counter with an envelope at its feet. It was addressed to me and postmarked from , ; my parents figured it was a response to my letter from J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter novels. I had sent the letter three months earlier in a big manila envelope, addressed to J. K. Rowling and in care of her publishers in

London, England. Inside was a small scrapbook made of brown paper bags and a three- page letter thanking J. K. Rowling for writing Harry's story. The paper-bag scrapbook included pockets full of pictures of my brother and me as we grew up reading the Harry

Potter books and a few questions about the Harry Potter series. In my letter, I thanked her and I explained why I was so grateful for the Harry Potter series. I wrote,

One reason that the Harry Potter series means so much to me is my younger brother Alex and I would sit and talk for hours about the future books, hypothesizing about what certain things meant and sitting together and reading off the same book. When we were younger, we would dress up in old Halloween costumes, pull out our parents University math textbooks, and run around the house with chopsticks trying to discover if our dog was in fact an animagus.1 We even made up Harry Potter identities: Alex's name was Fabian and my name was Marrastella. While

1 Animagus: A witch or wizard who transforms into an animal. 2

a part of me cringes with embarrassment that you now know this awkward fact about me, I look back on those days fondly and I think that the Harry Potter series kept my brother and I close throughout our adolescence. No matter how bad our bickering would get, it could easily be resolved with an in-depth discussion of the seventh horcrux.

I had worked on the scrapbook and the letter for two years before I felt satisfied and mailed it off. Three months later, I received a reply.

Immediately I called my brother, Alex, in Montreal and instructed him to log on to iChat, and over an Internet video conference my family opened the envelope and read the letter together.

"Dear Heather, Firstly, you should know what an extraordinary thing you achieved because for years now my postbag has been so immense that I rarely get to see the happy letters. I have to prioritise, so it is the letters of fans with serious problems that are placed in front of me every week, and it is they who receive personal replies. Every so often, one of the girls who handle my mail gently remind me that most of the letters do not concern illness, bereavement or other life catastrophes... But your letter was so very beautiful, that my dear, trusted P.A., Fiddy, said, "You HAVE to see this", and if I tell you that the actual letter meant even more to me than the exquisite book you made, you can perhaps understand how much I loved it. And believe me, I shall treasure the book.. . remains is for me to thank you, again, for one of the most wonderful letters I have ever received. And that, as Dumbledore himself might say, is saying something." (J. K. Rowling, personal communication).

Receiving this letter began the transition of being simply a fan of Harry Potter to becoming a Harry Potter fan. The following day, had I been a witch, I could have conjured

2 Horcrux: An anonymous object used to conceal a piece of human soul. Harry does not learn the identity of the seventh horcrux until the end of the seventh book. 3 a patronus3 so powerful, it would have cured world hunger. My brother and I, having learned of a Harry Potter convention occurring during the May long weekend in Boston, decided that we had the golden ticket4 to being the most popular fans at the convention and we purchased our plane tickets. In the weeks leading up to the conference, titled Leaky Con

2009, we prepared our costumes, re-read our favourite parts of the Harry Potter books, and resigned ourselves to that fact that we were the ultimate - Harry Potter fans.

But what is a fan? Jenkins points out that the word 'fan' is an abbreviation of the word 'fanatic', derived from the root of 'fanaticus', literally meaning "of or belonging to the temple, a temple servant, a devotee" (1992:12). However, 'fanaticus' also had an alternative connotation of "persons inspired by orgiastic rites and enthusiastic frenzy" (Jenkins 1992:12). Most commonly, the term 'fan' brings to mind sports fans

(Gosling 2007) or (Gerrold 1973). However, there are also Bachies (fans of the composer J.S. Bach), Bardies (fans of William Shakespeare and his work) and Sherlockians

(fans of the tales of Sir Conan Doyle) (Pearson 2007:99). Then there are the similarities and differences between sports fans and science or fans. For example, both sports fans and fantasy fans are subdivided into smaller units (support for particular teams or texts) (Crawford 2005:26). Both sports fans and fantasy fans have offline and non-offline activities such as attending games or conventions and watching games on the television or interacting with the text in an online capacity (Crawford

3 Patronus: A spell used to dispel Dementors, creatures who bring despair to all and the affected are forced to relive their most painful memories. The patronus is conjured by thinking about an extremely happy thought while saying the incantation, "expecto patronum" (Rowling 1999). 4 Golden Ticket: A rare permission slip for entry into the magical Wonka Factory, from the book " and the Chocolate Factory" by . 4

2005:26). Both fantasy fans and sports fans dress in costume or in team colours as a way to support or express their fandom to others. Finally, both sports fans and fantasy fans can be negatively labelled by society, for example, football hooligans or fantasy freaks. Yet, there are also differences. First, sports fans are predominantly male while many fantasy fans are female (Jenkins 1992:19). Second, fantasy fans base their fanaticism on texts

(books, movies, television series) whereas sports fans base their fanaticism on a particular sport, a particular team, and the social history of that team and brand. Third, as fantasy fans engage with texts, they often create additional material pertaining to the stories that other fans take to be canon. In contrast, while baseball fans may create fantasy baseball leagues, these leagues do not in turn become part of the baseball lore. However, sports fans still contribute to the 'brand' by engaging in performances such as creating chants and wearing team colours (Crawford 2005:26).

Despite the variation in the types of fans, the word 'fan' continues to carry

"connotations of religious and political zealotry, false beliefs, orgiastic excess, possession and madness" (Jenkins 1992:12). The word fan is also negatively associated with the lone, obsessed stalker (usually male), the hypersexual , or the hysterical, screaming crowd (usually female) (Jensen 2001:9; Jenkins 1992:14-5) Borah defines fans (in the context of fantasy fans) as "people who read, re-read, and interpret texts. They seek out other fans to discuss these texts and reshape their readings" (2002:355).

When my brother and I arrived at the Boston Park Plaza hotel, we realized that in comparison to the other attendees, we were not "fans". We loved Harry Potter and had read the books many times, but we were outsiders, and we knew nothing about the fan culture 5

surrounding the Harry Potter books. I was astounded by the size of Leaky Con 2009. Over

800 registrants came from all over Canada and the (Leaky Con Organizer, personal communication). Despite the geographical separation, it seemed that everyone

already knew one another and connected with other "con-goers" immediately. Blogger Sara

wrote, "The is so amazing. The four days of the convention were like

a giant love-in. Everyone was talking to everyone else, you could absolutely be yourself

and if you were less knowledgeable about anything Harry Potter or related no

one looked down on you, all we wanted to do was share the love" (Leaky Con 2009

Convention Report). I also experienced this sense of community, and by the end of the

weekend, I felt that I was part of the fandom.

The Harry Potter fandom is a community of diverse and dispersed individuals who

connect and participate with and trust others through a mutual interest in Harry Potter.

Harry Potter fans build a fan identity within the community through participation in and

affiliations with overlapping subgroups based on activities, house identity, social status,

and friendships. In this thesis, I will explore what a Harry Potter fan is, how fans interact in

overlapping sub-groups, and how these cross-cutting ties result in a unification for the

Harry Potter fandom.

Studying fandom from an anthropological perspective is important because virtually

everyone is a fan of something; whether it be a sport or a sports team, a television show,

Charles Dickens' work, or Margaret Mead. However, the intensity that fans devote to their

fan fixation varies between fans and within an individual fan's lifetime. For example, my 6 fan fixation with Harry Potter has increased since attending at my first Harry Potter convention.

Ethnographic research on Harry Potter fans is important because millions of people have formed a community around Harry Potter. This community is organized and politically powerful. For example, in 2002, Rowling's publishers promoted Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by auctioning off a paragraph of the novel to the highest bidder, with the proceeds going to Book Aid International (Anelli 2008:151). Harry Potter fans worked together and raised over $24,000 to try to win the clue, agreeing that if the

Harry Potter fan community won the excerpt, they would post it to a so that all

Harry Potter fans could enjoy the knowledge. The media attention the fans garnered through this fundraising activity got others interested and the final bidding price was

$44,000, much higher than what fans had been able to raise. However, fans still donated the proceeds to Book Aid International, and this experience proved to Rowling and her publishers how united, powerful, and coordinated the Harry Potter fandom really was

(Anelli 2008:151-155).

The themes within the Harry Potter series are also a catalyst for fans to discuss issues pertaining to sexuality, gender identity, social injustices and hierarchies. The Harry

Potter series is a platform upon which fans can build knowledge and inform others on certain global issues. One example is the formally organized, non-profit organization, the

Harry Potter Alliance, which draws on the to fight against injustice in the world. 7

Harry Potter is currently culturally relevant. With the final book in the series published in 2007 and the final installment of the film set to come out in July 2011, the

Harry Potter fandom is presently active and likely at its highest level of participation. This study provides a basis for future research on how, or if, the Harry Potter fandom will continue to survive once there is no new official material from Rowling or Warner Bros.

Just as Star Trek fans wrote and filmed additional Star Trek episodes and films (Hakim

2006), one way Harry Potter fans do this is through the creation of fanon. Fanon is an emic term for fan-generated canon. As Phoebe told me in our interview, "There's canon, which is in the books and there's fanon, which people take to be true because it comes up in so much". When asked to expand on fanon Phoebe gave examples of dark revels, which are parties that wizard throws for his cronies, called

eaters, or romantic relationships between characters not romantically involved in the books.

The creation of fanon is not specific to the Harry Potter fandom. Scholar Henry Jenkins wrote, "Fans are poachers who get to keep what they take and use their plundered goods as the foundations for the construction of an alternative cultural community" (1992:228). In

this thesis, I will discuss how Harry Potter fans participate in activities that produce fanon

and through a combination of fanon and canon, fans create norms and a unifying social

structure.

First, in A History of Magic: Ethnographic Background, I will provide a historical

description of how Harry Potter came to be published and became a household name. I will

also present a synopsis of the Harry Potter series. I will then outline some of the literature

that has been published about Harry Potter, as well as provide a background on fandom 8 theories. Last, I will describe the anthropological theories I will draw on in the discussion of my results.

The following chapter, Accio Ethnographic Data, addresses the methods I used in

collecting my data. I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of insider research and reflect on my own identity as a Harry Potter fan. I detail my experiences gaining access, receiving ethics approval, determining a sampling technique, and my methods for recruitment. I then describe my data collection methods. Specifically, I was a participant

observer at six offline events, I recruited people to record their convention experiences in

social diaries, I ran a focus group session at the convention I attended, I conducted 20

online and offline interviews, and I recorded an autoethnographic account of my

experiences as a researcher and as a Harry Potter fan. Finally, I outline my methods for data

analysis.

In Life at Hogwarts, I present results from my fieldwork and I engage in a

discussion of these results drawing on various anthropological theories. I discuss five main

themes represented in my data: trust, activities, sorting, famous fans, and friendship. All of

these themes are discussed in relation to how they contribute to unity for the Harry Potter

fandom, another that was present in my data.

Last, I present conclusions on my results and my research experience, suggesting

how my research provides a foundation for further study with the Harry Potter fandom. 9 A History of Magic5 - Ethnographic Background i) Harry's Journey to Bookshelves and Backpacks

The world that Harry Potter fans draw from for their fan activities is immense and complex - it is steeped in both the fictional and the real, in the official and the fan-created.

Just as all cultures possess an origin myth, so does the world of Harry Potter and its fans.

This story starts with Joanne (J. K.) Rowling. Rowling's rags-to-riches fairytale is as

classic as the story of her literary , Harry Potter. Fans know the story of Harry Potter,

and they know the story of its creator. Rowling's tale of being a writer and getting

published is like an origin myth for the Harry Potter fan, and fans, journalists, authors and

Rowling herself tell and re-tell the story.

In 1990, sitting on a delayed train from to , Joanne Rowling had

a sudden stroke of inspiration. She envisioned a story of a boy, who does not know he is a

wizard, and ends up going to wizard school. Without a pen, she spent the rest of the train

ride her mind flooding with thoughts, which she grasped at in the hopes of remembering

(Anelli 2008:19-20). Prior to publishing her work, Rowling experienced a series of losses

and hardships. Her mother died from multiple sclerosis in the same year she creates Harry

Potter. The loss of her mother heavily influenced her story, evident in the pronounced

themes of love and death. Today, Rowling deeply regrets that before her mother died, she

never told her about Harry Potter. A few years later, Rowling found herself at rock bottom.

She said in her commencement speech at Harvard, "An exceptionally short-lived marriage

5 Class at Hogwarts detailing the background and history of magical populations. 10 had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless." Rowling could not afford childcare for her daughter while she worked, so instead she lived off social security and wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone at cafes while her young daughter slept in her stroller.

Despite struggles, Rowling finished her novel in 1995 and submitted it to the

Christopher Little Literary Agency, her eventual agent. The origin myth then details the uncanny fact that Christopher Little could not sell the . In the words of fan- author ,

The biggest blockbuster anywhere, that connects with people of all ages, across all race lines, even in some of the most ravaged and - laden areas of the world - and no respected children's publisher in Britain could sense its merit? Penguin, Transworld, HarperCollins, all said no. He sent it to nine publishers and got nine rejection letters, all of them very nice, but still rejections (2008:44).

Little attributes these publication difficulties to the product not being right for the market. First, the book was nearly 300 pages, which publishers considered much too long for a children's book. It was also set in a British , an unpopular setting, and it was not at all like the current books being published in children's literature, which had a focus on learning and morals (Anelli 2008:21). Finally, Barry Cunningham, who was newly in charge of 's new children's book collection received a copy of The

Philosopher's Stone and fell in love with the story. Bloomsbury bought the publishing rights for £2,000, possibly the best bargain in publishing history (Anelli 2008:46). For the

international publishing rights, Little held an auction, which garnered a lot of attention from various publishers. Arthur A. Levine books, an imprint of Scholastic, purchased the American rights to the book for $105,000, an unparalleled sum for a children's book by a first time author. The Harry Potter series began its publication run and the fandom began to grow (Anelli 2008:53).

The Harry Potter origin myth ends 17 years later, on July 20, 2007 with the midnight release of the seventh and final novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly

Hallows. Millions of fans lined up at bookstores around the globe. In the first 24 hours, more than 15 million copies of the book were sold (which is 174 books per second) (BBC

News, October 3, 2008). The few thousand pounds that Joanne Rowling earned as an advance for the publication of her first novel seems laughable now. In total, the Harry

Potter books have sold over 400 million copies, have been translated into 67 languages, and as of 2008 are part of a franchise estimated at over $4.5 billion US. In 2008, BBC news reported estimates of Rowling's 2007 earnings in excess of $300 million, the equivalent of

£5 per second (October 3).

In 1999 the popularity of the series exploded. Thousands of fans showed up for book signings, many of which devolved into chaos and lead to the cancellation of future tours (Anelli 2008:72). Book releases became major events and ultimately were held at midnight. The first midnight book release was for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on

July 8, 2000 (http://www.jkrowling.com). In celebration of the release, fans showed up in wizard robes and with lightning bolts drawn on their foreheads (Anelli 2008:72).

The fervour surrounding Harry Potter increased with the purchase of the movie rights by producer for Warner Bros, in 1998. , an 11-year

old British actor, earned the role of Harry Potter in 2000 (BBC news, August 21) and fan 12 expectations of the franchise grew. With the rise in popularity of Harry Potter in children's bookshelves, two major conflicts surrounding the books and their impact on children also took hold. Fans referred to these conflicts as "the Potter Wars". The first conflict revolved around select, "concerned parents" attempting to ban the books out of fear that the story encouraged occultist practices among children (Jenkins 2006:175). Most were just challenges or complaints to the school boards or libraries about the books and requests

for censorship (Jenkins 2006:200). In at least one case, one concerned parent took her quest

to ban the Harry Potter books in her son's school to Georgia's State Superior Court. She

was denied (Anelli 2008:184). Fans revolted against the attempts to prevent them from

reading the series and started an organization called for Harry Potter (which later

changed its name to KidSPEAK!), a group that encouraged children to stand up for their

rights to free expression and fight against censorship (Jenkins 2006:205).

The second conflict involved the purchase of the intellectual property rights by

Warner Bros, in 1998. Following this investment, Warner Bros, attempted to control the

fans and their use of Warner Bros.' intellectual property rights. The Warner Bros, legal

team sent cease and desist letters to the owners of any domain name containing words

exclusive to the Harry Potter series (Jenkins 2006:176). The Warner Bros, team did not

realize that many fansite owners were pre-teens.

One of the fansite owners, Claire Fields, ran a website called The Boy Who Lived at

www.HarryPotterGuide.co.uk. Fields received a letter in 2001 that she would have to

transfer the domain name to Warner Bros, because it "was likely to cause consumer

confusion or dilution of the intellectual property rights" (Anelli 2008:95). Fields and many 13

other fansite owners went to the media with their letters, embarrassing Warner Bros, for

distressing children with legal action. One teen, Heather Lawver, ran a fansite called the

Daily Prophet, which encouraged children to improve their writing skills by writing

fictional news reports on the wizarding community. Lawver formed a protest group called

"Defense Against the Dark Arts". She proposed to boycott Warner Bros, and incited fans to

not see the movies and to not purchase the merchandise. She argued that and the

word of mouth of fans were responsible for the popularity of Harry Potter; and therefore

Warner Bros, owed fans some grace to continue promoting their product (Jenkins

2006:195). The conflict was resolved when Warner Bros, realized they had made a mistake

in handling the situation in a legal fashion. They apologized and loosened restrictions on

Internet fan content (Anelli 2008:97). According to Jenkins (2006:197), this event marked

the first time fans won a legal battle against a major movie studio. The "Potter Wars"

exemplify the unity that exists within the fandom and the power that fans have over the

Harry Potter brand.

What is the driving force behind the Potter phenomenon? Some argue the stories are

fairytales that satisfy "primordial human desires" and for decades, has

been devoid of anything as satisfying as Harry Potter (Prinzi 2009:ii), while others say that

a multi-million dollar marketing campaign drives the franchise's success (Blake 2002;

Brown & Patterson 2006; Gunelius 2008). Still others argue that in an increasingly secular

society, individuals crave something , magical, and religious in their lives

(Neumann 2006; Granger 2008). Melissa Anelli (2008:91-2) argues that the parallel rise in

popularity of both Harry Potter and the Internet, combined with the fact that 40% of 14 users (an early version of ) were under 18 and were willing to interact with others online gave rise to popular Harry Potter fan sites. Kids were learning how to make web pages, and they made web pages about their favourite thing, Harry

Potter. One of my informants said,

I was really fascinated by the Internet because it was new. I mean, I started that Harry Potter [...] site around 2001 and I used a software called Microsoft Frontpage and I thought it was so cool that, "wow, I can make this and I can publish it on the Internet! So cool!".

Whatever the reasons, suffice to say Harry Potter is important in contemporary society and it is grounded in the fans. J. K. Rowling created the universe, but the fans are the driving force behind the phenomenon. Like bricoleurs (Levi-Strauss 1962:19), fans take the stories and re-appropriate the information in the creation of fan culture. Harry Potter fans represent a case study for how fans meet and connect with other fans on the Internet, subsequently meet at conventions and pursue relationships both on and offline.

Any synopsis of the fan community needs to start with the Harry Potter canon because the entire fan community is based out of the creations of J. K. Rowling. Therefore,

I expand on the definition of the canon to include any Harry Potter products authorized by

J. K. Rowling. The canon includes the seven book series and the three books Rowling

wrote with proceeds going to U.K and the Children's High Level Group. In

addition, the canon includes any information J. K. Rowling provided in interviews,

personal communications, her official website and account, the Warner Bros, films

and the associated Warner Bros, merchandise, including the Universal Studios theme park,

the of Harry Potter. 15 ii) Canon Synopsis

The Harry Potter series is the story of an orphan boy who lives with his maternal aunt and uncle (Petunia and Vernon Dursley). On his eleventh birthday, Harry finds out he is a wizard and there are thousands of wizards living in secret all over the world. Among the wizarding population, the ability to do magic is an inherited gene from one's parents, although there are also instances where muggles (non-magical persons) are born with magical abilities. All British children born with magical abilities are enrolled at birth at

Hogwarts School of and Wizardry, a boarding school in Scotland that teaches young witches and wizards how to control and hone their magical skills.

In the series, wizards (male) and witches (female) live all over the world alongside muggles; however, due to historical events such as medieval witch burnings and the Salem witch trials, witches and wizards chose to retreat into hiding from the population.

"Upon the signing of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1689, wizards went into hiding for good. It was natural, perhaps, that they formed their own small communities within a community. Many small villages and hamlets attracted several magical families, who banded together for mutual support and protection" Bathilda Bagshot, A History of Magic quoted by Hermione in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2007:261).

Aside from the people that went into hiding, there were also magical creatures (such

as and unicorns) and magical beings other than humans (such as , mermaids

or ). Hiding this number of living bodies is difficult and there are branches of

government whose role is to meet the needs of the magical population while maintaining

the International Statute of Secrecy. In Britain, the governs the magical

population, lead by the Minister for Magic. The Minister for Magic is similar to the role of 16 the Minister for Agriculture in the British prime minister's cabinet; however, only the current prime minister knows of the Ministry of Magic's existence.

Concealing the magical population from the muggle population requires many laws and restrictions and use of memory charms (which erase or modify memories) that members of the ministry perform on muggles who accidentally witness something magical.

Yet, there are still instances of magic escaping through the cracks, which is why there are muggle sightings of the Yeti and the Loch Ness monster (a creature the canon identifies as

a kelpie { Beasts and Where to Find Them, xvii)). Other creatures such as dragons, pixies, fairies, gnomes, unicorns, and centaurs have been immortalized in muggle stories,

although these stories are now considered fictional and are called "fairy tales".

Aside from magical creatures, there are also magical places for the magical

population to gather without fear of being found by muggles. Protective enchantments

conceal these places by acting to make muggles, who wander too close to the site,

immediately forget where they were going and fill them with the desire to return home

immediately. Examples of such places are Diagon Alley (a street in the heart of London

where witches and wizards can purchase magical items), Hogsmeade (a wizarding village

next to Hogwarts), and Hogwarts School.

On his eleventh birthday, Harry Potter learns he is a wizard and he is accepted to

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He learns his parents were also magical and

contrary to his prior belief, they were not killed in a car accident but were murdered by one

of the darkest and most evil wizards of all time, Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort intended

to kill Harry, to fulfill a prophecy and render him immortal. However, the killing curse 17 backfired and Lord Voldemort disappeared. Harry Potter became "the boy who lived" and everyone in the wizarding world knew his name.

Harry Potter departed for Hogwarts every September 1 from Platform 9 3A at King's

Cross station in London. Platform 9 % is another magical location, accessed by witches and wizards by walking through the brick wall between platforms 9 and 10. It is from this platform that a train, the Hogwarts Express, departs for Hogwarts with all of the students onboard.

There are seven years of students at Hogwarts sorted into four different houses:

Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. First year students are sorted into their houses through the sorting hat ceremony. In this ceremony, each student places a battered, old pointed hat on his or her head. This hat (called the sorting hat) is magical hat that can talk and look into the minds and hearts of the students and determine their Hogwarts house based on the student's essential attributes. Gryffindor houses brave, chivalrous students, while Hufflepuff is a house for those who are just, kind and hardworking. Intelligent

students with wit and a thirst for knowledge are sorted into Ravenclaw, while ambitious

and cunning students are placed in Slytherin. Each house has its own area of the castle,

complete with dormitories and a common room for socializing. Students also represent

their house in their uniform colours. Gryffindor students wear sweaters trimmed with red

and gold, Hufflepuff students wear black and yellow, Ravenclaw students wear blue and

bronze (or blue and gray in the films), and Slytherin students wear green and silver. Finally,

an animal represents each house in the coat of arms. A lion represents Gryffindor, a

symbolizes Hufflepuff, an eagle represents Ravenclaw, and a snake stands for Slytherin. 18

Students spend their free time in their house common rooms, compete against students from other houses for the House Cup (awarded at the end of the school year to the house whose members earn the most points for doing good deeds and answering questions properly), and attend classes together. Students at Hogwarts take classes in Transfiguration,

Charms, , Herbology, History of Magic, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures,

Astronomy, Muggle Studies, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Harry's favourite, Defence against the Dark Arts. Some students are also part of extra-curricular activities such as the gobstones club or are athletes on their house team.

Quidditch is a popular sport among the magical population. It is played on flying broomsticks with four balls. There are seven players on each team. The object of the game

is to score points against the other team by throwing one of the balls (the quaffle) through the three goal hoops at each end of the pitch. Each team has three chasers who attempt to

score points against the keeper, who defends the hoops. Meanwhile, two other balls

(bludgers) zoom through the air trying to knock players off their . It is the job of the

two beaters on each team to ensure that the bludgers only hit members of the opposing

team. The last position on the team is the seeker, whose job it is to find and catch the

golden snitch, a tiny, fast, ball that rockets around the pitch evading capture. The game

does not end until a seeker catches the snitch. Harry Potter is a seeker on the Gryffindor

quidditch team, further contributing to his unwanted popularity.

Harry makes many friends at Hogwarts, namely and Hermione

Granger. He also befriends the Hogwarts gamekeeper, a half-giant named Hagrid and a

house-, Dobby, who works in the kitchens. Harry also makes enemies at Hogwarts, 19 namely , the son of Lucius Malfoy, a major supporter of Lord Voldemort before his disappearance. The potions and head of the Slytherin house, Severus

Snape, also despises Harry because of a hatred for Harry's father stemming from when they were students at Hogwarts. In turn, Harry hates Snape because of Snape's unfairness as a teacher but also because of Snape's fascination with the dark arts and his previous history as a supporter of Lord Voldemort. Despite Snape's flaws, Hogwarts headmaster Albus

Dumbledore continues to trust Snape for a reason unknown to Harry until the end of the series. Thus, much of the story line revolves around whether or not Snape is good or evil.

As Harry Potter grows up and attends Hogwarts, he witnesses Lord Voldemort's lost soul regain a body and rise to full power again. Supported by his cronies, called Death

Eaters, Voldemort takes control of the Ministry for Magic and begins his campaign to

eliminate the muggle born wizarding population, whom he believes are inferior and are

going to contaminate the blood of the magical race. Harry Potter learns of the prophecy

made before his birth and which instigated the attacks on his parents and him. The prophecy said that Harry Potter is the only one with the power to kill Lord Voldemort. The

headmaster of Hogwarts and the only one Voldemort ever feared, Albus Dumbledore, helps

Harry gain knowledge about Lord Voldemort and how it was possible that the spell

destined to kill Harry as a baby backfired and left Voldemort not dead, but helpless and

without a body. Dumbledore surmises that Voldemort used an ancient form of dark magic

called a horcrux, which enabled Voldemort to hide a piece of his soul in an inanimate

object. The creation of a horcrux requires the horcrux maker to murder another, therefore

splitting the murderer's soul so that it can be encased in an object for safekeeping. This 20 form of dark magic would ensure Lord Voldemort's . Harry and Dumbledore deduce that Voldemort likely has seven different horcruxes. In the final novel of the series,

Harry, Ron, and Hermione set out on a quest to find and destroy these horcruxes, which will make Lord Voldemort mortal and thereby possible to destroy.

The above synopsis is only a fraction of the information contained within the seven book series. There are hundreds of characters, places, spells and objects that add more detail to the magical world J. K. Rowling created. In this thesis, if a term or a concept from the Harry Potter series comes up, I will use a footnote to detail the meaning or context for the term or concept in the series.

iii) Literature Review

Harry Potter and its fans are not strangers to academic study. English academics have dissected the themes and morals of the Harry Potter books (Whited 2002; Westman

2008), while others have focused on identifying the mythology and classic literature

archetypes that J. K. Rowling draws on to create the Harry Potter world (Colbert 2005).

There are psychologists who look at the addictive qualities of the Harry Potter series

(Rudski et al. 2009) and businessmen who focus on the marketing miracle of the Harry

Potter brand (Blake 2002; Gunelius 2008). While philosophers write about the similarities

between Harry Potter and Aristotle (Baggett & Klein 2004), educators study the impact of

Harry Potter on children's reading levels (Beach & Willner 2002) and outline techniques

for using the Harry Potter series for teaching children subjects other than English, like

genetics (Harrell and Morton 2002). Fan studies literature focuses on Harry Potter fan

fiction (Jenkins 2006; Willis 2006), while law academics focus on copyright issues 21 surrounding fan narratives (Murray 2004). Others have compiled encyclopedias about the

Harry Potter universe and about J. K. Rowling (Kirk 2006; Thomas 2007), much to the chagrin of J. K. Rowling and her publishers. In one case, Steve Van Der Ark, webmaster of www.hp-lexicon.org, intended to publish his website into an encyclopedia that would list and describe every and concept in the Harry Potter series. Rowling brought Van

Der Ark to court and won, arguing copyright infringement because he was simply repackaging what she had written (Court Case 07 Civ. 9667 (RPP), September 8, 2008: 18).

There are many academic analyses of the canon (Heilman 2003; Granger 2002,

2005, 2006, 2007, 2008a, 2008b, 2009; Prinzi 2009). These academics are what Hills terms

fan-academics, or fans that use "academic theorizing within their fan writing and within the construction of a scholarly fan identity" (2002:2). Hills contrasts fan-academics with professional academics who draw "on their fandom as a badge of distinction within the

academy" (2002:2). , the self-proclaimed Hogwarts professor, is a prolific

fan-academic who writes academic analyses of the Harry Potter books, while Henry

Jenkins uses examples from the Harry Potter fandom to create his larger academic

argument of convergence culture. While Jenkins might be considered more of a

professional academic, both individuals attend conferences and present papers to other

Harry Potter fans.

In spite of all of this academic research, very little anthropological research has

been undertaken with a focus on the Harry Potter fan culture, particularly not since the

release of the final and seventh installment. Borah (2002), an academic from an English

background, conducted qualitative research in the form of interviews in 2000 and 2001. Her 22 interviews focused on how children and adults came to read the books. In another

qualitative study subsequent to the publication of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the

Order of the Phoenix, Brown and Patterson (2006) asked 21 adult participants to write

introspective essays about their experiences with Harry Potter. Brown and Patterson did not

outline their sampling technique, but most of the quotes used in their article suggested that

most participants were not Harry Potter fans. No qualitative or anthropological research has

been conducted on the Harry Potter fandom since the publication of the seventh and final

Harry Potter book in 2007. Melissa Anelli's book Harry, a History (2008) could be

considered an autoethnographic account of being a Harry Potter fan. However, Anelli is a

professional journalist, the webmaster of the fan site the Leaky Cauldron, and has

interviewed J. K. Rowling on multiple occasions. Thus, Anelli's account is atypical of the

fan experience. Beahm (2007) wrote a guidebook to the Harry Potter phenomenon, but it is

merely a summary of the fandom and it is not grounded in academic research.

In addition to this research on the Harry Potter fandom, I have consulted research on

other fantasy/sci-fi such as Star Trek, Lord of the Rings and (Brooker

2002; Cordova 2005; Gerold 1973; Gilsdorf 2009; Porter and McLaren 1999; Shefrin

2004). I also consulted sources on online interaction, online communities, and the

formation of online social bonds (Borge 2009; Briggle 2008; Carter 2005; Chayko 2002;

Gennaro et al. 2007; Haythoraewaite 2005; Wellman & Gulia 1999).

Finally, I have looked at sources pertaining to recreation, leisure, and common

interest communities. For examples, Cerny, Eicher and Delong's (1993) look at American

quilting guilds, Desantis' (2003) study of cigar smokers, and Fine and Holyfield's (1996) 23 ethnographic account of trust among mushroom pickers in the American Midwest. In addition, I looked at Snyder's (1986) study of senior citizens who play shuffleboard, Stalp et al.'s (2009) ethnographic research with the Red Hat Society, and Yoder's (1997) analysis of tournament bass fishing. These sources were helpful in the analysis of my research because they provided a comparison of mutual interest groups outside of fandoms. iv) Theoretical Background on Fandom

Academics use varying terminologies to discuss fans depending on their own views of fandom. Tulloch and Jenkins (1995), self-proclaimed members of the Dr. Who fandom and the Star Trek fandom respectively, saw fans as, "active participants within fandom as a social, cultural and interpretive institution" (23). While they termed " members who regularly watch and enjoy media science fiction programmes but who claim no larger social identity on the basis of this consumption" as followers (Tulloch and Jenkins

1995:23).

Abercrombie and Longhurst (1998) split the concept of the fan into five separate terminologies or types, which they place on a continuum of involvement with the text. First are 'consumers', fans who consume media in no particular pattern and on a generalized level (Abercrombie and Longhurst 1998:140). For example, a 'consumer' is someone who likes a particular show on television but does not necessarily make a point of seeing every single episode.

Next on the continuum is a 'fan', someone who not only consumes the text but who also consumes media relating to the text. According to Abercrombie and Longhurst (1998),

'fans' "are not yet in contact with other people who share their attachments, or may only be 24 in contact with them through the mechanism of mass-produced fannish literature.. .or through day-to-day contact with peers" (138). For example, a fan reads all of the Harry

Potter books, sees the movies and visits fansites for additional news on the books, the films

or their stars.

Third on the continuum are 'subcultists' or 'cultists', terms that other scholars often

avoid because of the negative religious associations (Tulloch and Jenkins 1995:4).

Abercrombie and Longhurst use the term 'cultist' in a way that other scholars use the word

'fan' (1998:138). 'Cultists' have more focused media consumption (they might only surf

the internet for specific fandom websites), and they are socially organized; they often meet

and exchange materials related to the fandom, thus building a network (1998:139).

Fourth are 'enthusiasts', who Abercrombie and Longhurst define as "collective; and

more importantly, they [enthusiasts] suggest that they are organized and that with some

variation they tend to be self-organized" (1998:131). Enthusiasts tend to consume less than

fans but are much more involved in production. They enthuse about particular activities

rather than particular celebrities or television shows (1998:132). For example, ski bums,

wine tasters, or fan-fiction writers.

Finally, Abercrombie and Longhurst indicate that at the far end of the fan

continuum are the 'petty producers', enthusiasts who make a career out of producing things

for the enthusiast to consume. For example, a hiking enthusiast who writes books about

hiking trails.

Matt Hills disagrees with Abercrombie and Longhurst's typology, writing that, "it

seems faintly unhelpful to produce a taxonomy in which the definition of 'fan' is at odds 25 with the use of this term in almost all other literature in the field" (2002: ix). In turn, Matt

Hills chooses to lump the entire concept of the fan into two terms that he chooses to use interchangeably: the 'fan' and the 'cult fan'. Hills' terms are not unambiguous - he writes that it is useless to use too many words for the same term and yet he decides to use two terms interchangeably, although he emphasizes 'cult fan' when members of a self- proclaimed cult-fandom use the term. Further adding to the confusion, Hills sees a difference between a 'fandom' and a 'cult fandom'; he argues that this distinction "relates not to the intensity, social organisation or semiotic/material productivity of the fandom concerned, but rather to its duration, especially in the absence of 'new' or official material in the originating medium" (2002:x). According to this definition, the Harry Potter fandom slips through the cracks. It could be a cult fandom in that J. K. Rowling is not writing new stories about Harry Potter. However, Warner Bros, will release the final film this upcoming summer and while there is no more "material in the originating medium", there is still official material for people to consume in the films. For this thesis, I chose not to consider the Harry Potter fandom to be a cult-fandom because the films, based on the original medium, are still being released, and there is promise of J. K. Rowling eventually publishing a Harry Potter encyclopedia of all of her back-story notes pertaining to the

series. Had I been conducting research on the fandom five years after any material was

released, perhaps then, the Harry Potter fandom could be considered a cult-fandom.

While I see value in all of the typologies, Abercrombie and Longhurst's breakdown

of the fan concept was particularly helpful in categorizing the different types of fans I met

during my fieldwork. I will draw on Abercrombie and Longhurst's typology, although I 26 propose to alter the definitions of subcultists and enthusiasts. I also propose to change

Abercrombie and Longhurst's term 'fan' to 'devotee' for the simplicity of being able to refer to the overall group as 'fans'. I consider subcultists people who engage with other fans and exchange and produce material related to the fandom; however, they do not sell any of the products they produce and only interact with other fans in their local community or online. Subcultists do not travel to meet with other fans. In contrast, enthusiasts do travel to large fan gatherings such as conventions. Similar to subcultists, enthusiasts also produce material to exchange with other fans, but again they do not make a profit from these

activities. Just as Abercrombie and Longhurst suggest, the fifth category, petty producers,

do make a profit from their participation in the fandom. Further, I draw on Tulloch and

Jenkins' (1995:23) approach of fans and followers because that was how I originally

conceived of fans - as divided into fans of Harry Potter and Harry Potter fans - and reflects

the emic labels I found during my fieldwork. Fans of Harry Potter, or Tulloch and Jenkins'

'followers', are individuals who read the books and watch the films but do not engage in

other activities with the text and do not self-identify with other fans of Harry Potter (in

Abercrombie and Longhurst's typology they are consumers and fans). In contrast, Harry

Potter fans (Tulloch and Jenkins' 'fans') are individuals who actively engage with the text

and with others in relation to the text. In Abercrombie and Longhurst's typology, Harry

Potter fans can be subcultists, enthusiasts and petty producers. Harry Potter fans is an emic

label my informants use to define themselves and I will use it when talking about members

of the fandom, although other terms do exist (i.e., Potterheads, Potterfans). When asked,

Elisa used this definitional difference between a fan of Harry Potter and a Harry Potter fan: 27

Heather: So what is a fan of Harry Potter? Do they like the books or enjoy the books or...?

Elisa: Well yeah, they love the books. I mean me and her [friend of Elisa], we both love the books to death. We both opened [...] Deathly Hallows together and saw the first page and almost had a heart attack because we couldn't believe that it was in our hands. But is she involved in the fandom in any sort of way? No. Does she listen to any ? Not really. Would she ever get online to meet people who like Harry Potter? No. Would she ever go to a convention? Absolutely not! So all of these things that I have done and that I will continue doing such as getting online and going to conventions and travelling all over the world because of Harry Potter, those are things that she wouldn't do. I remember telling her about Mugglecast but she [...] didn't really want to listen to it and I did. She just loves the books, the same way that I do. She loves them as much as me, we love to discuss the series but I took part of it. Like I was IN the fandom. I listen to the shows, I kind of wanted to do my own , whereas she's just happy loving the books and that was it, that was enough for her. And it wasn't enough for me apparently.

All of the typologies have helped me explore the question of "what is a Harry Potter fan?" I have combined Tulloch and Jenkins' approach to fans as well as an altered version of Abercrombie and Longhurst to frame my understanding of the types of fans I found within the Harry Potter fandom. These terms will be important in the theoretical discussion of the social structure of the Harry Potter fandom. Please refer to Appendix A for a visual representation of the Harry Potter fandom typology I use in this thesis. v) Anthropological Theory

Harry Potter fans find a sense of community through their mutual interest in the

Harry Potter series and franchise. In the discussion chapter of this thesis, I will explore group social structure and how the Harry Potter fandom maintains the sense of community and remains unified despite divisions into more focused sub-groups. Many anthropologists have tried to define 'community', a difficult concept to grasp because while it is clearly 28 important for individuals to feel like they belong to a community, the concept of

'community' means different things for different members and the boundaries of communities are always changing to include or exclude others (Rapport and Overing

2000:60-5). Redfield (1960) writes about "little communities", presenting small tribal villages as examples for community. He defines "little communities" as being distinct from other communities, as a small representation of a larger whole, as homogeneous in thoughts and activities, and as self-sufficient, taking care of all the needs of its members (Redfield

1960:4). Redfield also considers members of a community to have a common geographical location, a common ecology, existence within a common social structure, and a similar life trajectory (experiencing the same rituals and experiences between birth and death)

(1960:57). Turner (1974:201) shares Redfield's view of the importance of geographical proximity for a community. Others take a macro perspective in their definitions, arguing that a 'community' is a social system with overlapping roles and institutions (Warren

1987:9; Minar 1969:ix). Frankenberg (1966:238) offers a different view by arguing,

"community implies having something in common". This view stresses that having goods, values, or beliefs in common gives individuals a reason to be invested in the lives of others, creating a sense of community (see also Warner and Lunt 1941:16). Cohen (1985:16) shares a similar view, writing that community members share (or believe they share) a common set of beliefs and a similar understanding for how things work, and they also believe that other communities have a different worldview. Aden's work (1999) on fan pilgrimages conforms with Cohen's approach to communities and draws on Lindlof (1988) and Carragee's (1990) work on interpretive communities. Aden (1999:63) maintains that 29 people who consume media texts (read stories, watch television programs) alone can still be a part of interpretive communities by talking about it with others or by simply imagining themselves as part of a larger group of people who consume that particular text.

Many of the above definitions of community appeared before the invention and the proliferation of the Internet and online communities. Redfield's and Turner's ideas that a community must be defined as in a particular locality is not entirely relevant to the online

Harry Potter community. Online, fans interact in a series of virtual localities (websites), but

community interactions are different online. In a small village, community members share many things: infrastructure, economy, genetics, history, and biographical profiles to name a

few. In the online Harry Potter fandom, participants do not share those commonalities.

Most of the fans that I interacted with in my research (and the way I choose to

define Harry Potter fans) are individuals who love the Harry Potter series (books and

movies), who participate in activities relating to the series, and who interact and form

relationships with other fans. My definition of the Harry Potter fan is influenced by Firth's

definition of a community, a network of relationships bound by common interests

(1966:41). Community members must work together to achieve individual or mutual goals

(Firth 1966:41).

Homans (1950:48) looks at the small group (whose members are able to

communicate directly with every other member) in relation to a case study of a team of

workers at Western Electric's Hawthorne Works factory. While Homans (1950:85) focuses

particularly on the social structure of the small group, he acknowledges that his definition

of a group is relative to whom group members deem insiders or outsiders. Homans further 30 emphasizes the interrelations between interaction and the building of friendships, how friendships are expressed through participation in particular activities and how interaction leads to the invention of new activities (1950:133-6). Homans also explores ranking among

sub-groups and individuals within the whole group. He argues that individuals evaluate themselves and others based on their participation in activities and through a standard of norms established by the group (Homans 1950:140). Furthermore, Homans posits that group leaders are those whose "activities conform [the closest] to the norms of the group"

(1950:141). Norms are what is expected behaviour in a group (Homans 1950:122). Within the Harry Potter fandom, knowledge of the Harry Potter canon, participation in Harry

Potter related activities, and application of the values purported in the book (kindness, love,

forgiveness, and inclusiveness) are all expected behaviours (norms) for fans. Leaders within the Harry Potter fandom (or famous fans) align their activities more closely to these

norms. These norms influence the definition of a Harry Potter fan.

The structure of the Harry Potter fandom is similar to that of a tribe based on pan-

tribal sodalities, meaning smaller groups derived from kinship ties or corporate relations

(Pasternak 1976:16; Service 1971:13)6. Pan-tribal sodalities can take many forms such as

age-grades, activity groups (warrior groups, hunting groups), or clans (Service 1971:102).

A tribe is egalitarian and the smaller units are autonomous of the other units. Many of my

interview informants, in response to my question, "what does the Harry Potter fandom

mean to you?" responded that it was a very "welcoming", "open" and "inclusive"

61 recognize that there are critiques of the analytical construct of tribe, namely (Helm 1968;Webster 1995). In this thesis, I use the concept of tribe as a helpful model to make sense of my data. The Harry Potter fandom is like the anthropological definitions of a tribe, it is not a tribe (if a tribe can exist at all). 31 community, where individuals do not have to feel "judged" and that it "just accepts people for who they are and who they want to be".

Within the tribe of the Harry Potter fandom, one could consider the four Hogwarts houses as clans. Clans are exogamous, have a single founding ancestor, and there are totems relating to each clan (Middleton and Tait 1968:155-56). While clans are kinship

sodalities, clan membership does not necessarily depend on genealogical descent or

occupation of a common territory, but rather on a belief of descent from a common

ancestor (Service 1971:105-6). Often clans are associated with totems, which are objects, or

animals that hold a special value and relationship with members of the clan (Radcliffe-

Brown 1965:117). There are three types of totems: the sex totem is gender specific; the

individual totem is specific to one individual and not inherited by descendants, for example,

a Patronus charm in the Harry Potter series would be an individual totem because it takes a

different animal form for each witch or wizard; and the clan totem, which belongs to the

members of the clan and is inherited by descendents (Frazer 1968:4). Often there are taboos

associated with totems, for example, in some cultures, clansmen are forbidden to kill or eat

their totem (Frazer 1968:10). The Hogwarts houses as clans will be further explored in the

following section in collaboration with the qualitative data I collected.

Further, Hogwarts houses easily fit into Fredrik Barth's definition of an ethnic

group, which may be considered a smaller grouping of a larger community. Barth, in Ethnic

Groups and Boundaries (1969), outlines a theory explaining the constitution of ethnic

groups, how ethnic groups are perpetuated, the fluctuation of the boundaries defining who

is and who is not a member, and the possibility of movement between ethnic boundaries. 32

Barth (1969:11) defines an ethnic group as: being "largely biologically self- perpetuating"; having shared cultural values represented in the behaviours, language and activities of members; being a locus for communication and interaction; and having members who identify themselves as similar to other members and yet dissimilar from others who are not part of the group (1969:11). Barth also argues that ethnic groups define themselves in relation to other ethnic groups and that people judge members and non- members based on their adherence to and the understanding of the group boundaries

(1969:15). Furthermore, Barth suggests that as demographic pressures on the natural environment increase, there is a greater likelihood that ethnic boundaries will be permeable and will allow members to leave and to adopt a new ethnic identity as they are absorbed into a different cultural system, territory, and/or niche market (1969:21). Disregarding the element of biological reproduction, these same definitions and concepts apply well to the

Harry Potter fandom in the divisions by Hogwarts house, activity groups, status groups, and friendship networks, as well as the interactions between different sub-groups.

Tribes lack a centralized political authority (Pasternak 1976:17) - which is similar to the Harry Potter fandom where certain individuals may organize the conventions or may mediate the realm of activities, but do not have any legitimate control over the actions of

fans. Using Dennis Wrong 1979 and F. G. Bailey 2001,1 will analyze the power and

leadership of the fans who take on leadership roles. Wrong defines power (or intended

influence) as "the capacity of some persons to produce intended and foreseen effects on

others" (Wrong 1979:2). Wrong then divides power into four main forms: force (which can be physical force or psychic), manipulation, persuasion, and authority (1979:22). Authority 33 differs from the other forms of power because it is the source (or the status of the person communicating the message) that is important for compliance, rather than the content being

communicated (1979:35). Wrong further subdivides authority in five types. Coercive

authority uses the threat of force to achieve compliance (1979:41). Induced authority provides incentives for compliance (1979:44). With legitimate authority, the power holder has an acknowledged right to power (1979:49). With competent authority, the power

subject complies because of a belief in the superior knowledge of the power holder

(1979:52). Finally, personal authority is influenced by the personal charisma of the power

holder. The power subject complies out of a desire to please the power holder (1979:60-1).

In addition to Wrong's types of authority, F. G. Bailey notes that there are two ways

to be a leader: be "one of the people" or be "godlike" (2001:53). I will apply these

typologies to the different fans who assume the responsibility of leadership within the

fandom. Furthermore, Bailey suggests that contests between people are inevitable if people

do not like one another, if they are trying to control something limited in amount, or if they

think that fighting is positive and unity is negative (2001:99). As contests are inevitable,

Bailey suggests that there are three ways to succeed in a contest. The first is following the

normative framework, which means playing by the mutually acknowledged rules and

knowing the rules better than your opponent. The second is using strategic rules. Strategic

rules do not challenge the normative rules, but are offensive plays to help secure the

outcome in your favour (Bailey 2001:118). The third is using pragmatic rules, which are in

opposition to the normative framework. By implementing pragmatic rules, an individual

breaks the normative rules and if his or her opponent does not know the normative 34 framework well enough to catch his or her competitor, the pragmatist has the advantage in a contest (Bailey 2001:119). In section V, I will analyze an instance of contest between leaders with different types of authority and who used different kinds of rules to compete.

Within the Harry Potter fandom, there are instances of politics, leadership struggles, and social hierarchy. Yet, participation in Harry Potter related activities is primarily a form of play, as defined by Huzinga (1950). Play is voluntary and stands in contrast to 'real life'.

Thus, there is an ambiguity between a real life conflict and a form of play (see Gonzalez

Sanchez 2009 for current applications of Huzinga's theory).

The Harry Potter fandom is an intricate social community with a unique social

structure creating fan identity through membership in various overlapping sub-groups.

Through application of the anthropological theories mentioned above, I will examine this social structure and how sub-group membership contributes to an overall unity for Harry

Potter fans. vi) Conclusion

In Rowling's wizarding world, Harry Potter is the "the boy who lived". Harry is

famous for living through a killing curse cast by the most powerful dark wizard of all time

(Rowling 1997:15). In our "muggle" world, Harry is the "boy who lived" on: he is a household name, the star of a multi-billion dollar franchise, and he has inspired millions of

fans around the globe. Many fans (like me) feel that their adolescence (or another period of their lives) was defined by the Harry Potter series. Some fans (consumers and devotees) have enjoyed the books and the films. Others (sub-cultists, enthusiasts, and petty producers)

feel their relationship with Harry could not just stop at reading the books and watching the 35 movies. These fans found other fans to discuss the series and engage in Harry Potter themed activities. Sub-cultists, enthusiasts and petty producers are also primarily the ones involved in my research. Using the data I collected and analyzed, and applying anthropological theories posited by Bailey, Barth, Firth, Frazer, Homans, Radcliffe-Brown,

Service and Wrong, among others, I will present an analysis of the social structure of the

Harry Potter fandom and how it unifies fans from a multitude of backgrounds and areas of the world. 36 Accio7 Ethnographic Data! : Methods for Conducting my Fieldwork

In the summer of 2009, before my fieldwork, I attended two Harry Potter fan conventions. From these experiences, I knew how busy conventions were and I devised multiple methods to collect data and be "multiple places at once" for the conventions I attended during my fieldwork. Having participated in the Harry Potter fandom before beginning my fieldwork, I knew the importance of the online world to the Harry Potter

fandom, but I also knew that Harry Potter fans do take their "online" relationships "offline"

at various gatherings and events. Therefore, I planned to do participant observation at some

of these offline events as well as do participant observation in an online capacity. I decided

to conduct interviews, both on and offline with Harry Potter fans. I also thought it would be beneficial to have convention attendees document their experiences in a social diary, so that

my ethnographic pen could be in multiple places at once at a fan gathering of over 2000

people. I proposed to lead a group discussion on the fandom as part of the official

convention programming as a way to gather data from fans in a more structured interview

style, but also as a way of informing the convention organizational committee of my

intended attendance at the convention in a research capacity. Finally, I decided that since I

considered myself a Harry Potter fan, that I would document my own experiences as a fan

and as a researcher studying the fandom in an autoethnography.

All of the methods proved useful for gathering data, but some of them worked

differently from what I expected. In this chapter, I will first look at my identity as a

7 Accio is a spell that summons objects to the witch or wizard casting the spell. 37 research instrument and how my identity potentially influenced my data collection. I will then outline the various methods I used, beginning with my preparation for entering into the field, questions surrounding access, ethics, intended sampling strategy, and methods of recruitment. I will discuss my experiences with participant observation, the distribution of social diaries, the focus group I conducted at the convention, and the online and offline interviews. I will then examine the methods that did not work as I anticipated as well as explore a method that my informants developed for me. Finally, I will outline how I analyzed my data. i. The Anthropologist as a Research Instrument

Qualitative research is valid but not necessarily reliable in that it is hard to exactly reproduce a qualitative study and come to the same conclusions (Kirk and Miller 1986: 20).

This unreliability is due to the anthropologist factor, or who is conducting the research and how his or her identity influences the outcome. Anthropologists use reflexivity to situate themselves in the data and to analyze the impact of their identities on the research. In my case, reflexivity required me to assess my position in the fandom as an insider or an outsider. Many anthropologists have written about the dangers and benefits of being both

insiders and outsiders as researchers (Halstead 2001; Hammersley and Atkinson 2007;

Hodkinson 2005; Labaree 2002; Merton 1972; Ohnuki-Tierney 1984; Riemer 1977; Taylor

2011). According to Merton, an insider is someone who is a member of the group he or she

is studying while an outsider is a non-member (1972:21). The level of insiderness is variable - at the extreme, insiderism insists that only like can understand like. Merton provides several examples to illustrate this extreme position. One example is the assertion 38 that only men can understand men and only whites can understand other whites. In addition, people can be insiders in one context and outsiders in another. For example, it may be true that only Blacks can understand other Blacks and that only women can understand other women. However, there can also be cases where although a Black man is an insider in the Black community, he is also an outsider when studying Black women

(Merton 1972:22). In contrast, the insider can also be as vague as someone who others accept as members of the community.

There are many benefits of doing insider research. First, knowing the social structure of the community makes gaining access, recruiting and sampling easier and more direct (Taylor 2011: 6). Knowing the community before entering the field can condense the research question to a more manageable size and can help the anthropologist determine who to talk to and where to do research (Hodkinson 2005:143). Merton argued, "one must not only be one in order to understand one; one must be one in order to understand what is most worth understanding" (1972:16-7). Second, being an insider makes it faster and

easier to build rapport with research participants because the anthropologist likely already knows them or understands appropriate social interactions (Taylor 2011:6). This capacity to understand is particularly important when studying communities with strict boundaries or

membership rules such as Hodkinson's research with the goth community (2005:134).

Third, there is increased communication with the field because the anthropologist is more

likely to return and visit (Taylor 2011:6). Fourth, insider anthropologists know the emic

language of the group they are studying, which saves time during the fieldwork process.

Due to this prior knowledge, insider anthropologists can have a deeper understanding of the 39

community (Taylor 2011:6). Insider anthropologists are also privy to knowledge not necessarily available to the outside researcher (Labaree 2002:104). Finally, the insider

anthropologist has the ability to detect inaccuracies, exaggerations and possible omissions

(Hodkinson 2005:140).

In contrast, "the outsider has neither been socialized in the group nor has engaged in

the run of experience that makes up its life, and therefore cannot have the direct intuitive

sensitivity that alone makes empathic understanding possible" (Merton 1972:15).

However, an outsider may find it easier to be objective (Merton 1972:34-5). As insiders,

there may be issues relating to the social position of the anthropologist within the

community, creating a coercive environment for fieldwork (Labaree 2002:112). Another

problem is that established friendships and knowledge of one another may result in the

informant only telling the anthropologist what he or she knows the anthropologist wants to

hear. One issue that affects the insider more than the outsider is the ethical dilemma

associated with the written representation of the community. As Labaree writes, "any false

representations of the phenomena, either real or perceived, could lead to feelings of

betrayal on the part of the participants" (2002:109). These feelings of betrayal can be even

more difficult to navigate in the case of the intimate insider. Intimate insiders are

anthropologists who are not only members of the community, but also people whose lives

are built around and through the community. Informants are not just friends in a research

context but intimate friends outside of the research. There is no benefit to reporting

unflattering aspects of the community because intimate insiders risk losing their home

communities (Taylor 2011:15). The feelings of loyalty to the group compounded with 40 analytical blindness towards the mundane aspects of the culture make conducting insider ethnography in one's home community difficult. Finally, insider anthropologists have to be very careful with the analysis of their data, ensuring that they are not imposing truthfulness on the text that they feel is correct but may not be represented in the data (Labaree

2002:108).

Am I an insider or an outsider? Do I need to choose strictly one or the other label?

Labaree (2002) and Hodkinson (2005) argue that a researcher can be both an insider and an

outsider in research depending on the context of the research. I think this statement is

accurate. In the case of the convention atmosphere, I am an insider, having attended two prior conventions as a fan, not as a researcher. However, my identity as an anthropology major at university did impact my experiences at these conventions, choosing to sit back

and watch other fans in awe as they sang along with wizard rock songs and dressed in

elaborate costumes. As an insider, I had connections for access with other fans, some of

them unofficial gatekeepers as famous fans (fans with fans). Yet within certain fan

activities, I was an outsider during my fieldwork. I was unfamiliar with the details of fan

fiction, and many of the wizard rock bands. I knew they existed as activities, just as

an outsider going to the field might learn a synopsis of the community being studied from

reading, but I had only read one fan fiction story and I had never written a fan fiction story.

I had also never created any type of fan art that interacted with the fan art community (I did

make a miniature scrapbook album for J. K. Rowling as a way to express my gratitude to

her; however, I did not share that with any other fan artists and very few individuals within

the fan community). While I was very familiar with the Harry Potter canon and the 41 associated language of the wizarding world, I was unfamiliar with many of the emic fandom terms - including the term "fanon", meaning fan-created material treated as canon and widely known. At Wrockstock I was unable to participate as an insider, only knowing two of the bands playing on stage the entire weekend and only knowing a few chorus lyrics to sing along with.

Thus, from the perspective of a convention attendee, I was an insider, I knew what to expect and I had already established connections and rapport with other individuals attending. However, in other contexts of the fandom, I felt uninformed and as an outsider.

One of the qualities of the Harry Potter fandom, discussed in my interview data and represented in my fieldnotes and autoethnographic writings, is the importance of inclusion and acceptance. Therefore, despite my lack of knowledge of wizarding lyrics and feelings of an outsider, wizard rock fans took me in open arms and taught me everything I needed to know to become an insider.

As I admitted above, I was an insider in the convention environment. This identity raises questions about my abilities as a researcher to notice things and take certain behaviours for granted. Before my research, I had participated in activities such as standing

in line waiting for events (emically known as line parties) and rooming with strangers

contacted online without thinking of their significance or the possibilities that these

experiences extended beyond my own fandom experience. However, during my research, I

saw these activities from a different, analytical perspective. I will detail these experiences

in the discussion section of this thesis. 42

Despite some of my insider experiences, I was able to take a step back from the situation and look at it through an objective anthropological lens. My methods helped me reinforce this objectivity. As Labaree wrote, "the insider/outsider boundaries are transitory depending upon the methodological strategies utilized in the study." (2002:110). Some of my methods, such as the social diaries and having Kelly Thomas as my research assistant helped me collect data that were not filtered through my pen. However, I will not deny that parts of my research were influenced by my previous participation in the fandom such as

access, recruitment and interviewing techniques. I will further explore my identity as a research instrument throughout this chapter.

ii. Caput Draconis8: Access

I did not have any difficulties with access to the Harry Potter fan community. When

I mentioned my upcoming fieldwork, individuals from the Harry Potter fandom were

supportive and wanted to be involved. Two of the offline events I attended were public

events without a policing body regulating attendance. When I showed up at the event and

told people what I was doing, everyone was welcoming and interested in my research topic.

As for the convention in Orlando and the wizard rock festival in Missouri, I needed to

purchase passes for admission into the various events and for the hotel room at the lodge in

Missouri, and I required a conference registration number in order to reserve a room at the

lodge. However, once I arrived I had no problems with the conference organizers. As long

Is one of the passwords Harry Potter uses to get into the Gryffindor common room and his dorm room. 43 as I was wearing my conference pass, I had full access to the events. It was up to the individual fans whether to speak with me or not.

While I was conducting my fieldwork, there was another researcher studying the

Harry Potter Alliance (a non-profit organization that uses the Harry Potter books to teach and inspire people about defeating injustice in the world) as a grassroots movement and as a vehicle for encouraging democratic participation among youth. From speaking with her, I knew that she did not have a background in Harry Potter and had only read the books as she began the research. In fact, she did her Ph.D. dissertation on Bollywood films. She had the support of the leaders of the Harry Potter Alliance but I do not know if she had difficulties in recruitment. Knowing the inclusive and united nature of the Harry Potter fandom and the effect the famous fans have on inciting other fans to participate in various ways, I do not think she had difficulties with access and recruitment. However, as I am someone who is more fluent in the language used by Harry Potter fans and my identity as a 23 year old

English-speaking, female student, being more in line with the identity of the average Harry

Potter fan, I likely had an advantage in getting fans to speak with me. The only group I had difficulty accessing were the wizard rockers. For my interviews, I tried to find wizard rockers to speak with me - yet my emails went unanswered. The one response I did get, failed to produce contact as I tried to arrange a time for the interview. iii. Ethics

I also did not have any major difficulties getting through the university ethics approval process. My study held minimal risk to participants. The only difficulty I had was with my informed consent forms. I wanted my informed consent forms to be in a more 44 casual language style to not deter fans from speaking with me; however, I had to make them more formal at the request of the ethics committee. Perhaps the biggest difficulty was with the informed consent process for the online participant observation of a livestream event, which is a live podcast with a live chat room attached. In my discussion of ineffective methods, I will go into more details about the difficulties of online participant observation. iv. Sampling

I went into the field using theoretical sampling (Glaser and Strauss 1967:47) with the idea that I would try to interact with as many types of fans as possible and thus be able to get data from experiences across groups. In recruiting for interviews, I used three main mediums. I posted recruitment notices on all of the Harry Potter meetup groups on www.meetup.com with the hopes of talking to people from different parts of the world. I contacted a few of the people I had met through participant observation at the conventions to ask them if they would be interested in speaking with me. I also posted my recruitment notice on a costuming fan community website, hoping to find fans who participate in a particular activity. I intended to post my recruitment notice on other fan activity sites such

as the website for a knitting and crocheting community and a wizard rock fan community.

However, the response to my previous recruitment notices was so positive that I already

had commitments to interview approximately 20 people. In hindsight, I could have been more selective choosing interviewees, but at the time I was concerned that I would not get

enough people interested in being interviewed and I also did not know what "type" of fan people were (e.g., how they participated in the fandom) until after I had interviewed them. 45

Since 20 one-hour interviews is a lot of data to transcribe and analyze, I decided to stop trying to recruit more informants unless they fit into a specific category that I had yet to include. One such category was the wizard rockers.

Perhaps the most accurate instance of using theoretical sampling in my research came after I had completed my interviews and left Calgary to attend a wizard rock festival in Missouri. As mentioned above, it was very difficult getting in touch with wizard rockers.

I did not get responses to my emails, which I directed at their official email addresses posted on MySpace or to their messages inbox on the band's Facebook page. The only way

I managed to interact with wizard rockers was by befriending them at the wizard rock festival. I will discuss these interactions in further detail in the discussion section of my thesis. v. Recruitment

I recruited participants for my research both on and offline and using a theoretical sampling strategy. Online, I joined all of the Harry Potter meetup groups on meetup.com that had more than 50 members, to see what kinds of things the groups did and find out about potential events I could attend. It was through this portal that I learned about the wizard rock shows in Seattle and . I also used these meetup groups as a way to meet participants and I posted my recruitment notice on message boards of the Harry Potter meetup groups on meetup.com. I met four of my 20 interview participants through meetup.com. Through the mailing list of the Harry Potter meetup group, The

Group that Shall Not Be Named, I was put in contact with two of the individuals who would record their convention experiences at Infinitus in the social diaries I provided. 46

I also used the Harry Potter Alliance website to find all of the different chapters and their websites. I then joined the community chapters or the college chapters. The joining process was different depending on the group and the website platform they employed. Many of the chapters had their websites on Facebook, which required me to

"join" or "like" their group on Facebook. I also received notifications of upcoming events in my Facebook message inbox. A few chapters on meetup.com required me to join their group through my meetup.com profile. Some of the groups were on MySpace, so I created a MySpace account to join the group; however, these groups were inactive during my period of fieldwork. Finally, some chapters had specific chapter URLs, so I joined their mailing lists through my email account. It was through the mailing list of a

chapter that I found out about the event in Santa Monica. After I joined the chapter, the

organizer formally welcomed me to the group. I replied to her and explained who I was, how I did not actually live in the area but that I was doing research on Harry Potter fans and

I was planning on going to Los Angeles for the July wizard rock event. She was fine with

my inclusion on the mailing lists and we eventually arranged to meet in Los Angeles for an

interview. In addition to this interview, I contacted one of my online interviewees through

the Harry Potter Alliance.

As mentioned above, I also posted my recruitment notice on the forum of a Harry

Potter costuming website. It was through this post that I met seven of my 22 interview

informants, all with different experiences in the fandom and with costuming and . I

also contacted some Facebook friends that I had met through the Harry Potter fandom to 47 ask if they might be interested in speaking with me. I contacted five of my 22 interview participants through Facebook.

Offline, I recruited interview participants, social diarists and conducted participant observation with other Harry Potter fans by mingling with people at the offline events I attended. For example, one of my key informants for Infinitus and for Wrockstock was a

girl I had met at the wizard rock show in Seattle. Online recruitment for social diarists resulted in few responses, so on the first day of Infinitus, I casually dropped references for

my need for social diarists into conversations about my research in hopes that someone

would volunteer to fill one out. That is how I recruited the other four research diarists. Only

one of the six people given social diaries did not return it to me.

vi. Data Collection Methods

Participant Observation I attended six offline events throughout the course of my fieldwork: an Edmonton

Harry Potter meetup group event on June 25; a wizard rock show just outside of Seattle,

Washington on July 3; a wizard rock show in Santa Monica, California on July 8; Infinitus,

a Harry Potter convention in Orlando, Florida from July 14 to 18; an Edmonton Meetup

group camping trip just outside of Edmonton August 27 and 28; and Wrockstock, a wizard

rock festival in Potosi, Missouri November 4 to 8.

During these events, I interacted with fans and took jottings in a small notebook or

on the awesome note app on my iPhone. I estimate I hung out and had lengthy

conversations with at least 40 different fans, not including the individuals I interviewed 48 online or offline. I roomed with, ate with, danced with, chatted with, and attended the theme park with many of these fans.

I found out about the Edmonton event through the meetup.com website. I drove up to Edmonton in early June to attend the event, which was at the organizer's house. In

August, I reconnected with a few of the members of the Edmonton meetup group for a camping trip - inspired by what fans dub the "eternal camping trip" that occurs in Harry

Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The event was supposed to span Friday evening through to

Sunday morning. However, it was frigidly cold that weekend, going below zero at night and raining off and on all of Saturday morning. By Saturday noon, the whole crew (of seven people) had packed up and left the site.

The wizard rock show in Seattle was posted on the Seattle meetup.com website.

After I had committed to going and booked my flights and my stay at a hostel, I realized that the event was actually 20 to 30 minutes outside of Seattle in a state park. I posted on the Seattle meetup group website asking for directions on how to take the bus to the event.

Seattle meetup group member Hillary returned my message and told me that she could give me a ride to and from the event.

I learned about the event in Los Angeles through the website of the local Harry

Potter Alliance chapter. I had contacted the organizer of this chapter to confirm my attendance at the event. The organizer, Kate, a woman in her late 30s, was enthusiastic about my attendance and offered to pick me up from my hostel the day before the event and take me on a tour of Los Angeles and participate in an interview. 49

The following evening, I went to the wizard rock show. It turned out that the wizard rock show that I saw in Seattle was the same one that toured down the coast and then stopped in Los Angeles. Both events had a focus on the Harry Potter Alliance and tried to sign up people to vote in the local and federal elections. Conveniently, the hostel that I booked in Santa Monica was less than five blocks from the library venue. It was harder to do participant observation at this venue because it was a theatre and audience members remained seated. When I arrived, the seats in the back were taken, so I had to sit in the middle of the theatre and had to keep turning around to see what the people in the back were doing and to watch their dance moves. Once the show had ended, people crowded into a small entryway where the merchandise tables were set up. It was very crowded, but I spoke to some of the wizard rockers I had met at the show in Seattle and at previous Harry

Potter conventions.

The convention, Infinitus, in Orlando was extremely busy. It was at the Royal

Pacific resort at Universal Studios. There were thousands of people and dozens of events to attend at any given time, not to mention the Harry Potter theme park was a 15-minute walk

from the hotel. I was glad that I coordinated for Kelly Thomas to come with me to the convention and be my research assistant. Kelly was in Orlando the week before the

convention for a dance competition and I was planning on flying down to Florida early to visit some family in West Palm Beach. In the days between Kelly's dance competition and the start of Infinitus, Kelly came with me to visit my family. On Tuesday night, Kelly and I went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios so that I could 50 experience the park without having to do research about it. I will discuss this experience in more detail in the autoethnographic section of this methods chapter.

The following afternoon, Kelly and I checked out of the hotel and moved our suitcases to the convention hotel. I thought that the convention officially began on the

Wednesday, but that was the day for early registration and the day when convention volunteers were to arrive. There was no official programming until the next morning. This mix-up was beneficial because there were a few fans hanging around with nothing to do but to hang out with others. On that first afternoon, I met five individuals who I conversed with almost every single day during the convention.

During Infinitus, I went to many events and activities. I attended a Hufflepuff meetup, where dozens of people who identify as Hufflepuffs hung out in the common room and introduced themselves to other Hufflepuffs. I attended various panels about coordinating the fandom, organizing meetup groups, participating in online role-playing, starting grassroots movements in the Harry Potter fandom, and teaching information about the Harry Potter Alliance. I went to wizard rock shows, I stood in line for the Final Battle,

(a Harry Potter musical depicting the last 200 pages of the seventh Harry Potter book

(http://thefinalbattle.org/about/)) and I watched the Final Battle performance. I attended

Night of a Thousand Wizards, a private event at the theme park between 10:30 p.m. and

3:00 a.m. for a thousand of the convention attendees. I spent time with fans in the common room, partied with fans at the Ball of Frivolity (a formal dance) and ate with fans at restaurants and the opening and leaving feasts. It was a weekend full of participant

observation. 51

I decided to stay an extra few days after the convention, choosing to leave on

Wednesday morning rather than Sunday evening, so that I would have a chance to go to

Disney World with Kelly. Unfortunately, Kelly and I were behind on our fieldnotes and we decided to stay at the hotel typing up fieldnotes. However, as fieldnote typing goes, we were privileged: we sat in lounge chairs next to the pool wearing great big beach hats, our bikinis and sunscreen while poolside waiters brought us iced teas and commented on the fact that we were typing away on laptops.

The final event I attended was Wrockstock 2010 in Potosi, Missouri from

November 5 to 8. Darcy, an individual I met at the wrock show in Seattle and again at

Infinitus, invited me to Wrockstock. Darcy arranged everything for me and told me what days and times to book my flights. Along with Darcy, I roomed the first night with Liana,

Zoe and Vanessa, all of whom I had met briefly at other offline events. The following afternoon, we checked out of the hotel and took a taxi back to the airport where the Knight

Bus would be waiting to take us to the YMCA camp for Wrockstock. The Knight Bus was a yellow school bus and tickets were $20.00. The bus stopped at a Super Wal-Mart on our way to the camp so we could stock up on snacks and alcohol for the weekend. At

Wrockstock, I listened to many musical performances and spent time with other fans.

There were many positive and negative aspects of doing participant observation in a

convention environment. First, access was simple. Since the convention was open to anyone who purchased a registration pass, for the price of $190.00 US, I could attend any

of the official and unofficial programming events at the convention. Also, since I was

staying in a hotel room at the Royal Pacific, I was permitted to hang around the hotel 52 lobbies and public areas, meeting fans. With no other official obstacles in my way, it was up to individual fans whether they wanted to speak with me or not. Fortunately, everyone I spoke with was interested in my research and engaged easily in conversation. When I approached people, I would introduce myself and my research, and then establish myself as a fan by talking to the fans about Hogwarts houses, events attended during the convention or our favourite Harry Potter books.

Second, recruitment was easy. At the convention, I would chat with people for a minute about my research and they were immediately interested in helping me and talking to me. In some cases, I would introduce myself and people would tell me that they had already heard of my research project at the convention because one of their friends had

spoken with me and told their friends about me. Some participants even gave me business

cards with their name, screen name, e-mail address, , twitter and website address.

Third, there was so much going on at the convention and so many people attending

academic panels with notebooks for note taking that walking around with my jottings

notepad and pen was not an issue. However, attending a wizard rock show or the Ball of

Frivolity (a dance) with my jottings notebook was a bit awkward since writing while jumping and dancing is not effective. In those instances, I took voice memos on my iPhone

and used recordings as a way to jog my memory as I expanded on notes later. In some

cases, my voice memos were very detailed and later, I transcribed entire stories. Other

times, (intoxicated) participants wanted to record their own thoughts on my iPhone, which I

allowed; however, the information contained on the memos was not useful. 53 The difficulties of doing research in a convention atmosphere are in fact not disadvantages because they do not prevent the collection of data, but present obstacles to the overwhelmed fieldworker, trying to make decisions of how to proceed with data collection. First, when fans get together for conventions, their primary goal is to socialize.

With roughly 2400 fans, there were activities and small parties happening 24 hours per day.

This situation presented three main conflicts for me. First, I was unsure of which activities would provide me with the best data collection opportunities. As my sampling strategy dictated, I wanted to try to experience as many types of activities and fans as possible - however exactly what was possible was a difficult concept to grasp. Hence, I sacrificed eating and sleeping in order to participate in more events. This sacrifice of the physical in exchange for the social seems an imprudent way of conducting research. In some instances, my jottings trailed off into rants about food. However, I quickly realized that much of the discussions among fans was how tired or how hungry they were and I concluded that being exhausted and starving enabled me to participate more fully in the fan experience of the convention. It seems that fans struggled with the same decisions of what to do and not do.

A second difficulty of doing field research in a convention environment was I did not get signed or verbal informed consent for every person I spoke with at the convention.

Conversations were casual and quick. However, I did make sure to tell people I talked to that I was conducting research on the fandom and get their approval for participation.

Social Diaries

Having been to Harry Potter conventions before, I knew they were busy affairs.

Therefore, I decided to expand my observations by asking other fans to take up pens and 54 fill out a diary during Infinitus. I was hoping that fans would provide me an emic perspective of their experiences at the convention and I would be able to get a sense of what types of programming they chose to attend. Before leaving for the convention, I created a diary on Adobe Illustrator and had six diaries printed and bound.

I sent my recruitment notice through the New York meetup group's mailing list and two interested participants responded to me. I had intended to do all of my recruitment

online for the diaries; however, I was not getting the responses I needed and I did not know where to post my recruitment notices. I ended up leaving for my fieldwork with only three

diarists confirmed (the two online responses and the agreement of one offline friend).

Finding diarists once I got to the convention was stressful, as I needed to get the diaries out before the end of the first day so that participants could fill them in. However, the offline recruitment process was much easier because I was able to drop into the conversation that I

was looking for diarists and often people were quick to volunteer to fill one out.

Getting the diaries to the two diarists that had confirmed with me online was even

more hectic because all I had to get in contact with them was their email addresses and cell

phone numbers. I had no idea what either of them looked like or even their approximate

ages. Since I had no idea where my hotel room would be, it was very difficult to establish a

common meeting place beforehand. I eventually managed to meet one of the diarists at my

hotel room two days into the convention. I managed to find the other diarist in a large

group of people posing for photos in the convention hallway. From my online participation

with the New York meetup group, I knew they were going to meet for a big group photo at

some point during the first day of the convention and I recognized one of the individuals in 55 the picture as the leader of the group from photos online. Once the photos were done, I wandered over to the group and asked some of the members if they knew Iris. A man pointed me towards an older lady, dressed in a black witch costume who was talking with a friend. Once I introduced myself, she and I filled out the informed consent forms and I left her with the diary and with a promissory note that I would send her a text message on the last day of the conference so she could return the diary. I also left her with my hotel room number in case we could not connect. However, I had to change rooms halfway through the convention because my hotel room flooded, so that room number was useless.

Five of the six diarists returned their diaries filled with informative entries about the

activities they attended and their reflections on the convention as a whole. Upon my return to Calgary, I photocopied the diaries for my data collection and returned the diaries by post with a bookmark I made for each diarist as a thank you.

Focus Group

The February before Infinitus, I submitted a proposal to the formal programming

committee at Infinitus to run a focus group (which Infinitus called a round-table discussion)

during the convention. I proposed to discuss participation at the convention with fifteen

fans as a way of gathering data for writing my thesis. The committee accepted my proposal

and scheduled my panel for the early afternoon following Night of a Thousand Wizards.

The focus group was very effective for gathering data, although it was difficult to do in a

convention environment. First, people trickled in and out during the discussion, thus

making the signed informed consent process required by the ethics board, difficult to

execute. At the end of the discussion, I managed to get the signatures of those who came 56 late. However, my consent forms assured anonymity and unfortunately when people came in late or sat at the back listening to the discussion, anonymity was compromised. The nature of the convention provided a large random sampling pool for my focus group participants, but the culture of the formal programming allows people to come and go as they please, making the execution of a focus group difficult. Despite these hurdles, the discussion was informative. Fans told me about their convention experiences, why they attend conventions and what they thought about Night of a Thousand Wizards. We also

discussed online and offline participation in the Harry Potter fandom.

Interviews

Subsequent to the offline fieldwork, I started recruiting participants for online

interviews using Skype or a comparable communication platform such as iChat or the telephone. Skype was effective when the interviewee also had the software and a computer

microphone because it permitted long-distance communication free of charge. In cases

where both my participant and I had webcams, the interview included video and body

language signals. When my interviewees did not have a working microphone on their

computer, I used Skype to make long distance telephone calls to a landline phone number

at the cost of two cents per minute.

In total I conducted 20, 60 minute interviews either online or offline. I recruited

participants for these interviews by posting my recruitment notice on meetup websites and

live journal communities and by contacting some of my Facebook contacts from the

conventions (who had expressed interest in helping me with my research in the past). Some 57 of these interviews occurred offline as I travelled during my fieldwork or after discovering that interested participants lived in Calgary.

I asked open-ended interview questions and did not follow an interview schedule; although, there were a few questions that I tried to ask every informant, such as, how they got into Harry Potter and the Harry Potter fandom, which house they considered themselves sorted in, and what kinds of Harry Potter related activities did they participate in. Some of my interviewees spoke with very little prompting, while others needed encouragement and ideas of what to talk about. In those cases I would use the phrase, "tell me about..." to get interviewees to expand on a thought or an activity (Spradley 1979:60). This prompting method worked well and often my interviews would last longer than the planned sixty minutes.

My prior knowledge of the community provided familiarity with appropriate

language and required formality for communication. As Hodkinson argues,

While care must be taken to avoid leading respondents towards particular answers through such contributions, the ability sometimes to move interviews towards a situation of two-way exchange rather than the usual question-and-answer format can offer substantial advantages in terms of trust and conversational flow (2005:139).

Many of my interviews flowed more like conversation rather than question and answer

sessions - which might have made my interviewees comfortable as they told me stories

without responding to a particular question. However, as Hodkinson mentions, in a

conversation format, it is difficult not to lead the interviewee to respond in a certain way. I

admit that this was a problem in my first few interviews. I realized that I asked questions in

a way that could lead the interviewee to respond a certain way. For example, 58 H: Were you shocked when you actually saw him? E: I wasn't shocked. I mean, I was shocked because I was actually there. But other than that I wasn't really surprised.

In this case, I should have asked, "How did you feel meeting Will for the first time?", rather than planting an emotional response in the question. Fortunately, I transcribed interviews during the day and conducted interviews in the evening. I noticed flaws in my interview style and worked to improve on my performance. After listening to myself ask

leading questions and forgetting to ask informants to expand on concepts that I already understood, I made sure to correct my behaviour in subsequent interviews.

I used the voice memo application on my iPhone to record the conversations with both my on and offline informants. The microphone on the iPhone is exceptional and works well in loud and quiet environments. Batteries have a long life, I could download the

memos onto iTunes as an .mp4 file and subsequently import them into ExpressScribe, a

free transcription software compatible with Microsoft Word and Macintosh computers.

I discovered pros and cons with using Skype. First, with free computer-to-computer

communication, using Skype was economical. Skypeing does not require travel or

relocation and you do not have to purchase a coffee or lunch for your interviewee. Skype is

also safe, which is a concern in interviews established from online contacts. Finally, with

webcams, I can observe body language and facial expressions. However, some Skype

contacts did not have webcams or their computer microphone did not work and I had to call

their landlines. In these cases, I could not observe body language nor facial expression, and

therefore I may have missed important information about my interactions with my

participants and about my participants. When calling to a landline I had to use Skype 59 credits, which I purchased with my credit card at the cost of two cents per minute.

However, in all of my interviews, I spent less than ten dollars on long-distance charges.

The biggest problem I had with Skype was connection issues. Sometimes there were delays in the conversation or echoes of voices as computer microphones picked up what came out of the speakers. In one interview the microphone crackled so much that the conversation was partly inaudible, and I lost some comments altogether. Some of the calls would drop and we would have to reconnect again. In one case, my Skype call was hacked.

During this interview, loud heavy metal music began to play and it was not from either my informant or me. We decided to cancel the call and reconnect; however, it disrupted the flow of conversation. Despite these software flaws, Skype was an effective platform for conducting interviews.

Another online method I used was attending the online livestream events offered by the Harry Potter Alliance. The leaders of the Harry Potter Alliance host meetings on a website platform called Livestream. During these meetings, the hosts speak about upcoming events or issues while a live, written chat streams next to a video screen (which

may or may not be in use). I proposed to sit in on these meetings as an observer, record the

oral discussion, and take notes on the streaming chat feed. In order to get ethics clearance

for this event, the University of Calgary Social Sciences Research and Ethics Board wanted

me to send a script outlining my research to the hosts who would then read the script to the

event attendees and then the attendees would type in "yes" if they wanted to participate. I

would only use information provided by those who typed "yes" into the feed in my

research. The script that the ethics board approved was almost a page long and took several 60 minutes to read aloud. I managed to get the hosts to read it outloud once, and the chat streamed annoyance at the script length and confused those who came in on the middle of the speech. Afterwards I received feedback from the one host that it was too long and we would not be able to do the informed consent process again because it made the meeting lose momentum and excitement. This lack of access due to the informed consent process was unfortunate, although the experience provided me with data on how the fandom interacts with others and outsiders (researchers). Although I am an insider, this script did not indicate my participation in the fandom and was too formal and legalistic for the people interacting on the chat. I decided not to amend my ethics application and to drop that method of gathering data, since other methods provided data of more detail. This decision was wise because there was only one other livestream event during the summer months that

I was able to attend (the others occurred during my days in the field).

I did not anticipate the obstacles that informed consent would present to my data collection. I also did not anticipate the changes potential informants would wish to make to my data collection methods. As I mentioned above, I joined all of the Harry Potter meetup groups and Harry Potter Alliance chapters that I could find online as a way of getting to know people, recruiting participants for interviews and the social diaries, and finding out what kinds of events I could attend during the summer months for my fieldwork. One of the groups I joined used Facebook as their main platform for group communication. One day, I received a group message from the group organizers explaining to members that this group was a chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance and if members did not want to actively participate in the group, then it was in their best interest to leave the group. Apparently, 61 many Facebook users had been joining the group because they liked the name of the group, not realizing that it was an active community located in a specific city. When I got in touch with the head organizer for the group explaining my research and why I joined her chapter, she still decided to avoid confusion and remove me from the mailing list.

However, she did offer to help me with my research in other ways. I mentioned to the organizer that I was looking for people interested in being interviewed and she followed up with a message saying that she would be interested in being interviewed and to check out a

YouTube channel she does with a few other Harry Potter fans. On this channel, each girl posts one vlog video per week about her life or about Harry Potter. The group organizer suggested that instead of doing an interview, I could send my questions to the girls on the

YouTube channel, who would then answer my questions in their weekly videos. I amended my ethics application to include this activity, sent out my updated informed consent forms and questions, and waited for the responses. I was only able to use three of the seven videos because four of the girls were under the age of 18. However, their responses to my questions about the Harry Potter fandom were thoughtful and the process of gathering data in this format provided me with even more data about trust and online participation.

Autoethnography

As a Harry Potter fan, I decided that my own experiences researching a topic that I love and a fandom that I am part of would be important data. In Fan Cultures (2002:66-71),

Matt Hills suggests that the academic needs to be reflexive on her own fandom experience because fans will feel the need to be defensive and to justify their fan-nish behavior if the researcher self-identifies as a non-fan. I used my experience as a way to understand the experiences of other informants and build rapport with the community (Ellis & Bochner

2005:269). I kept an autoethnographic account of my experiences during the research process and when I participated in the Harry Potter fandom as a fan. I learned during this process that Harry Potter is my mental escape. After a long day of doing fieldwork and transcribing, I enjoyed logging on to Facebook to see how my friends from the conventions were doing by reading their status updates. Sometimes I would go to YouTube and watch

Harry Potter related videos posted by fans and sometimes I would just sit down and read a chapter out of one of the books. On nights when I have trouble sleeping due to an overactive brain, I put on one of my Harry Potter audio books and use the familiar story to lull me to sleep. I often wake up in the morning with the story still playing. Because of these habits, I found the autoethnographic aspect of my fieldwork to be difficult because I would have to jot down autoethnographic activities while I was trying to escape from my thesis and my fieldwork. However, I still managed to document my Harry Potter related activities, my feelings during fieldwork, and instances where my identity was influencing the data I gathered. vii. Analysis

Once I completed my fieldnotes and I transcribed and printed my interviews, then I began analysis. I used thematic analysis as outlined in Ryan and Bernard 2003 and Opler

1945. Themes are an agreed upon idea or a concept that can be represented by different

behaviours, activities or phrases, which Opler (1945:198-9) called expressions. A theme is

significant to analysis if there are multiple expressions representing the same theme, if the

group opposes violation of the theme, and if there are limiting factors preventing 63 expression of the theme (Opler 1945:201). Ryan and Bernard expanded on Opler's idea and created an analytical framework to help qualitative researchers determine themes in their data. Ryan and Bernard suggest that themes appear in data in the form of repetitions, emic terms, metaphors, and transitions (such as pauses in speech or undirected changes in subject). Analysts discover by comparing between pieces of data, linguistic connectors, theory-related data and unmentioned topics (which are difficult to determine unless the reseacher knows the group very well and understands that discussants are intentionally or inadvertently leaving out a particular topic) (2003:89-94). Ryan and Bernard suggest analyzing the data set with the above concepts in mind and labelling data according to the themes that emerge. They then recommend rearranging the data so that everything from the same theme is together in order to cross-compare different expressions of the same theme

(2003:94). Finally, Ryan and Bernard suggest determining the most communicated words, the context in which those words are used and surrounding vocabulary (2003:95-6).

Having transcribed all of my interviews myself, I had a good idea of what my participants spoke about repeatedly and with a lot of detail. From my offline observations, I also had a few ideas that I wanted to explore in my interview data. Thus some of my themes were emic and were raised repeatedly in conversations with informants. For

example, the discussions on friendship and merchandise were frequent and I labelled those themes emically with the words "friendship" and "merchandise". Some of my other themes were etic. For example, during my fieldwork, I found many instances where people talked

about the famous fans or where I would observe fans interacting within a social hierarchy. I

chose to label instances relating to status differences between fans, "hierarchy", even 64 though my informants never used the term. In total, I came up with a list of 20 themes,

some of which I subdivided further when I employed the cutting and sorting technique.

Once I had coded and sorted all of my interview transcripts into separate documents

for each theme, I ran a word frequency list using Max QDA on all of my transcripts. I

limited the search to words of more than three characters. I removed extraneous words as

well as all words that occurred less than ten times in my 300 pages of interview transcripts.

Some of my themes were confirmed by the word frequency list. I then created spreadsheets

analyzing the word count associated with each theme, assuming that informants would talk

the most about the most important themes. I created a column for each theme and a row for

each informant, filling in the word count for how much a particular informant spoke about

a specific theme. I used this data to justify the themes I chose to discuss in this thesis: unity,

trust, activities, sorting, hierarchy and friendship.

I used a variety of methods to collect data for my ethnographic research: online and

offline methods, methods that allowed my informants to record their own thoughts without

my prompting or presence, and methods that involved me as an interviewer and as a

research instrument. All of these methods produced different types and quantities of data,

all valid and valuable for answering my research question and informative for

understanding the Harry Potter fandom. 65 Life at Hogwarts: Results and Discussion

Harry Potter fans participate in many types of activities. Fans create art, knit

sweaters or scarves, compose music, write fan fiction, attend wizard rock concerts, collect memorabilia, record podcasts, et cetera. All of these activities (except perhaps attending wizard rock shows) produce items for Harry Potter fans to share with other Harry Potter

fans. Another exception to this series of activities is the fans who engage in social activism

on behalf of Harry Potter. These Harry Potter fans are primarily part of one organized

group, the Harry Potter Alliance.

The Harry Potter Alliance (HP A) was founded shortly after the publication of Harry

Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003). Andrew Slack, now executive director of the

organization, was inspired by Harry, Ron and Hermione's formation of the student group,

Dumbledore's Army - a group whose purpose was to teach interested students practical

defense against the dark arts in an effort to be prepared to fight against dark wizards. After

reading about Dumbledore's Army, Andrew wondered if a real-life version of

Dumbledore's Army existed. It did not. With the help of his friends from the wizard rock

band Harry and the Potters and from the fan website www.the-leaky-cauldron.org, Andrew

started working full-time for the HPA, whose goal is to fight against "dark magic"

(poverty, oppression, illiteracy, to name a few) in the "real" world. The group draws on the

Harry Potter canon to justify their stance on social justice issues. For example, they

combine 's struggle to hide his true identity, Albus Dumbledore's

identity as a gay man, and Harry Potter's years of abuse (literally living in a closet at the

Dursley house), to validate their campaign against homophobia. 66 The Harry Potter Alliance has united fans in various other initiatives such as raising over 55,000 books to donate to low-income schools and libraries, and raising over

$123,000 in the weeks after the devastating earthquake in Haiti

(http://thehpalliance.org/press/success-stories/). With this money, and in cooperation with relief organization, Partners in Health, the HPA sent five planes full of medical and teaching supplies to Haiti.

With a budget made up entirely of t-shirt sales and private donations, it is a tribute to the shared vision of the individuals within the group as well as the unity within the Harry

Potter fandom that the HPA has been able to accomplish so much. Until a year ago, the finances of the group were unsteady. The organization needed more funding to stay afloat

(personal communication, Andrew Slack).

Last year as I began my fieldwork, Chase Bank began a Facebook campaign to give

$250,000 to the charity who got the most votes on the Chase Community Giving application on Facebook. The HPA, not qualified for many grants and funding to charities, fought hard to gain first place. The campaign was intense. Harry Potter fans asked people in their Facebook networks to please vote for the HPA in the contest. They also asked random people in chat rooms or on omegle (a voice to voice chat platform that randomly selects two people to chat together). The campaign was running smoothly although competition between the HPA and another charity was fierce. The other charity was gaining an

exceptional number of votes at an alarming rate. Some HPA members discovered and recorded through screen shots and time analysis that this other charity was creating

Facebook profiles to vote for them. Once these infractions were reported, the fraudulent 67 votes for this charity were removed and this charity was taken out of the running for first place.

The Harry Potter Alliance was then sitting comfortably ahead of the others - a few thousand votes ahead. But the fight for the $250,000 prize was not finished - another charity, the Kirsten Brooks Hope Centre, was steadily moving up the ranks. This foundation, also known as Hopeline, reaches out to individuals struggling with contemplations of suicide. The Kirsten Brooks Hope Centre is also supported by the popular blog www.postsecret.com. Every Sunday, this blog posts new secrets sent in on postcards by people from around the world. On Sunday, when thousands of people check

the updated blog, they would be asked to vote for the Kirsten Brooks Hope Centre on

Facebook. The votes surpassed those of the HPA within a few hours. However, by drawing

on the connections and support of those within the Harry Potter fandom, as well as

soliciting the help of other fandoms (, Lord of the Rings, etc.), the HPA managed

to secure first place in the competition. The HPA won $250,000 with the mandate that they

would help bring stories that change lives to people and draw on a variety of popular texts

to inspire positive change in the world.

The Chase challenge showcases the cooperation, unity, and cohesion within the

Harry Potter fandom as well as a willingness to engage with other fandoms to achieve a

common goal. My account is primarily an analysis of the group cohesion found within the

Harry Potter fandom. Homans writes, "a group is defined by the interactions of its

members" (1950:84); while Firth defines a community as "a body of people sharing

common activities and bound by multiple relationships in such a way that the aims of any 68 individual can be achieved only by participation in action with others" (1966:41). In other words, individuals who participate in activities with other individuals form a group.

As I defined earlier in my typology of fan-identity, to be a Harry Potter fan, an individual must interact with others. Harry Potter fans (subcultists, enthusiasts, and petty producers) interact with other fans, travel to other fans, and produce things for fans to consume or

share.

Similar to Barth's (1969) concept of boundaries, Homans argues that the

"definition of the word group is relative: the meaning depends on what persons and groups

one chooses to consider outsiders to the group in question" (1950:85) [emphasis original].

As evidenced in the Chase Community Bank challenge, the Harry Potter fandom is part of

a larger group of The Fandom and the Harry Potter Alliance drew on their ties to other

fandoms to win the challenge. The Fandom includes all other subject-specific fandoms and

fans will overlap their fan behaviour into these other fandoms. Within the Harry Potter

fandom, many fans I spoke with were also passionate about Twilight, ,

Lord of the Rings, and Glee. All of these texts have their own fandoms - complete with

websites, conventions, and various activity subgroups such as fanfiction.

Within the Harry Potter fandom, there are various subgroups based largely on four

categories of classification: activity groups, Hogwarts houses, roles and statuses, and

friendship cliques. These categories further subdivide into groups. For example, the

category of activity groups is represented by subgroups such as fanfiction, fanart,

podcasting, textile crafts (knitting, sewing costumes), or cosplaying. Homans states that

individuals can belong to more than one group at a time (1950:85), and I argue that each 69 fan is a member of at least one group under each category above. For example, I might belong to the cosplay, social activism, and academic analysis activity groups, Hufflepuff house, various small groups of friends, and the academic presenter/researcher role and associated status.

In this chapter, I will explore group membership and trust as well as these four categories of group formation and I will discuss how these categories of smaller subgroups contribute to the overall unity within the Harry Potter fandom. First, I will provide justification for the themes I chose to discuss in this thesis as they were raised most frequently and were described in detail in my interview transcripts, my observational notes and my social diaries. I will also provide a demographic background of the Harry Potter fans involved in my research. Next, in Section II, I will discuss the levels of trust within the fandom and what it takes to earn trust and membership in the Harry Potter fandom. In

Section III, I will outline the activity groups I learned of during my research and provide an

analysis of how these activity groups contribute to cohesion within the fandom. In Section

IV, I will discuss the theme of sorting and the importance of house affiliation within the

fandom. I will describe how fans sort themselves into Hogwarts houses, emic

representations of house identity, and competitions in popularity between houses. I will then discuss how fans change houses during their lifetimes and how house identity creates

group cohesion. In Section V, I will explore status groups and I will focus on the famous

fan status group in contrast to regular fans. I will talk about how famous fans (fans with

their own fans) are petty producers and how they fill different leadership roles within the

fandom. I will discuss their apparent lack of house identity, and the status benefits they 70 receive in contrast to regular fans. I will then explore anthropological concepts of authority and the types of authority famous fans have over regular fans. Finally, I will contrast famous fans with another status group, the infamous fans. In Section VI, I will talk about the importance of friendship within the community and the role friendship plays in

creating unity within the fandom. I will explore online and offline friendships and the

similarities between friendship and kinship in the anthropological literature. Finally, in

Section VII, I will summarize these categories of subgroupings and further explore the concepts of group cohesion and group formation.

I. Quantitative/Qualitative Summary of Themes and Demographic Background

To determine the most salient and pertinent themes from my data, I did a word

count comparison (see Appendix B for results). I looked at how many words my interview

informants spoke on a particular theme, assuming that more words would mean more

details and thus more importance. Through this exercise, I confirmed three things. First, I

eliminated some of my 'themes', because I realized they were not actually themes but

rather classifications. For example, the phrases, 'emic terms', 'internet use', 'negative fan

experiences', 'overlapping fandoms', Skype as a method' and 'what is a fan', were

categories I used to classify data for my own conceptual background. For example, when

participants spoke about what constitutes a Harry Potter fan, I would use this information

for my definition of the Harry Potter fandom.

Second, I realized that the themes I had wanted to write about were in fact highly

relevant to the fandom; collectively, my informants spoke about sorting, hierarchy,

friendship, and activities using more than 10,000 words. Unity appeared less often, 71 however many of the comments I originally coded as 'equality/inclusive' could be

combined with comments pertaining to unity. In addition, my code of 'groups' was an emic term that coded instances of fans talking about different groups or subgroups of fans. These

groups are examples of unification within the fandom based on friendships, activities, house affiliation, and status. A lumper might decide to combine the comments I coded as

groups in with the codes, 'activities', 'sorting', 'friendships', and 'hierarchy'. However, I

saw these comments as distinct, referring specifically to groups rather than individuals in

relation to activities, houses, friendships or statuses. My decision to address the issue of

trust within the fandom comes from its prevalence within the fandom, considering the

online-offline nature of the group (with the exception of Valerie, the only participants not

to discuss or give examples of trust were those who only interacted with fans online or

offline - but not both).

Third, I realized that I had other themes that were equally important - such as

fantasy versus reality. While I could have chosen to write my thesis on fantasy versus

reality, I felt I did not have enough observational data to substantiate an entire thesis.

Similarly, every Harry Potter fan that I spoke with has 'an initiation story'. I suspect that

this theme is highly relevant, and could be a focus for future work. However, again, I felt I

did not have enough information to fully develop the concept. I chose to talk about sorting,

hierarchy, activities, friendships, trust and unity because I felt comfortable with the amount

of supporting data to fully develop my ideas and draw definite conclusions. These themes

are also pertinent to the fandom and together they interrelate in discussion of overall group

formation and organization. 72 I also ran a word frequency report on Max QDA to see which words appeared most frequently in my interviews. Some of the most common words were: people (1357x),

Harry (1283x), Potter (1171x), time (486x), friends (388x), love (334x), online (205x), house (203x), convention (191x), nice (174x), group (172x), everybody (155x), and community (154x). These words are synonymous with many of my themes and their frequency suggests the importance of the themes I chose to discuss. A more comprehensive list of word frequencies can be found in Appendix C.

Demographic Background

In total, 55 individuals participated in my research through interviews, writing diaries, or hanging out with me at offline events. While there were over 2400 people of all ages at the convention in Orlando and dozens of people at the meetups and wizard rock concerts I attended, I chose to count participants who spoke with me at length, and who I had enough interaction with to remember their names and faces. My fieldnotes include

documentation of conversations and participations with these individuals. I told each of these individuals that I was doing research on the Harry Potter fandom. All of the

interviewees, diarists, and key informants (who I spoke with or spent time with for multiple hours) reviewed and signed a consent form or verbally consented (with recording) to be a

study participant. Others gave me verbal consent which I did not document. Details on

these 55 informants can be found in Appendix D.

In terms of gender, 73% of my informants were female, 26% were male, and 1%

were individuals who identified as gender queer (transgendered or gender neutral). When

coordinating my interviews, I received many responses from women, and some women I 73 turned down in favour of speaking with men. This decision may have prevented a representative sample, but when I calculated the number of random male respondents who participated in my research at offline events, the ratios were the same as the ratio of female to male participants in my study as in my interviews, suggesting that I did find a representative sample in my interviews.

While I do not have the exact ages of many informants who participated with me at offline events, I was able to estimate their age based on the following categories, 18-29, 30-

39, 40-49, 50+. Many Harry Potter fans under the age of 18 were interested in participating in my research, but I did not include them in my study. 58% of the individuals who participated in my research were between the ages of 18 and 29. When the series was published between 1997 until 2007, these individuals were between the ages of 5 and 26.

Since the series is geared towards young adults, this result is not surprising. 22% of my informants were between the ages 30 and 39 and 13% were between the ages of 40 and 49.

Finally, 7% were over the age of 50.

The majority of my participants (77%) were from the United States, while 20% were Canadian. I do not know the nationalities of 3% of my respondents. While there were people from the , Australia and New Zealand present at the convention in

Orlando, they did not participate enough in my study to be included in this list.

Finally, where possible, I filled in Hogwarts house affiliation. Had I been more astute, I would have been more systematic about recording house identities of participants in my fieldnotes during the convention. There are some people, like Amelia, that I am quite certain I know which house they are in, but I am not positive and I do not have it recorded. 74

In those cases, I wrote, "unknown". 14% of my informants were Ravenclaws, 16% associated with Slytherin, 24% claimed Gryffindor identity, and 27% of my participants were Hufflepuffs. While these percentages are relatively close, it is possible that Hufflepuff has the highest score because in my fan persona I am a Hufflepuff, and I attended a

Hufflepuff meetup as one of my events during Infinitus, meeting other Hufflepuffs and connecting with individuals through a mutual belonging to the Hufflepuff house.

Furthermore, 19% of my participants did not choose a single house, they chose combinations of houses (such as Gryffindor and Hufflepuff- a Gryffinpuff). One participant liked all of the houses and constantly changed her house loyalties. One commonality between these individuals, with the exception of Reta, is that Slytherin house was present in every combination. Perhaps this result relates to the Slytherin house reputation of mystery and popularity. House choices and house reputations will be further explored in Section IV.

I do not have exact data to represent income levels or social economic status, but I do know the types of employment of the fans who participated in my research. The majority of the fans who participated in my research and who attend conventions are college or university students, work in the service sector, or in entry level positions. As one informant suggested, many "are on their parents' purse-strings". Other data suggests that fans financially cut corners to make the conventions affordable (such as rooming with strangers or eating only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches during the convention).

The largest demographic present at the offline events I attended were women aged

18 to 30. This demographic attendance is partly because when the first Harry Potter book 75 was published in 1997 and the series grew in popularity in the early , many of the people reading the series were pre-teens. In 2010, many of these same fans were in their early 20s. I am one such fan, who read the books at age 12 and discovered Harry Potter conventions at age 22. As for the male to female ratio, some of the male fans who contributed to my research told me they originally found it embarrassing to attend fan conventions and would not tell their non-fandom friends that this is how they spend their vacation time. I suspect this embarrassment affects the male-female ratio. In terms of nationality, most of the attendees at conventions are American, likely because most of the conventions are hosted in the United States of America and are expensive for international fans to attend. I also think that Harry Potter conventions may be more of a North American tradition, because there have been very few conventions hosted in , and North

Americans primarily organized the ones that have been hosted in England.

Harry Potter fans are diverse in age and background, and likely because of this diversity, they do not create impermeable barriers for newcomers. The Harry Potter fandom is trusting of other fans and inclusive of outsiders.

II. Trust

I first learned about Harry Potter conventions from Melissa Anelli's book, Harry, a

History (2008). I called my brother and convinced him to go to the "dorkiest thing ever",

Leaky Con 2009 held in Boston, MA on the May long weekend. We figured it would be a small event - perhaps a couple hundred hardcore Harry Potter fans. We were shocked when we arrived and over 800 fans were partying together. Having no pre-conceived notions of what to expect at the convention, my brother and I stayed in a hotel room just the two of us. 76 We discovered that another convention (Azkatraz) was happening in San

Francisco in July of that same year, and we decided we had to attend. We booked our flights, bought our registration, and then realized that all of the rooms at the convention hotel with the group discount rate were booked, and we were looking at approximately

$200 per night for our stay. Through recommendations on the Azkatraz official website, my brother and I decided to get online and search for people who had already reserved one of the discount rooms and were looking for roommates to further reduce the cost. We looked on the official Azkatraz website forums as well as the official Azkatraz Facebook group page. We ended up rooming with a male and a female, both in their early twenties and both

American. They had been online friends for three years, but had never met in person. After a few introductory emails back and forth, Alex and I agreed to share a hotel room with them during the convention. I knew that this was an odd and potentially dangerous behaviour, but I reassured my mother saying, "Mom, they're Harry Potter fans, how bad could they be?"

During my fieldwork, I had the opportunity to interview one of my roomates from

Azkatraz. I asked her how she felt about rooming with two people she had never met. She responded,

Umm it was weird. Well it wasn't weird. Well it's weird because it actually was not a big deal for us. And the reason why it wasn't a big deal for us was we were both already so used to meeting people online that were not crazy and that were not going to kill us after like a week of knowing us and finding our address and coming and you know killing our entire families. So we knew that first of all - they're Harry Potter people. Second of all, they are going to a Harry Potter convention. So I'm pretty sure that they're not going to be murderers. And they are probably going to be as dorky or maybe dorkier than we are. So we weren't really 77

worried about it. [...] People, some of my friends from home that are not like Harry Potter fans or anything - they're kind of like "Oh my God, what if they end up being really weird? Or what if you don't like them?" Neither [of us] had any kind of, "Oh my God, what if they're like this or what if they're like that?!" We never thought that. Every time I think of the Harry Potter fandom, I think very friendly people that have the same exact love and passion for something that I have extreme love and passion for. So it wasn't a big deal for us at all.

During Azkatraz, I never really considered whether it was common to room with people you had never met. It was not until I was conducting my fieldwork and I was getting a ride to a wizard rock show that I considered this a common theme within the fandom.

Hillary originally brought it up with me, suggesting that the fandom was particularly trusting of others. When I asked her to expand, she told me a story of how she got a ride home from a wizard rock show with a young man that she had just met minutes before jumping in his car with him. She realized afterwards that this action probably was not a safe decision, but she did not feel in danger before or during the ride because he was another

Harry Potter fan. Her story is very similar to my own and through my fieldwork, I discovered similar stories of trusting other fans - where had the strangers not been fans, they might not have been considered trustworthy. While I participated in this type of activity before beginning my research, I had not considered it something that other fans experience in different ways. I thought that my behaviours of rooming with people I did not know were unusual, but I had never questioned why I felt comfortable doing it. I also did not question whether other fans had similar experiences relating to trust. Yet once I began my fieldwork, more and more examples of trust in strangers within the fan community presented themselves, and I realized that my behaviour was not uncommon within the fan 78 community. Many Harry Potter fans trust other fans and engage in potentially dangerous activities or risky behaviour.

In one instance, I learned that 14 girls shared a single hotel room to cut down on the costs. They coordinated the entire thing via Facebook and paid the woman who booked the room in cash. During the convention, girls would sleep wherever they could find a space and they rotated nights for who would get to sleep in the beds. They placed "do not disturb" signs on the hotel room doors to prevent the hotel cleaning staff entering the room and seeing 14 hair straighteners lined up on the bathroom counter. This behaviour was risky not only because each girl was trusting that her things would be kept safe and secure from the other 13 roommates, but also trusting that her roommates would only bring trustworthy people into the room as visitors. Further, they trusted that the hotel staff would not find out about the situation and evict them from the hotel, leaving all of the girls without a place to stay for the duration of the convention. What if the girls had been assigned the room I was assigned to during my stay at the hotel and had water leak through the ceiling light in the washroom? What if, like me, they had to pack up all of their things and relocate with the help of hotel staff to a different room across the hotel? The woman who organized the roommates told me she was stressed out about it in the weeks leading up to the convention, fearing that people would drop out at the last minute and she would be stuck with a thousand dollars in hotel bills on her credit card. However overall, she said it was a very positive experience rooming with all of those girls. She knew in advance that she would not have a lot of personal space and she said that this helped her to prepare for the convention.

Other fans also told me about their experiences rooming with online acquaintances at 79 offline fan events. For instance, Meghan told me, "I've been lucky. I've never had a crazy roommate. I've had some roommates who are kind of like, aloof. People that I didn't really get along with, but nobody that has ever turned out to be crazy, psycho or a total ass". While fans were not concerned with personality traits and house affiliation of roomates, (one fan informed me that she roomed with Slytherins despite being a

Ravenclaw), one thing that concerned fans about rooming with others was age. Coral told me,

Honestly I have known Cindy for five years and on livejournal you hear their rants about their lives, passions, you get to really know a lot of things. Cindy had roomed with both of them before [the other roommates] and because I trusted Cindy and her judgment, I knew I would be fine. And they're adults. It wasn't as if I'm rooming with 16 or 17 year olds.

While Kevin, a man in his forties was very concerned with his age at the conventions and with rooming with people. He told me of his convention experience,

I posted on the [...] forums that I was looking for a roommate. Because I wanted to sort of cut down the cost of the room. So, I got a couple of pings on the forums from like uh, like 14 to 16 year old guys who basically wanted some person to share the room that could actually be of age to book the room.. .And so, at the time I was like, "No frickin way. A very very very bad idea." You know, older male staying in a room with a minor male probably not good.. .There's also.. .the big trust issue. I mean, rooming with somebody and honestly -I'll admit, being an older guy is a bit of a creep factor. Because they don't know me from Adam. You know, they have no idea who I am. We have no history of online electronic communication.

As demonstrated above, fans room with people they connect with online. Whether they have interacted with them online for years or whether they have only exchanged basic details such as age and gender, fans trust other fans they meet online enough to sleep in the 80 same room (or bed) with them. Why do fans trust one another? Where does this trust come from?

Trust involves believing in the positive behaviour of another person or of oneself.

Sztompka writes, "trust is a bet about the future contingent actions of others" (1999:25).

Similarly Messick and Kramer argue that trust, "involve[s] a decision whose potential costs depend on the actions of another person" (2001:90). Kohn describes trust as involuntary, often conditional and optimistic. It "is an expectation, or a disposition to expect, that another party will act in one's interests" (2008:9).

Gaining the trust of a community is critical in ethnography and thus building rapport and trust are discussed at length in texts on methodology (Hammersley and

Atkinson 2007:65). Yet, the literature on the anthropology of trust is under-developed, and what I could find focused on economic exchanges of trust - such as Ensminger's (2001) analysis of trust relationships between sedentary and wealthy cattle owners and the herders hired to tend to the cattle. Fine and Hob/field's (1996) ethnographic account of mushroom pickers in the American mid-west is one exception.

Through participant observation and interviews, Fine and Holyfield learned of the importance of trust and secrecy among mycologists (1996:24). There were approximately

200 members in the group that they studied and these individuals enjoy a variety of activities related to mushroom picking; namely identifying, photographing, and consuming mushrooms (1996:25). Within this group, there are high levels of trust, as members will consume mushrooms that others have picked and identified, a potentially risky behaviour considering the high toxicity levels of some mushrooms (1996:27). Mushroom pickers also 81 engage in high levels of secrecy, keeping picking locations secret to prevent other members from collecting their spoils (1996:29). Of trust within the community, Fine and

Holyfield write,

The absence of an established personal relationship is striking. It emphasizes the extent to which novices will place their trust in the organization; this trust was established previously, but is made relevant by the situation. Such trust represents not only trust in individual expertise, but also, and more prominently, trust in a system of expertise. New members are willing to consume potentially deadly mushrooms collected, identified, and cooked by strangers (1996:27).

In addition, they indicate that trust is built into the organization through the hierarchical status. New members do not distinguish between two closely related species of mushrooms, one toxic and one edible, to serve at a party. It is the senior mycologists, who have established themselves as competent authorities, who determine precisely which mushrooms are edible and which are not (1996:28).

Stolle found that voluntary associations that are "more diverse, more engaged.. .and had weak ties" tend to be more trusting environments but also tend to attract more trusting people (1998:521). While this, may be a factor in the trust among Harry Potter fans, I do not have the data to support such a conclusion. However, by drawing on Fine and

Holyfield's account of mushroom pickers (1996) and the trust within the mushroom picking community, as well as in consultation with my data, I posit that trust comes from a common interest or a common belief in the same value system. As Kohn wrote,

People who feel they share values and customs will tend to feel that they can predict each other's behaviour, and will be correspondingly confident that they can judge when others are trustworthy. If they feel that they have interests in common, they should be inclined to trust each other on matters arising from these mutual interests (2008:19). 82

One participant at the convention felt that the canon was ultimately about good triumphing over evil and that fans who love the series are likely to also believe in the major themes in the series: love, friendship, goodness, et cetera. He argued that since Harry Potter fans likely share the same values, it is easier to trust them. This belief harkens back to my original justification to my mother for rooming with people I met online. "Mom, they're

Harry Potter fans, how bad could they be?" As Elisa told me,

I tried to explain to people. They're like, "how are you such good friends with someone that you've never met?" This was before I met [my online friend] in real life. "How are you such good friends with people online?" And when they found out that I was rooming with two Canadians and they're like, "How do you do that? How do you trust these people?" And I'm like, "Well the fact that they like Harry Potter and they're crazy enough to go to a Harry Potter convention, I think that's enough for me to trust them and know that they're not going to kill me or anything [...] The fact that we both love Harry Potter, that's it. That's a bond. And I'm pretty sure that me and that person will become friends. Just because of that.

As Elisa mentioned above, much of the trust within this community, both online and offline, comes from a mutual love of Harry Potter and an assumption that 'if they like

Harry Potter, they must be like me'. This attitude permits fans to bond more quickly with other fans and creates a positive atmosphere for the establishment of friendships. The question remains, how much does an individual have to love Harry Potter to earn the trust and acceptance of another Harry Potter fan? Is it, as Elisa mentioned above, just a self- acknowledgement of a passion for Harry Potter? Will suggested that trust is established through a communication of basic knowledge about the canon. He told me,

There's some things that you must know if you read the books. Like for example, if you don't know what Hogwarts is.. .that pretty much tells 83

me.. .but I wouldn't say knowledge because sometimes, maybe you asked me something right now and I wouldn't know because it's just something very deep in the books, maybe a little detail - so I wouldn't say exactly knowledge. But you know, some basic details - if [I] ask you what house you belong to and you told me.. .1 don't know. I wouldn't specifically say "Oh she hasn't read the books" maybe it's the case that you don't like a specific house. Maybe you don't feel like you should be classified in a house, maybe you like them all. But then if I ask you, "What do you think about Gryffindor?" and then you come and say to me, "What is that?" then I would be like, "Damn, I mean, what is she even doing here?!"

Will suggests that while having a house affiliation is not critical to acceptance, knowing about the sorting ceremony and the different houses is important for inclusion. He also indicates that if someone does not have a house - it must be because they cannot choose one. Not out of a lack of knowing about the houses and the characteristics associated with each, but rather not knowing oneself well enough. Knowing basic information about the canon is important for earning the trust of other fans.

Some fans see the trust within the Harry Potter fandom as unique within our culture.

As Fine and Holyfield (1996) learned in their study of mushroom pickers, trust is commonly found within interest groups. Meghan told me,

You never totally know but there is quite a bit of an element of trust in that, especially when you're going to a convention totally by yourself rooming with people you don't know. But I think a lot of the fandom is very trusting.. .(Heather: Are you talking about fandom then?)... I think, I would say most fandoms. Like I've met people who are into Lord of the Rings, people who are into Harry Potter, people who are into Battlestar Gallactica. One of my friends that I roomed with at Con, [and] I met through other people online, is big Battlestar Gallactica fan... (Heather: So just fans in general are...)... Yeah pretty much everybody is at these conventions to have a good time. And just you know, party... I think I've met very few people who turned out to be total jerks or crazies. That's totally not what's normal. Almost everybody I've met has been really nice and really fun and just really good people. 84

Jessica saw similarities with her bird-watching community,

Birders in general are pretty nice. I mean they can be mean to non-birders or stuff, but they're not usually like creeps. And so I'll just be like, "oh, she's a birder or he's a birder. It's fine. I know him from ."

Yet fans will also contrast the Harry Potter fandom from other types of fans. For example, Elisa told me,

I find that with the Harry Potter fandom, it's more close knit. It feels like a family kind of. Whereas with this other fandom [fans of a rock band], this other group that I'm in - there's no, like you have to build the trust and you have to build the bond and you have to do all that. Whereas like with [my Harry Potter friend] the first day that I met him, after that we've been inseparable. We talk every single night or like with my other friends, despite the fact that I don't talk to them everyday - we still have that very close knit bond.

Meghan spoke of the distrust that sci-fi/fantasy fans have for sports fans. While

Meghan was at sci-fi/fantasy convention, there was also a college football tournament happening, and a lot of football fans were also staying in the convention hotels. Meghan told me,

This year there were five convention hotels: the Marriot, the Hilton, the Hyatt, the Sheraton and the Westin.. .The Hilton, the Hyatt and the Marriot are all connected by sky walks, like plus-fifteens. The Sheraton and the Westin you have to actually walk like a block or two down the street outside. And still people would feel safe doing that at two in the morning in downtown Atlanta because there were so many other people around and there was this mentality of "yay we're all having a big party, yay we're all the best of friends. Let's group hug." This year a lot of people were saying that they felt kind of unsafe. And a big part of that was the presence of all of these football fans in the convention hotels that were there for this college football match. And this year more than anything there were many reports of sexual assaults. Like people being grabbed and chased and catcalled or like physical altercation because there was just these drunk.. .Foot.. .a lot of it, it wasn't just the football fans of course. There were a lot of drunken convention go-ers as well who probably just joined in the fun. It's like there is, for the most part, this 85 feeling of like safety, security, friendship. But every once in a while - like it can go bad. Especially late at night when people start to get really drunk. And it just takes one person to do something stupid and then suddenly a lot of people are doing something stupid and then somebody's getting her boobs grabbed in the elevator.

The above comments and discussion suggest that basic knowledge of the canon is important for earning trust within the Harry Potter fandom. Participants in my research also suggested that while trust is not unique to the Harry Potter fandom, fans do compare the levels of trust they have experienced in the Harry Potter fandom to levels of trust they have experienced through participation in or interactions with other fandoms. iii. Activities Harry Potter fans participate in activities relating to Harry Potter. There are dozens of types of activities and within each activity there is specializations. These activities happen both on and offline. There are hundreds of fan websites on which fans interact, the most popular being www..com and www.the-leaky-cauldron.org.

Fans also interact offline at events organized by local fan groups or at large, international conventions. Some conventions, like Comic Con or Dragon Con are organized by corporations and are supported by the movie studios, sending actors and directors to sign autographs and deliver speeches to fans. There are also conventions organized by fans for fans. Since the first Harry Potter , Nimbus, in 2003 - there have been many organizations hosting the events. The Harry Potter Education Fanon (HPEF) has hosted

Nimbus 2003, the Witching Hour 2005, Lumos 2006, Prophecy 2007, Portus 2008,

Azkatraz 2009, Infinitus 2010 (which I attended for my field research) and plans for

Ascendio in 2012. A competing organization, Narrate branched off from HPEF and hosted 86 two conventions, Phoenix Rising in 2007 and Terminus in 2008. The years 2007, 2008 and 2009 were big for the convention environment, with five different conventions happening each year. In 2010, there were three major events: Infinitus, the wizard rock festival and Wrockstock. So far in 2011, there are three organized conventions or major events: Wrock Wreggies which happened in Chicago at the beginning of April,

Aeternitas was hosted in New Hampshire at the end of April and Leaky Con 2011 will be held in Orlando in mid-July.

Harry Potter fans participate in many types of activities at conventions and online.

While fans may participate in more than one activity, they do not have to participate in all of the activities. To detail these activities, I will describe the activities and how participants perform these activities in online and offline environments.

Fans enjoy creating things related to Harry Potter. For example, they will create

artistic renditions of scenes in the series as well as imagined character scenarios in various

artistic mediums. They display these pieces of art in galleries on fan websites or on personal blogs or online profiles. Offline, fans will bring their art to conventions and

display them in an art gallery. Sometimes these pieces are auctioned off to convention

attendees, and proceeds go to the non-profit group who organized the convention or to a

supported charity like the Harry Potter Alliance. Fans will also craft items in relation to

Harry Potter, such as knitwear (scarves, sweaters and socks are popular), amigurumi (the

Japanese art of crocheted dolls or toys), , dolls, cross-stitch designs (Hogwarts or

house crests are popular patterns), jewelry, and scrapbooks.

In addition to making arts and crafts, Harry Potter fans also compose fanfiction or 87 wizard rock songs. Fanfiction is a of writing where fans take the characters and settings of J. K. Rowling's stories and write their own stories. These stories can be prequels or sequels to the Harry Potter series, or they can take place in an AU (emic term for alternate universe). Fans post their stories on fan websites, fanfiction websites such as www.fanfiction.net, or on personal blogs, websites or online profiles. Within the fanfiction community, there are factions who support certain 'pairings' or 'ships', which are relationships between characters. There are fans who think Harry should be romantically linked to Hermione, or Draco Malfoy, or Harry's owl Hedwig. Others think that Hermione and Snape are a 'one true pair' and write fanfiction about their relationship. Other fans enjoy writing about a romantic relationship between male characters Remus Lupin and

Sirius Black, despite both characters being heterosexual. In some cases, these factions are so pronounced that specific websites are devoted to stories about a Harry-Hermione ship or a Ron-Hermione ship. Offline, fans read and celebrate fanfiction at fanfiction conventions.

The prevalence of fanfiction is dwindling at major conventions as wizard rock increases in popularity, perhaps because it fits with group activity better than reading and writing.

Wizard rock (also known as wrock) is similar to fanfiction but it is set to music.

Wizard rockers (the musicians) write songs about being characters in the world of Harry

Potter. For example the lyrics, "Dumbledore/ We'll fight for you tonight/ Dumbledore/ We all fight for you tonight/ In our hearts we'll never let you die/ Your love is keeping us alive" were written as a tribute to Dumbledore by wrock band Harry and the Potters. Similar to fanfiction, wizard rock also suggests love matches not mentioned in the series. One popular song is Draco and Harry by the Whomping Willows, 88

Draco Malfoy, what's your problem? You 're looking kinda mopey and forlorn this morning Harry Potter, what's your deal? Are you having trouble with the feelings that you feel? Draco Malfoy, what's your issue? Do you need a hug or maybe a tissue? Harry Potter, give us a sign You can't commit to Ginny so what do you have in mind? Give me three guesses Is it Professor McGonagall? Is it Lavender Brown? No it's Draco and Harry sitting in a tree S-N-O-G-G-I-N-G It's Draco and Harry sitting in a tree F-A-L-L-I-N-G

In love.

Wizard rockers release recordings on MySpace pages, on Youtube, and for purchase on online music stores like iTunes. Wizard rockers are able to sell their music for profit because they are protected under parody exceptions in copyright infringement. However,

Warner Bros, still owns the intellectual property rights to Harry Potter and does not allow wizard rock bands to sell their merchandise online - only offline at concerts. Thus wizard rockers engage primarily with fans at live shows. Many wreckers tour around the United

States and some even venture into Canada to perform and sell merchandise. Most shows are held at free community spaces, such as auditoriums in public libraries. Wizard rock has become so popular that multiple offline events have been coordinated to showcase these bands: Wrockstock, an annual 3 day festival in Postosi, Missouri; Wreck the Boat cruise- conventions; and the NYC Wizard Rock Festival, held for the first time in November 2010.

Wizard rock shows are a huge motivation for fans to attend conventions, so most nights during conventions, wizard rock bands perform in the hotel ballrooms.

Some fans, like me, engage in academic analysis of the series or the fandom. One fan, John Granger, is the self-proclaimed Hogwarts professor. He has written seven 89 analyses of the Harry Potter series, explaining to fans where J. K. Rowling may have gotten certain ideas from other works of literature. Others write about the Harry Potter fandom, for example one fan completed her Master's thesis in ethnomusicology on wizard rock, while another fan has studied the culture of the Harry Potter fanfiction community.

Books are sold online and papers are often posted on Harry Potter fan websites. Another scholar, Travis Prinzi, has a website called the Hog's Head where different people post thoughtful analysis to the Harry Potter series and its relation to culture. On this website,

Travis Prinzi also posts links to a pubcast (a podcast, but because the Hog's Head is a in the Harry Potter series, Prinzi terms it a pubcast) that discusses the intellectual intricacies of the Harry Potter series.

Academics are not the only ones who record podcasts of their analyses - original competing podcast teams Mugglecast (from www.mugglenet.com) and Pottercast (from www.the-leaky-cauldron.org) consistently record new episodes, reporting news relating to

Rowling, the films, the books, upcoming events, and discussions of the series. Other fans have also attempted recording podcasts about their thoughts or predictions about the series.

In one case, members of a Mugglecast recorded a podcast about the Mugglecast personalities, about things happening in the Harry Potter fandom not discussed on

Mugglecast, and about members of the Mugglecast fan club.

Other fans create and maintain fan websites. Thousands of Harry Potter fansites and blogs exist on a multitude of hosting platforms. Websites like www.mugglenet.com

(hereafter referred to as Mugglenet) have over 15 senior staff members and multiple administrators and volunteers. This website was founded in 1999 by Emerson Spartz at the 90 age of 12. In 2010, it hosted over 25 million visitors

(http://www.mugglenet.eom/aboutus.shtml#sitestats). Mugglenet's biggest competitor is www.the-leaky-cauldron.org (hereafter referred to as the Leaky Cauldron), another news website that includes many of the same services for fans as Mugglenet. For example, the

Leaky Cauldron has a chat forum that hosts over 30,000 members, called the Leaky

Lounge. Similarly, Mugglenet hosts a similar social networking platform called

Mugglespace. Other websites, like Accio Quote (http://www.accio-quote.org/) and The

Harry Potter Lexicon (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/) are useful websites for looking up book trivia at the click of a mouse.

Online role-playing games (RPGs) are popular among many fans. Many websites host these activities such as Vault 713 (http://vault713.com/vault/), Hogwarts is Home

(http://hogwartsishome.livejournal.com/), and Hogwarts Extreme

(http://www.hexrpg.com/). In these online RPGs, fans create an alternate magical identity and role-play with other fans through text-based communications. Imagine writing a fanfiction story where you only decide the actions of one character and other players write the actions of their characters in interaction with your character. Offline, RPGs take many forms. At the convention I attended, Harry Potter fans were LARPing (live action role- playing) in a wizard tournament. Wizard chess, in the Harry Potter series, is similar to regular (muggle) chess, except the pieces can move of their own accord and the witch or wizard directs them into battle where they will physically destroy opposing pieces. In this live, muggle version of wizard chess, participants dueled as different characters from the canon. 91 Sorting ceremonies might also be considered a form of role-playing, and enactment of the sorting ceremony happens both on and offline, in RPG communities,

Internet quizzes, and offline at fan gatherings. The details of sorting ceremonies will be further explored in Section IV.

Fans all over North America get together to play quidditch, a muggle-ized version of the popular wizarding sport played on flying broomsticks. The International Quidditch

Association (IQA) has been established and now organizes the Quidditch World Cup. The first cup was held November 2010 in New York City. Colleges and local Harry Potter fan clubs organize teams to compete. In Canada, McGill University and Carleton University regularly play against one another. This past academic year, Paul Hamnett established the

University of Calgary Muggle Quidditch Club (Hunt 2010). The team hopes to compete at next year's World Cup (Paul Hamnett, personal communication). The IQA has written an official handbook of rules (46 pages) detailing how to play the game adapted from the series. The rules are similar to those of quidditch in the series, except that players do not fly on broomsticks and the balls are not magical.9 Chasers play with the 'quaffle', and much like in a game of rugby must run, pass, kick, and throw to get the quaffle into the hoops guarded by a keeper (Benepe 2010:23). The beaters must throw bludgers at opponents.

Similar to the rules of dodgeball, if a player gets hit by a bludger, he or she must drop the quaffle and cross the pitch to his or her team's set of hoops, touch the hoops and run back to join the game (Benepe 2010:25). Finally, seekers try to catch the snitch, although instead

9 For a reminder of the rules of quidditch in the Harry Potter canon, please consult page 25 of this thesis. 92 of the snitch being a magical ball, it is a regular ball carried by a snitch runner. The snitch runner runs anywhere within an agreed upon perimeter (but not necessarily within the boundaries of the pitch) and can use any evasive tactic necessary to prevent seekers from grabbing the snitch (which is kept in a sock hung out the back of the snitch runner's pants)

(Benepe 2010:30-2). While the game may sound confusing, it is gaining steadily in popularity and is another example of a role-playing activity within the Harry Potter fandom.

Many fans also create and wear costumes to offline events. Some of these fans, who are heavily invested in costuming, emically label themselves "cosplayers", a term used in many different fandoms. Some costumes are quite simple, a set of house robes or a school uniform, and are functional for participation in other activities. Others involve stage makeup, wigs, and intricate costumes, some that prevent running or sitting. For example, at the Infinitus convention one individual wore a human sized sorting hat, while another individual looked exactly like Dumbledore (crooked nose, long beard and spectacles included). Many cosplayers not only dress like the character but act like the character whom they are impersonating. Two fans dress as Lucius and Draco Malfoy (two of

Voldemort's deatheaters) and while they are in public during the convention, they act like

Malfoys, sneering at the "muggles" and surrounding themselves with other cosplaying deatheaters.

Many fans collect merchandise (emically termed 'merch'). While the books and the movies are technically merchandise, fans that collect 'merch' purchase anything and everything produced by Warner Bros, in conjunction with Harry Potter (dolls, magnets, 93 stickers, wands, etc). They also collect replicas from the movie sets and various language editions of the book series. Fans who collect 'merch' also purchase non-official merchandise, such as wizard rock t-shirts, and wands and crafts created by fellow fans

(petty producers) and sold at conventions. They may also purchase things that are not technically Harry Potter merchandise, but are reminiscent of the wizarding culture such as cauldrons, owl collectables, or suits of armour.

Many Harry Potter fans participate in the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA) and work on social activism initiatives in their local communities and at a global scale. The HPA is a non-profit run by executive director, Andrew Slack, and a huge team of volunteers. They meet online through their website and through Skype calls. The HPA advocates the creation of local 'chapters' where like-minded individuals can apply the lessons learned in Harry

Potter to help improve their local communities, in an offline setting. The HPA also unites all chapters in global efforts, such as petitioning against the bill proposed in Uganda to make punishable by death and getting 15,000 signatures on a petition to multi-national corporation Time Warner (parent company of Warner Bros.) to make all

Harry Potter chocolate treats made from fair-trade chocolate

(http://thehpalliance.org/press/success-stories/).

Finally, as I will discuss in the Section VI, meeting people, talking with fellow fans and establishing friendships both on and offline are popular activities for fans. Thus, much of the activity during conventions is just 'hanging out' with friends, and getting to know other fans. The activities mentioned above are ways in which fans can meet other fans through participation in a common interest activity. Another activity that encourages 94 at conventions or offline events is the line party. Fans will line up hours ahead of a movie screening, a book release, or an event. They will sit in line and interact with those around them. Some people walk up and down the line interacting with many different people, while their groups of friends hold their places in line. In one instance, fans of the Youtube sensation, '' stood in line for five hours to get good seats to a Youtube screening of the premiere of the sequel.

Harry Potter fans participate in many activities and constantly introduce new activities. Fans encourage other fans to start it and organize it, if 'it' has not already been done. That is how the Harry Potter Alliance came to be a popular activity. Andrew Slack saw that the activist group that Harry Potter led in Harry Potter and the Order of the

Phoenix did not exist in the fandom and felt that it should, so he started one himself. To be a Harry Potter fan, one must participate in activities relating to Harry Potter and actively engage with the canon. Participation in these activities may be considered 'play' because participation in these activities is voluntary and fans often juxtapose their participation in the Harry Potter fandom with their "real" lives (Huzinga 1950:7-8). Huzinga writes, "play is not "ordinary" or "real" life. It is rather a stepping out of "real" life into a temporary sphere of activity with a disposition all of its own" (1950:8). While participating in activities, fans set their "real" lives apart from their fandom lives. For example, Simon said,

"And what we find in the Slytherin house a lot is we talk a lot about what we're doing in our real life. And our real life goals. And so we talk about, "I'm not on [the RPG] all the time because I'm out doing this", "I just got a promotion at work", or "I'm starting my PhD program"". While Reta said, "It started with [the website] HP ANA, umm just basically 95 interacting with people on the different bulletin board forums. Some fun stuff, some real life stuff- you know, people wanted to know more about who we were as people".

Huzinga notes that play occurs in a segregated space away from the "ordinary" lives of fans (1950:19). This space can either be physical or ideal, but Harry Potter fans do travel to specific websites, or convention locations to participate in these activities. Huzinga also argues that play encourages unity between individuals and that even after play is over, and participants have returned to their "real" lives, the "play-community" does not disappear.

Rather, "the feeling of being "apart together" in an exceptional situation, of sharing something important, of mutually withdrawing from the rest of the world and rejecting the usual norms, retains its magic beyond the duration of the individual game" (Huzinga

1950:12). Harry Potter fans play or participate in activities that are juxtaposed to their 'real' lives, creating alternate fandom identities. 'Play' creates what Huzinga calls "play- communities" and these communities continue to remain unified, even while fans are unengaged between offline interactions or visits to websites. The activities mentioned above are important in shaping fandom identity and subsequently group cohesion within activities. Many fans participate in multiple activities or "play-communities", and this overlap contributes to overall cohesion within the Harry Potter fandom.

IV. Sorting

Sorting and house identity come up frequently in conversations and are the foci of many convention events and online conversations. House identity is a keystone in the Harry

Potter series, as many of the characters that befriend Harry are from Gryffindor, while his enemies are from Slytherin. Rowling created the Hogwarts houses as characters with their 96 own histories, personalities, and locations. The sorting ceremony and house identity is continuously raised throughout the seven book series. Thus, every Harry Potter fan knows what it means to be in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin and can engage in conversation and activities surrounding the concept of belonging to a house.

The convention atmosphere bases events around sorting. One event was an actual sorting ceremony where individuals would go and sit onstage in front of a room of people, a sorting hat was magically placed on their head (it was attached to a fishing rod and lowered) and the one running the event would bellow out a house name. Often the individuals going up to partake in the sorting ceremony were already wearing house robes or insignia and were placed in the corresponding house. In some cases, fans that looked like characters (e.g., a red-haired girl) were sorted into the house representing that character

(e.g., Gryffindor, because has red hair and is sorted into Gryffindor).

Another series of events were scheduled according to house. For example, Ravenclaws could go and meet fellow Ravenclaws at the Ravenclaw meetup.

Everyone that I spoke with knew to which house(s) he or she belonged. Of the 22 fans that I interviewed, six sorted themselves into Gryffindor, four identified as

Ravenclaws, three claimed to be Hufflepuffs and two believed they were Slytherins. The other five interviewees considered themselves a mix of the different houses such as

Gryffindor/Hufflepuff (a Gryffinpuff), a Slytherin/Ravenclaw (a Slytherclaw), a

Gryffindor/Slytherin (a Gryfferin or a Slytherdor), or a Slytherin/Hufflepuff (a

Slytherpuff). One woman considers herself to be in all four houses and constantly changes her house loyalties. In my offline fieldwork, I observed many fans displaying their houses 97 proudly by wearing house robes or house insignia. I also observed online communities

sectioning off members into Hogwarts houses to compete against one another and

encourage camaraderie.

How to Sort

Fans will self-sort and will sort others into the four Hogwarts houses. The criteria

for getting into each house is largely based on the songs that the sorting hat sings in Harry

Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter

and the Order of the Phoenix. Here is an excerpt from the sorting hat song from Harry

Potter and the Goblet of Fire,

A thousand years or more ago, When I was newly sewn, There lived four wizards of renown, Whose names are still well known: Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor, Fair Ravenclaw, from glen, Sweet Hufflepuff from valley broad, Shrewd Slytherin, from fen. They shared a wish, a hope, a dream, They hatched a daring plan To educate young sorcerors Thus Hogwarts School began. Now each of these four founders Formed their own house, for each Did value different virtues In the ones they had to teach. By Gryffindor, the bravest were Prized far beyond the rest; For Ravenclaw, the cleverest Would always be the best; For Hufflepuff, hard workers were Most worthy of admission; And power-hungry Slytherin Loved those of great ambition. While still alive they did divide 98

Their favourites from the throng, Yet how to pick the worthy ones When they were dead and gone? 'Twas Gryffindor who found the way, He whipped me off his head The founders put some brains in me So I could choose instead! Now slip me snug about your ears, I've never yet been wrong, I'll have a look inside your mind

And tell you where you belong!

In the Harry Potter canon, the sorting hat looks into the hearts and minds of each student and determines his or her house, which assumes that there are certain ascribed characteristics associated with each individual that destine him or her for a particular house.

The ceremony in the canon reflects Van Gennep's (1950) theories of rites of passage and while Harry Potter fans draw on elements of the sorting ritual to influence their sorting ceremony enactments, they do not replicate the ceremony in its entirety.

The sorting process is similar to Barth's description of inclusion within the boundaries of an ethnic group. Barth writes, "given the emphasis on the culture-bearing aspect, the classification of persons and local groups as members of an ethnic group must depend on their exhibiting the particular traits of the culture" (1969:12). The fandom draws on the values and ascribed characteristics mentioned in the books, although without a magical hat peering into the hearts and minds of individuals, the boundaries to the houses are much more permeable, and fans might not necessarily sort themselves based on ascribed characteristics, but on desires.

Barth argues that individuals label themselves and other people into various ethnic identities (1969:13-4). Similarly, fans will sort their friends and will consult many sources 99 to determine their own houses. Fans will self-sort, ask the opinions of friends, and take various Internet sorting tests (the most often cited being the 122 question Likert scale test developed by psychologists).10 Sometimes fans do not like the house they are sorted into and "choose" another house. One informant told me that his friends sorted him into

Slytherin but he chooses to be in Gryffindor. Another said,

I think everyone has something of every house in them. As Dumbledore said,

it's your choice. Harry sorted into Slytherin originally. The hat wanted him in

Slytherin. He made a choice. So I think we've got these personalities and I

think what Jo is trying to say is it is your choices that make the difference. You

choose who you are going to be. (Tarquin)

Jessica shared a similar view,

With Harry, the sorting hat's like "Oh well you'll do well in Slytherin" and he's like, "No! Not Slytherin! Not Slytherin!" So he kind of got to choose. It doesn't mean.. .1 don't think that you can choose like, if you're totally Hufflepuff you probably wouldn't choose Slytherin - but that's because of your personality.

Jessica suggests that while there is the ability to choose one's house, people will make the right choice based on who they feel they are.

This idea of being able to choose your own house does not extend to some of the more formalized communities like RPG websites. In my attempts to recruit interview participants, I tried to join an online Slytherin community. I was declined entry and through some further websearching, I realized that the Slytherin common room forum was one

http://www.google.ca/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=sorting+hat+psychology&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF- 8&redir_esc=&ei=3DGbTeXsPJCgsQOE0vmKBA 100 webpage out of a slew of other webpages making up an intricate text-based RPG dedicated to escaping into the wizarding world. This RPG is different from other RPGs in that it has to be linked to a "real" person's blog. "Real" meaning that it has been actively used for at least three months and it is not the name of a character in the Harry Potter books. Members are encouraged to role-play their "real selves" except that their "real selves" are attending Hogwarts. However, there is no way to control for individuals who create alternate identities on their blogs and therefore in their participation in this online community.

I created an account in hopes that once I was accepted into the larger community that I would be able to access the Slytherin common room forums. However, once I created

a profile, I realized that I would need to fill out a lengthy application of 15 short answer

questions asking me questions like, "What sort of profession in the wizarding world would you choose and why?"11 And, "If you were able to invent one spell, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it, and what would you call

it?"12 After answering all of the questions with thoughtful and sincere answers, I submitted

the application to the mods (moderators) on the sorting community webpage. However,

having only created my profile that morning as a means to an end, the moderator returned

my application and told me that since my profile was not yet three months old, that fans

11 To which I responded, "I would like to work in the Liason Office at the Ministry of Magic. As an anthropology major at university, I am passionate about exploring other cultures. Working for the Goblin Liason Office would be fulfilling because I would be helping two distinct communities connect and communicate effectively". 12 "I would invent a potion that enables the drinker to read really quickly and with deep focus. That way, I could read entire books in an hour and remember them for years to come. I would call it the Volo Lego potion, latin for speed read." 101 would "muggle vote" or "no vote" my application, believing me to be a spammer and not yet established as a "real person". I then confirmed with the mod that being sorted by the members of the community was the only way I could enter this magical online world.

Thus, my foray into accessing this online community is an example of how:

1) Every member must be sorted.

2) Members cannot choose their house, but are sorted into a house by an anonymous third party democracy.

These rules are echoed in another RPG site. At Vault 713, participants create a character to play, and each character is sorted through an application process. However, in this process, the volunteer staff of the RPG site review the applications and sort the individuals rather than sorting through a democracy of the members.

While the sorting ceremony in the Harry Potter canon is representative of Van

Gennep's theories of Rites of Initiation, fans do not ceremonialize the sorting process in the way it was presented in the canon. Fans use multiple methods to determine house membership, and while they may re-enact a sorting ceremony in a convention atmosphere, the house determined at that "ceremony" may not be what the individual feels is accurate.

Furthermore, while it is important for fans to consider their house identities, it is not critical for them to know what it is in order to be initiated into the fandom, although house identity may be required for entry into closed activity communities such as the RPG community.

Finally, while the sorting ceremony is not ritualized at offline events, the start of term and end of term feasts are enacted, often called the Opening and Closing feasts. At these feasts, every fan attending the convention is accommodated in one of the ballrooms and fans eat 102 buffet style and at tables of 8 to 12 people, although instead of traditional British fare, the opening feast at the Orlando convention was Mexican themed.

House Identity

Once sorted, fans represent their house identity through language use, through their clothing choices and association with the group's totem. Similar to Scottish clans, each

Hogwarts house has specific colours, a house history with an ancestral founder, an animal totem, and specific cultural values. For example, Gryffindor's colours are maroon and gold, the ancestral founder was Godric Gryffindor, the animal totem is a lion, and Gryffindors value chivalry and courage.

Drawing on Barth, the representation of the clan, the house, or the ethnic identity is represented in two dichotomies. The first is "overt signals or signs", which Barth describes as the "features that people look for and exhibit to show identity, often such features as dress, language, house-form, or general style of life" (1969:14). At Harry Potter conventions, fans will dress in house robes, they will dress in house colours, and they will wear totem themed jewelry. They will represent, almost in a theatrical style, the values of their house. For example, during the Orlando convention, I attended a Hufflepuff event where individuals who identify as Hufflepuffs could meet other Huffiepuffs. In the canon, the Hufflepuff house values friendship, loyalty, justice, equality, and hard work. During the

Hufflepuff event, the attendees were sitting on couches arranged in a circle and chatting with one another. Suddenly a girl stood up and took charge of the room. She announced that because Hufflepuff was all about friendship, we should all go around in a circle and 103 introduce ourselves. This activity occupied the group of Hufflepuff attendees for about half an hour, with exchanges of friendship resulting throughout the process.

Barth's second dichotomy of ethnic identity is "basic value orientations", which he describes as, "the standards of morality and excellence by which performance is judged"

(1969:14). He goes on to suggest that, "since belonging to an ethnic category implies being a certain kind of person, having that basic identity, it implies a claim to be judged, and to judge oneself, by those standards that are relevant to that identity" (1969:14). This dichotomy is also represented in house affiliation. For example, near the end of the convention, I was sitting with a few fans in the hotel lobby when Richard, a guy in his early

20s, walked past, and I recognized him from a dance held the night before where he was dressed in a green and silver (Slytherin colours) Prince Charming costume. I asked him about his costume and if he was indeed a Slytherin. Richard confirmed my suspicions that his costume represented his house identity and then proceeded to tell me how he was a

Slytherin not because he's an "emo, spoiled, dark and twisty"13 individual, but because he truly embodies the characteristics of the sorting hat. He continued to say that he is amibitious and elitist and he truly does think he is better than others. Richard even drew on the canon and told me that a lot of the Slytherin characters that Rowling writes about in the books are not always obsessed with dark magic, providing me with the example of one

3 This is not a direct quote but rather a use of emic terms that I included in the summary of the experience in my fieldnotes. The sayings 'emo', and 'dark and twisty' are emic terms of the young adult generation: 'Emo' being short for emotional and a movement similar to that of the goth movement glorifying depression and darkness; and 'dark and twisty' referring to a catch-phrase of character Meredith Grey on hit TV show Grey's Anatomy and again meaning depression and darkness. 104 character, Horace Slughorn - an ambitious and elitist professor who went into hiding to avoid being recruited by the evil Lord Voldemort.

Richard raised an interesting point of judgment towards his fellow members of

Slytherin, observing that many fans that identify with Slytherin choose Slytherin because it is the house of the cool, dark, and mysterious character Draco Malfoy. Just as Richard judged himself based on the canon characteristics of the Slytherin house prescribed by

Rowling, Richard judges other Slytherins who do not share the ascribed characteristics attributed to the house, but who choose the house based solely on 'sex appeal'.

Competition between Houses Some fans will choose their houses based on its reputation and rank in comparison to the other houses. The two houses that have the worst reputations among the fans are

Slytherin and Hufflepuff. As Draco Malfoy said in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's

Stone, "Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in

Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" (Rowling 1997:60) While Hagrid told Harry, "Better Hufflepuff than

Slytherin. There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin"

(Rowling 1997:61). These negative reputations are further entrenched in the minds of fans through the "othering" of certain houses to reinforce identity within one's own house

(Barth 1969:16). This "othering" is achieved through the proliferation of fanon (or fan- generated canon). Media studies scholar, Henry Jenkins, argues that fans poach from the original text to create new stories that eventually become fan-generated canon as a cultural 105 community is built up around these new stories (1992:228). For example, fans took this excerpt from the sorting hat song in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,

Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those Whose ancestry's purest." SaidRavenclaw, "We'll teach those whose Intelligence is surest" Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those With brave deeds to their name." Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot And treat them just the same." and fanonized the Hufflepuff couplet to mean that the Hufflepuff house has no standards and therefore accepts those students that do not get chosen for the other houses. The

Hufflepuff house is reputed by many fans for being the house for losers, those who got chosen last for the dodgeball team. Other fanon ventures further "othered" the Hufflepuff house with wizard rock songs such as "Ode to Hufflepuff (Hufflepuff Sucks)" by wizard rock band Marietta and the Sneaks. Through this "othering", some fans will not sort themselves into Hufflepuff due to its negative reputation. A similar process of "othering" occurs with the Slytherin house. In the canon, Slytherin is the house of the antagonists and thus many fans do not want to be a part of that house.

The negative stereotypes placed upon houses by members of other houses helps increase solidarity within both houses. The concept of 'us' versus 'them' reinforces the norms of the group by contrast to other "strange" or "enemy" groups, therefore contributing to solidarity within the group (Greer 1955:25). In response to some of the negative

stereotypes associated with the Hufflepuff house, many self-proclaimed Hufflepuffs began to take pride in their house - following examples set by famous podcaster Sue Upton's love 106 of Hufflepuff. Wizard rock bands the Remus Lupins and Oliver Boyd and the

Remembralls also recorded songs dedicated to Hufflepuffs, "For all the Hufflepuffs" and

"I'm just a Hufflepuff respectively. Fan groups have also embraced their Hufflepuff identity. At the Witching Hour, a fan convention held in Salem, Massachussets in 2003, fans were sorted into houses. Some of the attendees were upset to be sorted into Hufflepuff, but they decided to embrace the house anyways and created a subgroup called the Badger

Bitches, with a stuffed badger as their mascot. In addition, not all fans agree with the fanon house reputations, although they acknowledge their existence. In my interviews, Audrey told me,

I feel like even within the Harry Potter community, the Hogwarts houses are - there's misconceptions. Because I love Slytherin because two of my best friends are Slytherin and I feel like Slytherin is a really cool house. Like you could be a good person and still come out of Slytherin. Or like Hufflepuffs! Like I love Hufflepuffs so much because I don't know. I can see depth in every single Hogwarts house and like you know, really really cool people coming out of every house. Or like bad people coming out of Gryffindor too. Because Gryffindor is supposed to be a cool house, that Harry is in. I don't know. Everytime I meet a Hufflepuff, I get so excited. I have a severe liking of Hufflepuffs.

Reta added,

I honestly think with the sorting as far as the negative connotations that people have with sorting, especially towards Slytherin, the Hufflepuffs, I think that's more so a personal thing, because if you look at the descriptions for the houses in the books, there's never anything negative said about any of the houses until Ron says you know, he points out that just about all of the bad witches or wizards come from Slytherin. That's the first negative connotation that we get regarding Slytherin house but even when the sorting hat talks about the Slytherin's, he just says that they are cunning and they're ambitious, which is not altogether a bad thing... .And even with the Hufflepuffs. They are just and they are loyal and they value friendship, they value loyalty. 107 Barth expands on his dichotomy of "overt signals or signs" and "basic value orientations" (1969:14) and suggests that belonging to an ethnic group insists that members are judged according to the group's membership criteria. He writes, "if they say they are A, in contrast to another cognate category B, they are willing to be treated and let their own behaviour be interpreted and judged as A's and not as B's; in other words they declare their allegiance to the shared culture of A's (1969:15). Richard judges his fellow Slytherins on how well they fit the Slytherin virtues which he considers to be ambition and elitism and sets himself apart from the "emo", "spoiled", "dark and twisty" individuals who claim

Slytherin identity because it is the house for the "cool" kids. He is not a poser.14 Based on his comments, Richard would likely harshly judge Gwen and Will, two of my interviewees for not really being Slytherin. When asked which house she belonged to, Gwen said, " I tend to say Slytherin, but I don't think I'm actually a Slytherin. I'm probably a Hufflepuff.

Somewhere in there". While Will responded,

I like both houses. But when it comes down to what values I believe in and what values I would share if the time comes, I would say Gryffindor. I just wear Slytherin because I feel cool but I like their colours and everything, but you know. When it comes down to it.. .1 don't like some of the ideals that they have. They are so outlandish.

While Richard may judge Gwen and Will for "posing" as Slytherins, Gwen and

Will did acknowledge that it is not their true house identity. This put Gwen and Will in a gray area where they may feign allegiance to Slytherin but admit that they truly belong to

Poser is an emic term of the youth generation. It is a label for people who do not actually believe in the virtues or values of the group, but who pretend to, in order to feel included. 108 another house; thus limiting a "true" 'A' member's ability to judge them according to

'A' standards.

In another, albeit somewhat different example, while the Harry Potter canon might portray the Gryffindor house as the best house - since it is the house of Harry Potter - that is particularly why some fans dislike being in Gryffindor and will qualify their decision to be sorted into Gryffindor by clarifying that it is not because it is Harry's house. One fan even spoke of "tag-along Gryffindors", people who are in Gryffindor house just because

Harry is a Gryffindor.

In addition, (although Barth does not explore this possibility), it is evident within the Harry Potter fandom that group B may judge the validity of group A's membership based on what group B perceives to be the standards of inclusion for group A. For example

Elisa recounted to me,

There's just something about Gryffindor house that I've always connected with. The only thing that I don't like about being in Gryffindor is the fact that when I tell people "Oh yeah I'm a Gryffindor" they're like "Oh it's just because of Harry Potter, because he was in that house." And it's not true. I always tell them the same thing, there's just certain things about you, certain characteristics that just jump out and say, "Ok this is your house". Some people might not like to admit the houses that they're in, but we're all in a house for sure I think.

Elisa feels that members of other houses (group B) suspect her motivations in belonging with group A and judge her true membership to Gryffindor, therefore resulting in Elisa having to justify her Gryffindor membership.

Choosing a house to ally oneself with is central to the Harry Potter fandom. Based on the above exploration of competition between houses and judgment in true membership, 109

I posit that fans avoid these judgments by creating permeable boundaries in each house and thus move freely between house identities as well as combining house identities to create a situation where one can be a "Slytherpuff'.

Impermanence

For many fans, self-sorting is not a decision taken lightly. When asked why they chose a particular house, most fans went into quite a bit of introspective detail.

For examples,

I am very brave - or I like to think that I'm very brave at least and I tend to always find myself in positions of leadership and I like being adventurous and I love being very very loyal to my friends and trying to save them from whatever situation they're in. So I always thought I'm definitely a Gryffindor. (Elisa)

I would say that I'm probably a mix between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Probably more Hufflepuff than Gryffindor because I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm like extremely brave, but I will say that I'm extremely strong willed and that I can persevere through things. So I think that kind of fits the Gryffindor, but Hufflepuff really does suit my personality more. I'm very loyal, I'm very much a people person, very social, big hearted, loves hard. I think that probably does suit my personality a little bit better. (Reta)

With this amount of introspective self-analysis going into the sorting process, it is no wonder that fans will disagree with others about which house they belong in. Contrary to the Harry Potter canon where once sorted by the sorting hat, that is your house forever,

Harry Potter fans often oscillate between different houses during their fan lifetimes.

For example, in the online RPG community I tried to enter, individuals are able to appeal their house affiliation after having actively participated in their original house for at least two months. The two-month probationary period prevents people from trying to be re- 110 sorted because they wanted a particular house. The moderators encourage people to try interacting in the house that they were originally sorted into as a way of legitimizing the power of the anonymous third party democracy responsible for the sorting. However, once the two-month probationary period is over, individuals are welcome to appeal their house affiliation. In this process, individuals fill out another application and twelve appeal judges review the application and decide whether to keep them in their original house or move them to a new house (appealers cannot specify a preference). Participants who joined the online community when they were pre-teens often use the appeal process as adults because they feel that their house identity has changed.

While this re-sorting contradicts the rules of sorting set out in the canon, fans still draw on instances in the canon where characters acknowledge flaws in the sorting ceremony as a way to legitimize a change of house. As Reta put it,

And I kind of agree with what Dumbledore said to Snape in his memories, "Sometimes I think we sort too soon". You know, because it's hard for anyone to tell what a child is going to be when they're 11 years old. Because at that age you're still learning, you're still growing, you're still trying to figure out who you are, and what you believe in and what you're about. So as far as that goes, I think they do it too soon in the books. But with adults and with real life, I think people tend to sort themselves based on how they look at themselves and sometimes it may not be accurate.

In the above quotation, Reta brings up an additional point, that sometimes she thinks that other fans do not sort themselves accurately. That they sort according to what they want to see about themselves and not who they actually are. Some fans take Internet tests multiple times until they are satisfied with the result. During the convention, Moira took a bunch of

Internet tests to figure out her house and she kept being sorted into Ravenclaw or Ill Gryffindor. Moira complained to Isabelle that she did not really feel like a Ravenclaw to which Isabelle responded, "once you find it, you know, and you feel comfortable.. .it sounds silly but it comes down to your heart". Isabelle's comment suggests that only the individual can truly know to which house he or she belongs. Reta, Moira, and Isabelle's comments suggest that fluctuation between houses is common until one finally comes to terms with oneself and one's "true" house identity.

At this point, Barth's theory of ethnic groups and their boundaries strays from what

I see represented in my data. For the communities that Barth was studying, ethnic identity was closely related to the ecology of the physical terrain a particular ethnic group occupied.

He argued that as the population density of the ethnic group increases, pressure on local resources increases and people migrate to new regions and immigrate to new ethnic groups

(Barth 1969:21). Barth demonstrated that people can and do change ethnic groups, despite ethnicity's seeming permanence as an ascribed characteristic. For individuals within the

Harry Potter fandom, it is not ecological pressures that force house identity change but rather a desire for individuals to find a community more in line with whom they feel they are. My data suggests that once fans "know their houses in their hearts", they will not feel the need to shift to a new house identity and will be comfortable with being judged according to the criteria associated with each house in the canon.

In the Common Room

Sorting is a common topic of discussion among fans. One of my interview informants told me, 112 If I find out that somebody is a Harry Potter fan, like if I were waiting in line at school or something and I find that somebody is wearing a Harry Potter shirt, I'd be like.. ."Oh that's so cool. What house are you?" You kind of have something in common, something to talk about. (Jessica)

Once fans discover someone is a Harry Potter fan, a common follow up question is "what house are you?". Jessica indicated that belonging to a house is something that two fans have in common and it is "something to talk about". Despite fans sorting themselves into separate houses and despite the competition between houses, all of the houses are still part of Hogwarts and are all represented in the Harry Potter fandom. While one person may belong to one house with a particular totem, there is still a connection with the other totems as being totems of Hogwarts. As Radcliffe-Brown suggests, "totemism does more than express the unity of the clan; it also expresses the unity of a totemic society as a whole in the relations of the clans to one another within that wider unity" (1965:129). Audrey expressed this feeling of unity with the other houses and loyalty to Hogwarts in our interview. She said,

My friends and I feel like we have more school pride for Hogwarts than our own colleges or our own high schools... .we wear more Hogwarts memorabilia.. .more than I wear stuff for my college and we have more pride for Hogwarts between all of us. And we all have our house scarves.

Audrey's friends are from different houses, but they all share a pride in Hogwarts.

These cross-boundary connections between Hogwarts houses share similarities with Barth's discussion of ethnic groups. He writes, "the positive bond that connects several ethnic groups in an encompassing social system depends on the complementarity of the groups with respect to some of their characteristic cultural features" (1969:18). While the houses may have different totems and may emphasize different virtues, they all share the 113 characteristics of being part of Hogwarts, of having a totem, and of having different but equally honorable virtues. Furthermore, Radcliffe-Brown suggests that while one totem may be sacred to a branch of the community, the totems of other branches of the same community are also valued. Radcliffe-Brown gives an example of the Roman church where all of the saints are recognized as holy by the church, but that in local congregations, chapels are often dedicated to a particular saint and that saint bears more importance to members of the congregation (1965:127).

Harry Potter fans place value on all of the house totems and symbolism. They also see value in all of the virtues associated with each house. While the Harry Potter fans I interacted with in my research knew which house(s) they belonged to, many made a point of telling me that "everyone has a little bit of every house within them" (Coral). As Reta put it, "I think we have a little bit of everything in us. Even the.. .Hufflepuff or the

Slytherin, I think we all have that in us. It's just all about what part of our personality is more dominant". Simon agreed,

I think we all have some of the characteristics in us of all of the houses. I think there's times when we're all Slytherin and we're all Hufflepuffs and we're all Gryffindor and we're all Ravenclaws. I believe that to be true.... It's okay to say, you know when you're having those Slytherin moments say, "hey this is the Slytherin in me".

That every fan has a little bit of every house within them further emphasizes this idea of unity within the tribe - they can all belong to separate clans, but ultimately they are part of the tribe as a whole and they are thus influenced by and share commonalities with other clans. 114

V. Famous Fans

Within the Harry Potter fandom, there are fans with fans, emically called famous fans. These individuals are leaders within the fandom. They host podcasts, perform in wizard rock bands, rally fans together to champion for social justice around the globe, manage large fan websites, and organize conventions. In short, they are the fandom's organizers, heralds, and entertainers. They are what Abercrombie and Longhurst

(1998:140) would typify 'petty producers', fans who produce things for other fans to consume, thereby becoming quasi-professional fans. They earn fame because they take on the responsibilities of organizing, coordinating, and entertaining the fandom, and through this responsibility they stand out from the crowd.

These 'petty producers' are the catalysts for offline fan events. Without these individuals organizing, promoting, and performing at these offline events, there would not be a convention environment for fans to attend. Because of their leadership, these fans

stand out from the crowd, gain their own fallowings of fans, and through their fame become more effective 'petty producers'. As Milner suggests in his study of hierarchical

structures in American high schools,

Ritual leaders of the community, whether they are priests or cheerleaders, usually have relatively high status. In part this is because of their close association with what is especially sacred for a particular community. In the case of high schools this is honorable combat with enemies, hopefully victory over them, and the honor this victory brings to the whole school. Cheerleaders have no direct role in the games played, but they are the key people who organize "moral" support for the teams. This moral support is expressed through public rituals. In addition to their close association with what is sacred, cheerleaders are ritual specialists who have mastered the ceremonial techniques of the community and can lead others in carrying these out (2004:50-51). 115

The entertainers may be the game players, but the fandom's organizers and heralds are its cheerleaders - and just as in high school, they are attributed a higher status. Although contrary to Milner's example of football players and cheerleaders, there can be some overlap between the roles of entertainers, heralds and organizers, such as when a herald like

Melissa Anelli decides to coordinate a convention. This concept of power and popularity being linked to proximity to the sacred is shared by Homans who argues that, "the leader gets his power only by conforming more closely than anyone else to the norms of the group. He is not the most but the least free person within it" (1950:149). In this case, what is sacred to the group are the group norms (for example, knowledge of the Harry Potter canon).

These fans do not have control over other fans, but they do have influence. Their place in the fandom is similar to the leadership structure of a tribe. Pasternak writes, "there are no "chiefs" in the sense of individuals who possess the abiding power to enforce decisions and what leadership there is normally depends on the prestige that attaches to proficiency, wisdom, or age" (1976:17). Famous fans are proficient in and knowledgeable about their various fields, whether it be technical abilities, leadership talents, or organizational skills. Kevin, while disgruntled about the presence of this obvious leadership, addresses it,

Somebody and I forget where, said that Melissa Anelli was the defacto spokesperson for the Harry Potter fandom. And when I heard that, my first reaction was pretty negative. I was like, "well hello, first of all I know who she is, I know what she's done and I have great respect for her, but I'm like how does she represent the entire fandom?" But then I took a step back and after her book came out I'm like, "Well I totally get the context in which that was said." And to some degree, J. K. herself may 116 even think that. And if she thinks that, then it legitimizes that claim to some degree. But I do see, if nothing else - that at the end of the day that if that title is meaningless - it does point out the fact that there are mini celebrities. People [who] have emerged in a fandom as a celebrity who outside of the fandom would have just been Joe or Jane.

While certain fans may gain fame or notoriety by standing out from the crowd and taking on the responsibility of entertaining, organizing and informing the fandom, some fans that I spoke with also suggested that the fame of particular fans is related to their possibilities of contact with J. K. Rowling. One fan observed,

The thing is.. .Melissa Anelli and Emerson Spartz can get you connected to J. K. Rowling, but someone like me can't really get to one of them.. .But as far as a power hierarchy, I think that yes, there is definitely one. Because certain people can get to certain other people more easily than others. I mean for someone like me who is starting.. .[a volunteer organization].. .a lot of times you need to get a hold of the Wizard Rockers, or you need to get a hold of this person or that person. Like for example, Melissa Anelli said that she would help out our chapter whenever she could. I have never been able to get a hold of her ever since she said that. Because there's now a sentry at the gate. You know who takes care of, like all of your emails go through this assistant person.

While another said,

If you could just go and talk to J. K. Rowling... But that doesn't really happen often, you always look for other people who like, for example Mugglecast. They do a great job at what they do. And a lot of people are a fan of their work. So in a way, that brings you together as well. [...] So you follow them just because you know they are a voice, a big voice inside the community. Some people are in tune with them, some say they don't like podcasts so they look at other ways to interact with the community. But sometimes they are the biggest thing, so you just follow them for that reason. 117

In many of my interviews and my observations in participation with the fandom,

I noticed a status difference between these fans who take on positions of leadership within the fandom and "regular" fans.

Fans Without Houses

During my fieldwork, I observed many fans dressed in house robes, wearing their house colours, wearing house insignia or other Harry Potter themed merchandise. Famous fans do not overtly display house identity. Famous fans also very rarely dress in costume or in any sort of Harry Potter merchandise. They do not dress in house colours or overtly display their house identities. This is not to say that each famous fan, when asked, would not choose a Hogwarts house, but rather that they choose not to overtly express it in their dress, language, or attendance at house-related events. Instead of expressing house identity in clothing, famous fans create a type of personal costume for themselves. One wizard rocker is rarely seen without his black fedora, another famous podcaster and author is often dressed professionally in a skirted suit, while one of the leaders of a non-profit social activism group always wears a t-shirt with his group's logo on it and a suit jacket. These famous fans are their own characters in the fandom, though I did not see any fans costuming a famous fan.

I did not see representations of or hear discussion of house identity among famous fans during my fieldwork experience, suggesting that it is not as important for their fan identity as it is for other fans. Perhaps, as leaders of the tribe, it is not in the interest of famous fans to identify with one clan/house over another. If it is the responsibility of the 118 famous fans to provide opportunities for fans to unite in their love of Harry Potter, perhaps overtly identifying with a house is counter to the goal of unity.

Famous Fan Benefits

As leaders of the community, famous fans have particular responsibilities of leadership. They must be in constant communication with fans and during offline events, they are constantly in performance, and they must host panels, events, and meetups during the conventions. In turn, they are accorded certain privileges for their contributions to the fandom. These privileges serve to reinforce a status difference between famous fans and regular fans.

First, famous fans often enjoy segregated space away from their fans or regular fans. This segregation is most apparent among the wizard rockers, but fans famous for other things are also permitted in the segregated space. One night at the convention in

Orlando, in an enormous hotel ballroom, wizard rock bands performed on stage until 2 a.m., with the most popular bands performing last. During this event, fans of the bands jumped and danced in front of the stage while fans who were waiting for their favourite act sat on the floor in small groups at the back of the dancing crowd. On the right side of the stage was a series of tables set up with merchandise from all of the wizard rock bands performing that weekend. The wizard rockers who were not performing were standing behind the stage selling items, or were sitting on the floor behind the merch table amidst their boxes of t-shirts. Wizard rockers did not dance with other fans nor show signs of

enjoying their fellow wizard rocker's performances. In addition, podcasters, organizers, and webmasters (other types of famous fans) stayed behind the merch table despite not having 119 any merchandise to sell. Significant-others of the famous fans located behind the merch table also occupied this segregated space.

Not only was there a segregated space for wizard rockers behind the merch table, but at the wizard rock festival, there was a backstage area partitioned off from people without special clearance wizard rocker passes for performers and their significant others.

Wizard rockers and their significant others, while not onstage, could watch other performers from the backstage area. In addition, wizard rockers were reserved prime real estate at the festival - cabins just down the hill from the performance venue. Most non- wizard rockers stayed in a nearby lodge or additional cabins - a five-minute walk away.

Thus, during performances many wizard rockers went back to their cabins to hang out with other wizard rockers. Through connections made at previous conventions and networking, I was invited to go and hang out with the wizard rockers and their companions back at one of the cabins. I think a contributing factor to my inclusion in this group is my own social status within the community, which I believe is determined by my identity as a social researcher and Harry Potter fan, as well as shallower characteristics, such as looks and social awareness. This segregated space for the entertainers is reminiscent of VIP or green rooms for Hollywood celebrities. Hillary, a regular fan, felt the segregation when she once arrived early for an event hosted at a bar. Some famous podcasters were the only ones there already and she went up to introduce herself and one of the podcasters said, "Hi, you guys can sit over there", and pointed at a table behind them. Hillary felt that this came across as a performance of superiority. 120

Second, during the convention at Infinitus, fans were required to wear their convention passes at all times in order to gain access to the convention centre events and activities. However, famous fans, who were familiar to the security volunteers, were often not wearing their convention passes. For most fans, the passes are an encumbrance, measuring roughly six inches by four inches and complete with a lanyard to hang around one's neck. Not needing to wear the convention passes reflects a status difference with privilege not available to non-famous fans.

Third, unlike regular fans, famous fans often receive financial benefits from hosting events at the conventions by getting free registration to the convention and in some cases, a free hotel room stay depending on how much they promote and participate in the event.

Famous fans provide reasons for fans to come to conventions, and they are financially rewarded for their contributions. Barth provides an explanation for the differences between famous fans and regular fans. He writes, "where one ethnic group has control of the means of production utilized by another group, a relationship of inequality and stratification obtains" (1969:27). Petty producers control and create what fans can consume. In exchange, they enjoy more prestige and higher status within the community.

The benefits famous fans receive for attending conventions reinforces their higher status and the influence they exercise over other fans and event organizers. If a convention organizer is trying to improve turnout to the event, he or she may need to make sure that a

specific wizard rock band is there, therefore providing financial incentives such as free lodging fees during the event. This becomes problematic if famous fans expect financial

support when invited, and if they are not invited, decide not to attend the event as a regular 121 fan. For example, during one offline event I attended, organizers did not invite two wizard rockers who had performed in previous years. Rather than attend the event as fans, the uninvited rockers chose to perform at a separate event in the same city.

Perhaps to prove their popularity and influence, the two uninvited rockers dropped in on the last day of the event and stormed onto the stage during a friend's wizard rock act.

The wizard rock fans went wild for them. They then disappeared offstage and were not seen by anyone afterwards, although rumours circulated that they were staying in a cabin full of other wizard rockers. The case underscores the unique status of famous fans, and that they are not subject to the same rules and treatment from others as ordinary fans.

Personal, Competent and Legitimate A uthority Dennis Wrong (1979), building on Weber's (1968) concepts of legitimate order and charismatic authority, outlines five different types of authority: coercive authority, authority by inducement, legitimate authority, competent authority and personal authority

(35-60). Wrong argues that coercive authority is when the power holder uses the threat of force to achieve compliance. Coercive authority is only effective if the power subject believes in the power holder's ability and willingness to inflict force (1979:41). In contrast, authority by inducement is when the power holder uses a system of rewards to encourage compliance, such as financial incentives (1979:44). Legitimate authority is when the

"power holder possesses an acknowledged right to command and the power subject an acknowledged obligation to obey" (Wrong 1979:49), while with competent authority the power subject complies because of a belief in the superior knowledge of the power holder

(1979:53). Finally personal authority is when the power subject complies out of a desire to 122 please the power holder. This desire to please often stems from love or admiration for the power holder and a respect for the power holder's personal qualities (Wrong 1979:60-

1). Personal authority is similar to Weber's charismatic authority where he deems charismatic leaders to have spiritual, natural gifts to lead a community outside of an official title or position, career, or appointment. They have a mission and their God-given gifts make them want to fulfill their mission (Weber 1968:19-20). My observations suggest that famous fans occupy a different status from regular fans; within the group of famous fans, the entertainers, heralds, and organizers all achieve this status through different kinds of authority as outlined in Wrong 1979.

Applying Wrong's typology, entertainers (wizard rockers, podcasters) are able to lead fans in activities due to their personal authority. They are charismatic performers and the majority of the famous wizard rockers are good-looking men in their twenties. By creating public identities, wizard rockers lend themselves well to the celebrity status that is also synonymous with charismatic authority (Kurzman et al. 2007:358). As Boorstin suggests, they are "primarily known for their well-knownness" (2006:83). Many Harry

Potter fans will 'fan' over these famous fans, in one case even creating an official fan group for a group of famous podcasters. Emically, fans of fans refer to themselves as 'fangirls' or

'fanboys'. As one male fan said, "I am a huge fanboy of John Granger." Granger being an

English literature academic who provides detailed analyses of the Harry Potter canon.

Another fan said, "I was just fangirling with them. Just saying I appreciate their music and they were like, "Ok. That's great", but I'm good friends with friends of theirs and so it was the whole two degrees of separation sort of thing going." Entertainers draw fans to 123 conventions as fans wish to see the music or the podcasts that they listen to on their computer at home, performed live and in-person.

Heralds (webmasters such as the Leaky Cauldron's Melissa Anelli or Mugglenet's

Emerson Spartz) are able to lead fans through personal and competent authority. Similar to entertainers, these webmasters have public identities, although their identities are often presented in written format. Their public identities contribute to the amount of personal authority they have over fans. Moreover, webmasters have competent authority. They know everything there is to know about the Harry Potter series, the movies, and news relating to

J. K. Rowling and the actors. They have connections to Warner Bros., and are the first to get information about the films. One webmaster told me,

There's been a couple times like that where Warner Bros, will let us know ahead of time, hey there's a trailer coming... And then WB will also email us when they've decided when it's time to announce. They don't give us like a secret warning ahead of time. I wish they did, but they don't. So, usually we will be the first people to know in that they'll send an email announcing hey the trailer's coming. Such and such date. And then we'll post it on the site. (Nicholas)

Both webmasters mentioned above have also had the honour of interviewing

Rowling in her home, and have both published books relating to the Harry Potter fandom

(Anelli 2008) or analysis of the Harry Potter series (Spartz and Schoen 2009). On their websites, they also advertise upcoming offline events and conventions and provide means for Harry Potter fans to connect through forums and social networking links. Heralds earn their higher status through their apparent superior knowledge of the subject of Harry Potter and their abilities to share insights and information with other fans. 124

Finally, organizers (convention organizers, Harry Potter Alliance directors) are endowed with competent authority, in that they know how to organize and run events.

Convention organizers are capable of writing contracts with hotels and the Universal

Studios theme park, and they are able to coordinate large amounts of formal (academic) and informal programming. The Harry Potter Alliance directors coordinate activities for local

groups (called Chapters), and they inspire and motivate members to invest in their social

activism campaigns. Organizers are also the only subgroup of the famous fans that have legitimate authority. Bierstedt writes,

It is important to recognize that authority is never exercised except in a status relationship. As a right and as a duty it is always attached to a status and is never a matter of purely personal privilege. When an individual issues a command in his own name rather than in the name of the status or position that he occupies, we have a sure indication that it is leadership, not authority, which is being exercised (1974:251).

Wrong notes that Bierstedt's use of the term authority is similar to what Wrong

typifies as legitimate authority (1979:51). Within the Harry Potter fandom, the group

organizers have official titles related to their status position. For example, the head

organizer of Infinitus was known as the Minister of Magic , making reference to the most

senior political leader in the British wizarding world within the Harry Potter canon. The

Minister of Magic is in charge of convention planning and execution and therefore has the

final say in fan registration. Therefore, if fans were acting disrespectfully and through their

actions were ruining the convention experiences of others, the Minster of Magic has the

While the British book series uses the term, "Minister for Magic", which I have outlined in my synopsis of the Harry Potter series, the American translation of the series changed the title, "Minister for Magic" to "Minister of Magic" and fans at conventions are mostly American and refer to the title as such. 125 legitimate authority to rescind their registration thereby forbidding their participation in convention activities. However, the Minister of Magic cannot kick them out of the hotel, as that is under the legitimate authority of the hotel managers.

Despite organizers having officially recognized authority, sometimes individuals with large amounts of personal authority are able to supercede those with legitimate authority. In the above example, it is evident that the two uninvited wizard rockers were of a different status than the average wizard rocker and of the event organizer. The fact that they were permitted to "crash" the event despite not being invited as performers and not purchasing their registration pass for the event suggests a relationship of inequality with other fans and with the event organizer. Their personal authority and celebrity status was greater than that of the convention organizer and of other wizard rockers. Whether they left immediately or like fans said, were rumoured to be staying in the wizard rocker cabins, the two uninvited wizard rockers who did not have registration managed to get backstage for the officially sanctioned acts and were able to storm the stage due to their personal authority. When they made their appearance, fans cheered loudly and were happy to see them. This audience reaction further undermined the legitimate authority of the organizer who chose not to have these two wizard rockers perform. She was thwarted, as F. G. Bailey would argue (2001:119) by the wizard rockers' use of pragmatic rules, or ways to cheat.

Bailey outlines three types of rules: normative, strategic and pragmatic. Normative rules are 'official' rules that are either informally or formally coded. As Bailey says, "they define proper conduct" (2001:118). Strategic rules are all the methods that people can use in conjunction with the normative rules to encourage a favourable outcome. They are the 126 rules for how to win (Bailey 2001:118). Finally, pragmatic rules "tell you how to cheat"

(Bailey 2001:119). For example, in a basketball game, pragmatic rules tell you how to break the normative rules (how to play fairly) by fouling an opponent without the referee noticing, while strategic rules are rule-abiding plays that confound the opponent and help score a basket. The uninvited wizard rockers storming the stage, was an example of pragmatic rules. The invited wizard rocker on stage at the time of the 'coup', was enacting normative rules; he was allowed to be on stage at that particular time. If the uninvited wizard rockers had bought registration passes as regular fan-goers and played a concert outside of the room, they would have been following strategic rules as organizers encourage regular fans to bring musical instruments and play offstage. However, these uninvited wizard rockers chose to break the normative code by not having a registration pass, not having the legitimate authority's permission to be onstage, and through their actions, proved their fame, adoration, and worth to the convention organizer. The uninvited wizard rockers used pragmatic rules to portray their status and their personal authority in relation to the convention organizer. While this power struggle may have been "all in good fun", authority and types of rules were enacted at the event.

The status difference between wizard rockers and convention organizers is also present in the relationship between famous fans and their fans. The status difference is represented in the fan demand for autographs, and in some cases the ability of famous fans to charge for autographs. For example, the cast of "A Very Potter Musical" agreed to sign posters and t-shirts at the convention for $10.00 per fan. The price did not deter fans; the line-up snaked through the convention centre. The status difference is also represented in 127 attempted interactions with many famous fans. During my research, I only managed to secure an interview with one famous fan, and I believe the fact that he is a friend of my brother's helped me in my quest. I contacted wizard rockers through their official My Space

email addresses or through their official Facebook pages - but I only got one reply, and contact with that particular wizard rocker ceased after I tried to arrange an interview time.

When I met the responder at Wrockstock and reminded him of his interest in the interview, he brushed me off. In this case, I think my identity as an average Harry Potter fan, and

similar to the majority of wizard rock fans, did me a disservice in getting interviews with

wizard rockers. To them, I was a fan. I was not of their status. The status of the wizard rocker comes with idolizing fans. Without fans there would be no wizard rockers. Yet, like many celebrities, to the wizard rocker the fan is a nuisance who gets in the way of the

artists and their "art". The irony in this case was that I am not a fan of wizard rock, I am a

Harry Potter fan. My identity as a fan influenced my interactions with different individuals

and groups within the fandom and it was clear that we were not of the same status.

Aside from their admitted fangirl and fanboy tendencies, fans do not always have a

favourable opinion of the leaders of their fandom. As one fan told me,

I had seen [this one wizard rock band] performing and so I said, "Hey! Is there an opportunity to maybe do something with [you guys]?. And [one of the band members] basically treated me like I was scum. Now, I'll say that I later discovered or learned that he had had some problems in that some big Hollywood record producer had approached them and was either very flaky or something and was just not a good person and so left a bad taste in their mouth. But regardless you know, it was not deserved to get that treatment from him. I just thought he was an idiot. And so, at that point - it definitely left a sour taste in my mouth about wizard rock. I've since tried to overcome that false start. But definitely I have a slight negative cast in my mind when it comes to [that band] and also wizard 128

rock in general. I just felt like, really what it was, is I'm like, "Who the hell are you? Like maybe you've sold ten thousand records, maybe if you're lucky. Like who are you?

Another fan said of one famous fan, "I've been at conferences where she's been before and she's never appeared at anything important. She just likes to go sit in restaurants and have people come up and tell her how wonderful she is". Although fans can express discontent with famous fans, they can also have positive experiences with famous fans. In

Val's opinion, "But that's what's great about places like [a convention]. You've got wizard rockers walking all over the place and you can totally talk to them and they are totally accessible.. .One wizard rocker held the door open for me." While Will told me,

I was in line and in front of me was this guy and his face was all white, eyes red. I was like, "Oh that's a cool Voldemort costume. I didn't know who he was. I was talking to this other guy about music and stuff and the show. I didn't even know who they were. And then I started, I don't even know why I just said, "Oh that's a really cool costume" and then they started talking to me. And from talking to them, it was just like talking to you. Regular fans who love the books. And then afterwards when the show started, I realized that they were two members of the Ministry of Magic and they were up there singing. So it was kind of weird. Seeing them up there talking. Even the concert, I was like, "Oh I was just talking to them". So it was kind of weird.

In Treasons, Stratagems, and Spoils (2001:53), F. G. Bailey discusses two ways in which leaders manage their public perception to gain followers: "to be one of the people"

(which I will term 'leadership') or "to be godlike" (which I will term 'celebrity') (2001:53).

As evidenced above, fans appreciated those famous fans that acted as fans among fans, whereas fans disliked famous fans that overtly played the part of celebrities. Unfortunately for famous fans, there is a delicate balance between leadership and celebrity. In many contexts, it would seem that the privileges associated with status serve to alienate the 129 people being led as is seen with the British royal family and the anti-monarchists. Val addressed the balance between leadership and celebrity, telling me, "the thing is when they're very nice people, you always have to remember that they want you to be their fans.

They want you to continue to support them. So I mean, they're nice. But are they really nice?" Fans prefer their leaders to "be one of the people". As Will put it,

I don't like seeing this hierarchy of things. I hate it. I hate looking at it that way. I mean if you see Andrew Sims, I'm just going to go talk to him because he's just a fan like I am. Just because he has Mugglecast doesn't make him more than I am. Or if I see for example Andrew Slack, who has the Alliance - it's a huge thing. Woah. And if I see him, I'm not going to be like "Oh my Gosh he like.." He's not royalty. He's just a fan, just like me. We are all the same. And in a way I think they see themselves as the same. I don't think.. .or so I'd like to think they don't see themselves as "Oh I'm a superstar. Don't talk to me because you're less than me". I hope not. They probably see themselves as normal people who have used their talents for something and they have created followers, that's fine but then if I see any fan come talk to them, that's fine too.

Famous fans occupy a different status from regular fans. They have responsibilities as the fandom's entertainers, heralds, and organizers, and with these responsibilities come privileges. These famous fans employ different kinds of authority in leading the fan community. In contrast, another status group of fans, infamous fans, has the fame but not the responsibilities or the privileges. They are famous because they take their devotion to

Harry Potter to a new level.

Infamous Fans

Some fans are famous not because they lead a group of fans to do one thing or another, but because they stand out of the crowd as "hardcore" fans. In one case, a fan changed her name to the name of a character in the series. Other hardcore fans dress up and 130 act like characters in the series. Because these fans do an incredible impersonation of these characters, and they are always in character while in public at a Harry Potter fan event, rumours circulate as to whether they live like Harry Potter characters all year round.

Rumours often follow the infamous. One such fan referred to himself as "infamous" and I will use this term as a way to contrast this status group from "famous fans". While the word

"infamous" is often accompanied by the word "notorious", these hardcore fans have not done anything negative to the fandom or to other fans. They just have not done what the famous fans have done in terms of leadership. They are known for being the most exceptionally devoted fans to the Harry Potter series, not to the Harry Potter fandom as famous fans are.

Perhaps one of the biggest pop-icons also followed by infamy for being over the top

(he owned a chimpanzee and named his child Blanket) is Michael Jackson. Hinerman

(2006) looks at Jackson's tabloid scandals, in particular the child molestation scandal, and argues that it was easy for the public to perceive Jackson as capable of terrible things because no one could label him and therefore he sat outside of the social mores: "Was he gay, straight, sexual, asexual, a child, or a man?" (Hinerman 2006:463). Jackson was eventually proven innocent of all charges, however his identity brand had been severely damaged by the accusations and rumours. While infamous Harry Potter fans cannot be compared with the infamy that followed Michael Jackson, rumours continue to circulate about their identities as Harry Potter fans and how far they take their impersonations.

Similar to famous fans, these individuals stand out from the crowd and are well known to regular fans. However, in contrast to the status the famous fans enjoy, these individuals (as 131 far as I know) do not receive benefits from their fame, nor are they responsible to the

fandom.

VI. Friendship

Friendships are important in the Harry Potter fandom. 'Friends' was one of the most

frequently mentioned words in my interview, appearing 388 times. Anthropologists define

friendship as an achieved (rather than ascribed) relationship and voluntary rather than

obligatory. Friendship must be continually practiced in order to be maintained (Bell and

Coleman 1999:6). Friendship is a relationship between any two people of any combination

of genders. We consider "loyalty, trust, emotional satisfaction, a psychological validation

of each other's identity, equality, complementarity, [and] reciprocity" to be important

characteristics of friendship (Brain 1976:14). Paine (1969:514) describes friendship as a

voluntary, personal, and private relationship between people. In response to my open-ended

question to get conversation flowing, "what does Harry Potter mean to you?" almost

everyone responded "it means friendship." For example,

I think it means, I think more than anything friendship. [...] I've met so many great people through Mugglenet that I absolutely never would have met otherwise. So, and of course it's because of Harry Potter too. So, I would say first and foremost would be friendship. (Nicholas)

What it means to me, friendship I think. It's not only the friendships in the book and the love that's in the book, but also the friendships that have been formed in the fandom. Because like, when I walked into the meetup group, I thought these people were going to be really, really weird and it turns out that I've met some of my closest friends through there.... I think that's one of the ways Harry Potter has really changed my life because you know, all of the friendships that are formed. (Val)

Harry Potter to me is kind of just this world of fantasy where everyone is kind of just in it together. [In my RPG] specifically, it's just like a big 132

network of friends [who] hang out and have a fun time, you know? That's what Harry Potter means to me. (Simon)

Because of one book millions and millions of us are able to become friends, love one another, form actual friendships that we've never even had. Like the friendships that I have that are not in the Harry Potter fandom are nothing compared to the friendships and the people I've met through the fandom. (Elisa)

Other fans told me about the importance of the fandom and the friendships formed within the fandom in their daily life. Tarquin told me, "Well the fandom means so much to me.. .1 have to say 98% of my social life right now is the Harry Potter fandom. So it's a huge part of my life and it's changed my life completely." While Elisa recounted,

Harry Potter has literally meant my life. These past ten years. Everything that I do is because of Harry Potter. And anytime that I think of Harry Potter not being in my life, I keep thinking -1 wouldn't have a best friend, I wouldn't have gone anywhere.. .If it hadn't been for Harry Potter, I wouldn't be talking to people that I'd never met in real life. Before that, I thought that [the Internet] was kind of creepy and there were just crazy people out there. But in fact, I found some of the most caring people I've ever met in my life. So I owe Harry Potter a lot of people in my life pretty much.

And Logan told me,

The fandom has meant friendship to me... [When] I first connected to my best friends, I met randomly through the shared liking of Harry Potter. It's not the basis of our friendship, but that kind of overcame that initial awkwardness of "Hey, we're college undergrads! What's going on! What are you doing! What classes are you taking?! Oh you like Harry Potter? Really? Let's talk". It's just, it's another means to an end. And I've made some wonderful friends that way.. .Probably some of them I wouldn't have made without Harry Potter. Some of them I know I wouldn't have.

Logan brings up an additional point, that Harry Potter has helped her connect with others, it has helped her find common ground on which to start building a friendship. Donna agreed, she told me, 133 It is just so easy to make friends. Just friends for the convention and life-long friends who you don't necessarily have to talk Harry Potter with, that you just become friends. And Harry Potter is just one thing that you share. And it's one of the easiest ways to walk into a place and not feel that you're alone even if you are there by yourself.

The friendships established through the mutual love of Harry Potter are important to fans, particularly now that the series is finished and the final film is soon to be released in

July, 2011. Many fans argue that friendships will keep the community together. At one panel I attended during my fieldwork, an organizer for the convention in July 2011 said she really believes that relationships will keep the fandom going and the convention she is helping organize aims to provide a platform for people to meet others and build relationships. In an interview, Will echoed this statement saying, "now that the books are over - friends are all what's really left now. Sometimes HP references come up all the time when we talk, but then also there's new ideas that we share, there's also new books that are coming out that we read together." Contrary to Paine's (1969:518) argument that within groups, friendship is often maintained through a mutual identification with the group; these fans argue that friendship will maintain the existence of the group.

I have already discussed how the Harry Potter fandom is similar to traditional anthropological definitions of the tribe in that it is subdivided into various pan-tribal sodalities such as clans (Hogwarts houses) and activity groups (such as cosplay), and that it does not have a clear hierarchical structure, but rather has leaders who encourage participation in various ways. The one area where the comparison of the Harry Potter fandom to a tribe falls short is in the importance of kinship to a tribe. Within a tribe, kinship relationships constitute the boundaries of a clan (Service 1971:105). My earlier use 134 of Barth's theory of ethnic groups also falls short where an ethnic group must be

"biologically self-perpetuating". While some fans may meet future spouses at conventions16, it is not the norm, nor can children inherit their parents' interests like they do hair colour. If that were the case, I should be extremely interested in fly-fishing and website design. Unlike an ethnic group, the fandom is not assuredly "biologically self-perpetuating" and unlike a tribe, the individuals within a fandom are not actually kin, though they may refer to their fellow fans as family. However, like me, other scholars have attempted to apply Barth's theory of ethnic groups and boundaries to groups that are not technically ethnic groups by Barth's definition. For example, Molohon, Paton and Lambert (1979) argue that non-biologically perpetuating groups can also apply Barth's concept of boundaries. Molohon, Paton and Lambert divide human groups into "simple groups",

"subcultural groups" and "ethnic groups" (1979:2). The Harry Potter fandom is an example of the simple group. Molohon, Paton and Lambert, drawing on Homans 1950, write, "the

"simple" group is both integrated and differentiated by its common norms, by shared sentiments and activities, by a pattern of interaction, by stereotyped attributes, and by hierarchical relationships" (1979:3).

Anthropologists have also encountered social processes similar to kinship but not quite kinship according to the traditional anthropological definitions of the term. Like me, anthropologists have found instances where relations of friendship are compared to those of kinship. Bell and Coleman found that in some cases, terms of kinship are given to non-kin

16 Fans do engage in sexual/romantic activities at conventions, which I know from fan experiences at previous conventions; however during my fieldwork, this issue was not presented to me and I did not ask informants for fear of being too invasive or insensitive. 135 to represent a favourable bond between the two parties (1999:7). Brain argues that "in

America, too, there seems to be little difference between the love felt between kin and that between friends; sentiments found in the family are based almost completely on ties of love felt between unrelated friends" (1976:16). He continues by suggesting that in North

America, "unlike most other societies even kinship is achieved, rather than ascribed: kin do not interact because they are kin but through liking and common interests. Therefore, kinship, for us, is like friendship in so far as it is a personal and private contract between individuals" (1976:16). Paine (1969:509) agrees that in Western middle class society, friendship is often unconnected with the relations of kinship and is able to satisfy needs commonly addressed through kinship. Carsten (2000) provides a review of kinship in anthropology and the shift from a biological focus to a social focus, and Cohen (1974:27) argues that kinship is not purely a consequence of biological reproduction but that non-kin social relationships can fulfill a similar function as that of biological kin (see Schneider

1980 and 1984 for alternative interpretations).

Kinship is like friendship and friendship is like kinship and within the Harry Potter fandom, some fans refer to the friends they have made in the fandom as their family.

Tarquin told me, "you know, we met through the Harry Potter fandom and the fandom has just become our family. It's wonderful people". In addition, Reta said,

I mean, these people are.. .the people that I've met over the last five years and just been able to be friends with -1 mean these people are like my family. Like I'm actually - I'm closer to most of them than I am with people in my, you know - my own family is kind of widely dispersed and you know, not very close. So these people are pretty much my surrogate family. They are just always there for me in times of need, in times of sadness, in times of happiness. These are the people who, when 136 something goes right, when I'm happy, when I'm sad. These are people who are there for me.

Finally, similar to kinship networks within a tribe, groups of friends within the

Harry Potter fandom are often exogamous, in that they are inclusive of newcomers and many individuals are part of more than one friendship group.

Connecting Online

The Harry Potter fandom is a relatively specialized niche, and it is difficult for many fans to find others in their local communities with a similar obsession with the series.

Donna told me, "there's not as many people.. .where I live who are as into the Harry Potter phenomenon as I am. So sometimes it's kind of hard to find people to just get together and do Harry Potter stuff with." To deal with this isolation from other fans, Donna joined some social networking forums on Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron. She also tried to find an offline community of Harry Potter fans. Donna expressed this in her interview with me.

She said,

Who else.. .at first I was a little embarrassed that at 42 - "ok I'm a Harry Potter fan!" But then I went on the Internet and did a Google search for Harry Potter fan clubs in Nebraska and that's how I found the meetup group. And I signed right up and said "I want to come to some of your events because people around here in [my town] - I'm embarrassed to tell them I'm a Harry Potter fan!"

Many of the fans I spoke with, who connected online, recalled how they were not always comfortable with interacting with people online. One fan who has developed deep friendships online said that in the past, "I never talked to anyone online because I thought it was the scariest thing in the world, that I was going to get killed or someone was going to stalk me." Another fan told me, 137 And that's kind of how I got introduced into fandom and just started, you know, going online, meeting people and yeah it just kind of grew from there. And at that time, I was one of those people who you know, I was one of those types that was like, "meeting people online, that's so weird" and it's so funny because now I'm the complete opposite. I mean I have more online friends I think now than I do people that I interact with in real life as friends. (Reta)

Many fans develop deep relationships with friends they met online. In one case, two of my informants met on a Mugglenet chat and have been chatting every day since 2006.

They have a very close friendship, despite most of it being online (they met in person for the first time at a convention in July of 2009). Elisa told me,

I mean.. .take Will for example, he is my best friend and I met him through the fandom. [...] We're there for each other, we love each other very much, we care about each other very much, we tell each other secrets etc, etc, etc. The only difference is that we don't physically live in the same place. So when we say, "Oh I haven't met you in real life" it's just meaning, "we haven't seen each other physically or hugged each other physically but in every other sense of the word [best friend], we're still really good friends.

Elisa and Will live across the country from one another, but they use conventions as a way to meet up together and connect in person. They are not the only ones. Many of the fans I spoke with had connected with Harry Potter fans online and then used the convention as an opportunity to meet online friends from across the world in person. One diarist wrote during the convention, "it was a wonderful day.. ..The highlight was meeting my online HP friend, Betty, she lives in Wisconsin which is apparently an all-muggle state and I had spent the last several months urging her to come to her first con alone." (Dorothy, diary) Dorothy also expressed how happy she was to reconnect with friends made at previous conventions. 138

Nicholas added, "that's why the conferences are so exciting. You look forward to seeing your old friends again. It's like a high school reunion every year."

The friendships formed online and offline are not unique to the Harry Potter fandom. Snyder (1986) found themes of friendship and community in his study of elderly shuffleboard players. Stalp et al.'s (2009) ethnographic research of the Red Hat Society found that women find friendship, support, and amusement through their participation in local chapter activities. Cerny, Eicher and DeLong (1993) found similar findings in their ethnographic study of quilting guilds. Similar to the Harry Potter fandom, the Minnesota

Quilters in this study reported ties of friendship created through a mutual interest in quilting and teaching quilting to new members. The quilting guild was a place where members felt understood, and where members could bond over shared experiences such as raising families, marriage, work, and quilting (1993:20). Similar to the Harry Potter fandom, words like, "friendship, companionship, common interests, or being with others who share this interest" are part of the reflective quilting discourse (1993:20).

In our increasingly connected world, it is possible for individuals to connect through shared interests rather than a shared geography. While the face-to-face contact in these friends may be limited, these friendships are no less developed or important. Parks and

Floyd (1996:92) suggest that it is common for genuine friendships to form online. With the proliferation of the Internet, we are seeing, in a variety of communities, a change in the concept of friendship relations and in kinship relations. No longer must we choose our friends from our local area, the pool of potential friends is much larger. With so many possibilities for friendship (and deep friendships at that), the kinship network is no longer 139 as critical in North America. Individuals can choose which biological kin they develop relationships with, and friends halfway across the world may be considered kin.

VII. Conclusions

With the final film set to come out July 2011, many fans that participated in my field research were fearful about what would become of the fandom once there was nothing new to celebrate. Would there continue to be conventions to attend? Would wizard rock bands continue to tour? Would there be any reason to visit fan websites if there was no new information about the series and the films? Most fans, while fearful, were still hopeful, believing the power of the Harry Potter fandom no longer relied on the canon. Leaders within the Harry Potter fandom (the entertainers, heralds and organizers) maintain that the power of the Harry Potter fandom comes from the community and the relationships established through participation with the canon. As Andrew Slack, leader of the Harry

Potter Alliance often says, "We are the eighth book". Organizers for Leaky Con 2011

(hosted this July in Orlando) say, "We are sending off the first great era of Harry Potter the only way Harry Potter fans know how: in style", suggesting that while this is the "end of an era", it is the end of the "first great era" and not the last. Finally, wizard rockers perform songs that are particularly unifying for fans. For example, during my fieldwork, the Harry

Potter Alliance was awarded a comically big cheque by Chase Bank at the convention in

Orlando in front of media and fans. At the end of the presentation, Paul DeGeorge from

Harry and the Potters stood on a chair among the fans and started playing "The Weapon

We Have is Love",

We may have lost Black 140

But we 're not turning back. We will fight 'til we have won And Voldemort is gone. And I'm gonna do whatever it takes I don't care about whatever fate That prophecy says. No, I'm not afraid. No I'm not afraid.

'Cause there's one thing that I've got One thing that you've got inside you too. One thing that we 've got, And the one thing we 've got is enough To save us all. The weapon we have is love.

Fans gathered around DeGeorge and sang the song with him as an anthem for continuing to fight for the love of Harry Potter and the Harry Potter fandom. As the canon comes to a close, fans fear losing the community they have built through a mutual love of Harry Potter.

This community is grounded in the existence of cross-cutting ties and fan membership to these various subgroups. Fans participate in many different types of activities, and these activity groups allow fans to meet other fans with similar focused interests, such as cosplaying. Fans also associate their fan identities with a Hogwarts house.

While house identities would seem divisive, they do unify the fandom because belonging to a house means belonging to Hogwarts, or the Harry Potter fandom. Fans find unity within their Hogwarts houses but also across houses, and house discussion is a frequent topic of discussion among fans. Some fans within the Harry Potter fandom take on the additional responsibility of coordinating, entertaining, and informing the Harry Potter fandom. These

fans (famous fans) occupy a different social status than regular fans, but their role as ritual

elders is crucial for continued and unified fan participation. Finally, Harry Potter fans form 141 friendships with other Harry Potter fans, creating a community of love and support similar to a family.

Harry Potter fans worry about the future of the fandom, where it will go from here and whether it will dwindle in numbers. While the Harry Potter fandom will no doubt change as a cultural group, I posit that the existence of the above-mentioned cross-cutting ties is important for the survival of the Harry Potter fandom. 142 Conclusion

Harry Potter is the story of a boy who does not fit in with other girls and boys his own age. Odd things always seem to happen to him; when his Aunt Petunia gave him a terrible hack job of a haircut, Harry's hair grew back overnight, and when his cousin

Dudley was picking on Harry at school, Harry somehow jumped onto the school's roof to escape. On Harry's eleventh birthday, Harry finds out that these odd occurrences happen because he is a wizard and he has magical blood coursing through his veins. Harry Potter leaves his muggle (non-magic) school behind and finds acceptance, love, and friendship at

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry among other witches and wizards.

Harry Potter fans find a similar environment with qualities of acceptance, love, and friendship within the Harry Potter fandom, which stands in contrast to their "muggle" or non-fandom reality. A Harry Potter fan is someone who participates in activities related to the Harry Potter canon and interacts with other Harry Potter fans. The Harry Potter fandom is a close-knit community that is trusting of others and unified through a mutual love of

Harry Potter and a mutual belonging to overlapping sub-groups related to the categories: activities, house identity, social status, and friendships. Through the continuation of these bonds, the fandom becomes the "eighth book" now that the seven-book Harry Potter canon is complete.

In my fieldwork, I explored the theme of community through online and offline open-ended interviews, through participant observation at offline Harry Potter events, and by getting participants to fill out a social diary of their convention experiences. I also gathered data in a focus group at a Harry Potter convention and wrote autoethnographic 143 fieldnotes of my experience doing fieldwork as a researcher and as a Harry Potter fan.

For analysis, I used thematic analysis as described by Ryan and Bernard (2003) and Opler

(1945). I drew out themes from my interview transcripts, my fieldnotes, and my social diaries. In this thesis, I discussed six major themes present in my data: unity, trust, activities, sorting, hierarchy, and friendship.

One limitation for my study was my sampling technique in finding people to interview. I posted my recruitment notice on a costuming community webpage on livejournal and on all of the meetup.com groups related to Harry Potter. I scheduled interviews with whoever expressed interest in my study on a first come first serve basis. I was concerned that I would not find enough people to speak with me. In hindsight, I could have been more selective with recruitment. I could have posted my recruitment notice on multiple fansites and chosen three participants from each website, which I think would have given me a wider variety of individuals using different methods to interact with fans.

While many of my interviewees actively use Livejournal, I did have interviewees who use other platforms of connecting with other fans (Facebook, Meetup, Mugglenet), but I could have recruited from more angles.

A second limitation to my study was that I could have done more participant observation. In terms of offline events, I did the best that I could considering financial resources and time constraints, and I did attend both major Harry Potter fandom events scheduled during my fieldwork (Infinitus and Wrockstock). However, much of the interactions within the Harry Potter fan community happen online and I could have found a more efficient and effective way of doing online participant observation. When entering the 144 field, I was faced with thousands of fan websites and an uncertainty of which direction to take. To grasp the online Harry Potter community, I needed more time and a strategic plan developed out of a deeper knowledge of the fan community. After conducting interviews and attending Harry Potter fan events as a researcher, I have a deeper understanding of the fan community and a more focused direction to take future research in an online capacity.

A third limitation in my study was that in some of my interviews, I did not ask participants to elaborate on certain concepts. For example, Paine (1969:506) suggests that the definition of friendship varies from person to person. In conducting my interviews, it

did not occur to me to ask participants to clarify what they meant by the terms "friendship",

"friend" and "best friend". Thus the relationships between informants and their friends might be significantly different. However, informants were all from North America and did

all use the terms of friendship, friend and best friend (as opposed to pal, chum,

acquaintance, or buddy), and I can infer from my own North American socialization, that we all share similar ideas of friendship, although our relationships with our friends may

differ. Furthermore, since friendship is a personal and private relationship between people,

even if I had asked participants to define their use of the term "friendship", as an outsider to that relationship, I may not be able to fully understand the meaning (Paine 1969:511).

The Harry Potter series has been translated into 67 languages around the globe and

people from a variety of cultural backgrounds read and engage with the books. My study is

limited in its scope to North America and to the United Kingdom because of time and

geographic constraints as well as a language barrier. 145

Finally, Barth's concepts of ethnic groups and boundaries suggests that fans adapt the negative stereotypes given to them by non-fans to be form of positive identity for fans (1969:15). Negative stereotypes are important in defining the Harry Potter fandom, but

I do not have the data to provide discussion on that point, due to a function of the questions

I asked during my fieldwork.

The Harry Potter fandom is an inclusive (exogamous) community that is trusting of other fans. To gain membership and earn the trust of the community, a fan needs to know basic information about the canon. Group members are unified through common fan identities exemplified by belonging to subgroups fitting into four categories: activity groups, Hogwarts houses, status groups, and friendship groups. These divisions are similar to a tribe subdivided into pan-tribal sodalities such as activity groups, clans, ritual leaders, and kinship networks.

Fans participate in many types of activities and similar to traditional activity groups, such as a hunting group, belonging to Harry Potter activity groups endows the fan with a role or a label. Instead of a hunter, a Harry Potter fan is a podcaster, or a fanfiction author, for examples. These activity roles also stand in contrast to "real" life roles such as engineers, teachers, or doctors. Participating in these fan activities is a form of play and while fans may slip in an out of their fan versus their "real" life roles, the existence of the play-communities or activity groups remains.

Harry Potter fans are also members of Hogwarts houses, which I compared to clans.

Harry Potter fans sort themselves and others into one of the four Hogwarts houses, or totems, according to criteria from the canon as well as 'fanon'-ized house reputations. The 146 mutual belonging to a house creates a sense of unity among members of the same house and within the Harry Potter fandom. However, fans do judge one another based on house identity and whether they have been accurately sorted according to canon criteria. Because of this judgment and the non-existence of a magical hat to sort them, fans often change house identities during their fan lifetimes. Fans also likely change house identity because of a common belief that every person has a little bit of each house within them, and that it is the most dominant part of your personality and choices that make the difference.

Suggesting that each fan has a little bit of every house within them reinforces similarities and cohesion among Harry Potter fans rather than distinction and division. Thus, house identity, while divisive in the canon, is unifying for the fandom.

Perhaps the most divisive social structure of the Harry Potter tribe is the status differences between regular fans and ritual elders, or famous fans. Famous fans entertain, organize, and inform the fandom. Famous fans stand out from the crowd because they take on additional responsibilities of coordinating the fandom. In exchange for fulfilling these duties, famous fans receive privileges such as financial incentives and all-access passes to events. While these privileges set them apart from regular fans, creating divisions through differing statuses, the actions of these fans contribute to the overall unity of the fandom.

They provide the reasons and the means for fans to interact and their actions ensure the continual existence of the Harry Potter fandom. In spite of their higher status, they ensure the existence of the community.

Finally, fans divide themselves into smaller groups of friends, which is similar to divisions of kinship. These groups of friends may also be considered exogamous because 147 they are not closed cliques but are often embracing and inclusive of new fans. For many

Harry Potter fans, friendship is the Harry Potter fandom. Thus, it might be considered the most unifying theme found within the fandom.

The canon, combined with fan innovations (fanon) results in various cross-cutting ties that create a sense of unity within the Harry Potter fandom. Harry Potter fans draw on the canon and the fanon to influence the types of activities they do and to inform them which house they will associate with. Similar to the story of Harry Potter, who finds family among his friends at Hogwarts, Harry Potter fans build relationships with other fans. Harry

Potter fans also trust other fans based on a mutual love of Harry Potter and a base knowledge of the canon. Finally, some Harry Potter fans are so inspired by the series that they take on additional leadership responsibilities and they entertain, inform, and organize other fans to participate in activities. These leaders share similarities with Harry, Ron and

Hermione who commit to defeat Lord Voldemort, thus protecting their families and friends.

In all of these instances, fans draw on the fictional and make it factual. The series becomes real in its consequences enacted by fans. The community experienced by Harry

Potter and the themes of love and loyalty become part of the fan's reality through participation in the Harry Potter fandom. As Dumbledore said (and as Harry Potter fans quote when talking about the magic of the Harry Potter fandom), "Of course it is all happening in your head Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it isn't real?"

(Rowling 2007:579).

My research has provided me with a foundation upon which to build future research. I could look at how unity is expressed in other fandoms and how other fandoms 148 compare to the Harry Potter fan community. I could also explore the differences between fandoms and interest groups and how the elements I explored in my case study of

Harry Potter fans applies across interest groups and communities. As I mentioned in the conclusion of Life at Hogwarts, fans are increasingly anxious about what is going to happen to the Harry Potter fandom once the final and seventh movie is released. Future study could also look at how the Harry Potter fandom changes as it evolves from a fandom where new canon is constantly being produced to a cult-fandom where new official material is no longer being released. Will the types of activities fans engage in change once they have exhausted canon analysis or have knit a scarf for every Hogwarts house? Will

Harry Potter fans become fans in different fandoms or will they cease being active participants in fandom period? What is next for the Harry Potter fandom?

As I put the finishing touches on this thesis, J. K. Rowling has started launching something called "", and fans rally to guess what it could mean. The website, www.pottermore.com, merely features a dark pink background, two owls sitting on tree branches, and the words "Pottermore: Coming Soon" with Rowling's signature. The two most popular guesses are an online Harry Potter encyclopedia with background information about the world of Harry Potter or an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role- playing game) similar to World of Warcraft, which I think is more probable.

The release of this information comes a month before the final film is released in theatres and as fans lament the "end of an era" and are anxious over a potential dissolution of the Harry Potter fan community. Perhaps J. K. Rowling wants to give fans another thing to look forward to, or another thing to bond over. Or perhaps it is a money-making scheme 149 as Rowling and Warner Bros, realized they would no longer have a guaranteed billion dollar income from further books and films. Perhaps it is both. If that is the case, an

MMORPG would fulfill the desires of fans to continue to engage with the Harry Potter series and with other fans, and it would fill the bank accounts of involved parties, as

MMORPGs often cost money for initial registration and upgrades. Whatever "Pottermore" is, I am sure that fan investment and corporate money-making endeavors will fuel the continuation of the Harry Potter fandom at least for the foreseeable future.

I surmise that while Harry Potter fandom will continue, there will be a demographic shift. The fans who read the books in the early 2000s, who attended midnight releases, and who experienced the books as a group will get older. As many of the fans in this group are women in their twenties, they will have families and will likely have different priorities than attending fan conventions and interacting in the Harry Potter fandom. However, as the mothers in my study exemplified, perhaps these fans will introduce Harry Potter to their children and fan conventions will become increasingly family-oriented. Perhaps as a new generation of children enters adolescence, we will find a whole new group of fans who adopt the responsibilities of coordinating, informing and entertaining the fandom. People cherish these books and are unlikely to stop loving Harry Potter once there is no new canon being produced. The fandom may change in size, shape, and structure, but I think that as long as people have a mutual interest in the series and a desire to interact with others in relation to their mutual interest, a Harry Potter fan community will exist. As Harry himself said about Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, "He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him" (Rowling 2005:604). 150 151

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Appendix A: A visual representation of how I see the fan typology I use in this thesis.

Fans of Harry Potte Petty Producers 163

Appendix B: Analysis ofWord Count Comparison Chart

/. Interview Informants

There was great variety in the interviews that I conducted, considering I kept them open-ended and only asked a couple of questions to virtually every informant as a tool for keeping the conversation flowing. While I intended for my interviews to be 60 minutes long, many of my interviews exceeded this time limit as the participants had a lot to say and wanted to keep talking. For examples, Valerie, Coral, Elisa, Audrey, Kevin, Yvonne, and Tarquin all spoke with me for over 80 minutes. Thus, their word counts will be higher on certain themes because more words were spoken during the interview. Other informants' interviews were quite short because of a tendency to provide short un-detailed answers.

This analysis also does not take into account varying speeds of speech or succintness versus verbosity.

Some of my informants (Yvonne, Becca, and Isabelle), I had previous relationships with from before beginning this research. As friends, they had wanted to participate in my research. As mentioned earlier in the presentation of the pros and cons of being an insider researcher, one of the cons I encountered was both my informants and me 'taking things for granted'. Certain topics, such as house affilation and why, I already knew the answers to

and my informants knew that I knew the answers to. In these three cases, sorting did not

come up in our official and recorded conversation, though I do know to which house each of these individuals belong. In addition, I conducted Becca and Isabelle's interview together, shortly before their departure for their first convention, and only managed to record 20 minutes of the interview - in my first attempt using my recording device. Thus, 164 this interview had fewer words and much of the discussion was about anticipation of the upcoming convention rather than concrete knowledge about the fandom.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that my informants engage at different levels on the fan continuum outlined in my ethnographic background. Through an analysis of our conversations and the types of activities fans engage in online and offline -1 classified each fan into the five categories on my definitional continuum: consumer, devotee, sub-cultist, enthusiast, and petty producer. Some fans, I classified as subcultist/enthusiast because at the time of our interview they had not yet traveled to a major offline event like a convention, but had plans to do so in the near future. Two fans I classified as 'Enthusiasts (Corporate Con)' because rather than attending Harry Potter conventions put on by fans for fans, these individuals attend conventions put on by corporations and supported by the media industry such as Dragon Con or Comic Con. For subcultists and devotees, their ability to comment on social processes that exist in a convention environment, such as status differences, is limited in comparison to a convention attendee. ii. Themes

I conducted participant observation at offline events, and I participated as a fan in the fandom prior to conducting my interviews. Therefore I knew that sorting is an important theme within the fandom. Six of my informants brought up the topic of sorting, while ten participants were asked which house they would sort themselves into - as a mechanism of encouraging conversation. In all of these cases, the participants responded with detailed answers about their house affiliation. In four interviews, the topic did not 165 come up - an explanation provided above for three of those interviews. Nicholas also did not mention this during our interview, but he spoke in detail about a lot of other things within the fandom. Nicholas was also my first online Skype interview, and I did not have a lot of experience coming up with questions to ask to keep the conversation flowing.

However, the fact that Nicholas (a famous fan) did not mention house affiliation further supports my idea that famous fans do not overtly display house identity. The only reason I was able to fill Nicholas in as a Gryffindor on my demographic information chart is that I specifically asked him in a follow-up e-mail while making that chart and wanting to compare house popularity among fans.

The zeros in the column on hierarchy all came from fans who had not been to an offline Harry Potter fan gathering. The individuals who spoke in detail of examples of status differences were all petty producers, or in the case of Will, is a big fan of Harry

Potter podcasts and so I asked him to tell me more about that.

Many words were spoken on friendship, except in the case of Becca and Isabelle.

Again, I attribute this to the short duration of our conversation and the presence of both friends in the interview together. In addition, neither Becca nor Isabelle participate in any online communities or had attended any offline events where they may develop friendships with other Harry Potter fans.

Fans who spoke about trust or told me stories of trusting behaviour were ones who also tended to interact both online and offline. In the cases of Faye and Simon, their interactions with the fandom were completely online, which Becca and Isabelle only engaged offline with friends who also happened to be fans. Trust or concrete examples of 166 trust, did not arise in my interview with Valerie, despite being heavily involved in online and offline activities.

Similarly to Valerie not mentioning trust, some fans did not talk about the unity in the fandom. Meghan, who is a Harry Potter fan but interacts more with the Lord of the

Rings fan community and attends corporate cons did not talk about unity within the Harry

Potter fandom. Neither did Yvonne, whose interview focused mostly on academic analysis of the Harry Potter canon and distrust of Warner Bros.

Finally, all fans except Becca spoke of their participation in Harry Potter related activities - although this may be distorted because I began most of my interviews asking fans to tell me about the kinds of activities they engage in within the Harry Potter fandom.

In Becca's case, she did not actually participate in any activities other than registering for the upcoming convention. 167

Theme Frequency Chart 1

Informant Fan-Level Sorting Hierarchy Friendship 'Trus t Unity Activities Equal ityy Inclusive Mrholas Petty Producer 0 3.781 697 531 118 311 ' 380 Elisa Enthusiast 789 743 3015 1193 574 1083 0 Donna Subcultsst/Enthusiast" 717 313 1736 353 350 1077 376 Reta Enthusiast 498 791 1334 198 410 1813 671 Cqral Enthusiast 759 704 623, 655 605 1415 178 Fa ye Subcultsst 34g' 0 326' 0 98 1184 0 .Will Enthusiast 171 1304 1591 881 449 1007 0 Valerie Petty Producer 365 3841} 446, D 218 3619 135 Phoebe Enthusiast 505 15(1 630' 347 146 1693 157 Logan Enthusiast 51 176 716f 175 139 1383 606 Audrey SubrultisS/E-ithu^iast 3.419 "I 1736 147" 104 4105 0 Gwen Enthusiast (Corporate Con) 94 396 853 37 141 3493 37 5onn Simon 1917* 677 903' 0 464 1611 560 lessica Devotee 1026 o; 369 719 344 833 154 Kevin Enthusiast 142 761* 953 1601 138 778 173 Meghan Enthusiast (Corporate Con) 131 451 1130 19fi3.j 0 1601 133 Beera 5ubcultJst/Enthusiast 0, 0 oi 0, 60 0 0 IsabeHe 5u bcu It *st/Enth us iast 0 a o* 60 300 36 (Yvonne Fnthusiast/Petty Producer 0 1003°-! 277 934 0 398 0 Tarquin Enthusiast 799 30? 11335 303 553 3103 747 Re-ldnotes 3919 5957 301 t 3.400, 5312 3.684 106 Word Count 13453 19149 17104" 12130 10188 33406 3684 Average 1223 911.86 814.476 577.62 455.14 1590.8' 175-4285714

Theme Frequency Chart 2

Informant Fan-Level Groups Fantasy V. Rl HP Initiation Learning Merchandise '"Rea l Life" Nicholas Petty Producer 32 447 167 663 31 0 Elisa Enthusiast 175 323 0 98' 0 520 Dosina 5ubcultsst/Fnthusia:5t 58 309 675 0! 1366 371 Reta Enthusiast 0 765 1376' 136 491 383 Coral Enthusiast 159 288 103 35 o' 122 Fa ye Subcultist 40 1059 1341 "0 373 163 Will Enthusiast 45* o" 1534 760 0 316 Valerie Petty Producer 1143* 1937* 1752 141 1075 513 Phoebe Enthusiast 346 501 * 477 541 61 58 Logan Enthusiast 494 163 887 121 0 0 Aud ney Subcultsst/Enthusiast 317 1339 " 1-174 38 0 282 Gvje n Enthusiast (Corporate Con) 195 115 588 284 333 350 S^mon 5imnn 451 579 305 65' 0 525 lessica Devotee 153 488 399 173 0 278 Kevin Enthusiast 443 1770 1310 275 36 810 Megtisn Fnthusiast (Corporate Con) 178 665 403 321* 195 472 Becr.a 5u bcu Itist/Enth us iast 0 '178 347 o' 0 " 0 Isabeile 5u bcu lt«s t/Enth us iast 0 44 347 218, 0 54 Yvonne Enthusiast/Pstty Producer S77 " 116 0 0 593 Tarquin Enthusiast 135' 1303! 7941 °ol 0 336 Felrlnqtes 1504 481' 735 0 163 509 Word Count 6390 12815 14448 3759 4114 6503 Average 304.2857 610-23811 688 179J 195-9048 591-1818 Appendix C: Word Frequency Report from Max QDA (Top 100 Words) MM...... " " "_. . rSBRidiAT JJiJxi«I^JiM wpeorjle_ „ 6_ 1357J_ _2J4_ • harry.. _ _ -._ 5__ j28i_ Z4JL .potter _ _ 6._ __™_JiZJL. JL2JL i June. „ _ _ „ 1.; ^^^...i^—JlSL. 4 472 i 0.92 _good_ 5 459 „ „ 172 ! 0.33 life 4 ' 172 r 0.33 fun 3 171 i . P.33 remember 8 170 ! 0.33 everything 10 167 I 0.32 166 whole 5 I 6.32 0.32 reading 7 . 165 , 163 ' 0.32" person 6J 0.32 friend. 6 162 _ 0.31 leaky 5 161 , 158^. 0.31 can 3 157 I 0.31 movie 5 155 1 0.30 everybody 9 154 ' community 9 0.30 150 • work 4 0.29 150 room 4 '• 0.29 149 1 guess 5 0.29 147 0.29 feel 4 ' 0.29 found 5 147 4 ' 145 0.28 last 6 ! 144 0.28 wizard 10 • 143 , 0.28 definitely 141 0.27 school 6 139 • ^0.27 together 8 138 1 0.27 world 5 1 136 1 0.26 weird 5 4 ' 135 0.26 meet 133 • 0.26 snape 5 133 1 0.26 live 4 131 j „0.26 conventions 11 _sort 4 126 i _ iL25 121 ' Jhufflepuff 10 024 name __ ___ 4 120 023 couple 6 117 0.23 115 ' 0.22 write , 5 6.22 somebody 8 " 111 * 111 ' 0.22 funny__ 5! r rock 4 111 ' 0.22 10 1 111 , 6.22 characters ! hermione 8 ids r _0.21 4 ' 106 1 _. 0.21 _jgach „ , movies 105 1 0.20 169

Lawesome ___ J 105 0.20 I i interesting. J03 I JL-20 [_. cha£ter______'! 193 > 0^20 ' ^character __ 7 103 i _0-20 ; rowlmg_ _ _£ JO? 1 JL20J ^fanfictiojL . 10 iQJL -0-20. .real _ _4_ joi x J120_ i_jhmbledore_ io_. 100 1 JUL? __slyjjerin J JL.

Appendix D: Informant Demographics

Informant Gender Age Married? Children? House Residence Participation Interviews Nicholas Male 21 No No Unknown Fullterton CA Interview Elisa Female 22 No No Gryffindor Miami FL Interview Donna Female 44 Yes Yes Hufflepuff Aurora Colorado Interview Reta Female 35 Yes Yes Gryffin/Puff Atlanta, Georgia Interview Coral Female 30 No No Raven claw Orlando, FL Interview Faye Female 27 Yes Yes Ravenclaw Orange County Interview Will Male 24 No No Gryffindor Portland Interview Valerie Female mid 30s Yes No Gryffindor New York Interview Tarquin Mafe 46 Commited BF No Slytherin Salem Interview Phoebe Female No No Varies - Sly, Rav, Huff Buffalo Interview Logan Female 22 No No Raven/Slyther North Carolina Interview Audrey Female 21 Commited GF No Gryffindor Utah Interview Gwen Female 27 No No Slyt/but Huffl Georgia Interview Simon Male 27 No No Slytherin Iowa Interview Jessica Female 27 No No Hufflepuff Oregon Interview Kevin Male 42 No No Gryffindor Santa Monica Interview Meghan Female NO NO Ravenclaw Calgary Interview Becca Female 29 Yes No Ravenclaw Calgary Interview Isabelle Female 27 No No Gryffindor Calgary Interview/Diarist Yvonne Female 60ish NO NO Hufflepuff Calgary Interview Participants Pamela Female 29 Yes No Unknown Edmonton Edmonton Meetup/Infinitus Roger Male 42 ish Yes No Unknown Edmonton Edmonton Meetup/Infinitus Louis Male Late 40s Divorced Yes Unknown Edmonton Edmonton Meetup Hillary Female Late 20s No No Unknown Seattle Seattle Mitchell Male 30 No No Unknown Seattle Seattle Kate Female Late 30s Married - Lesbian No Hufflepuff Los Angeles Interview Gloria Female Late 30s Married - Lesbian No Ravenclaw Los Angeles LA/Infinitus Denise Female Late 50s Married Yes Hufflepuff Los Angeles LA Jonathan Male 21 No No Hufflepuff Washington DC Infinitus David Male 31 No No Gryffindor Boston Leaky Con Rudy Female 21 No No Unknown Seattle Infinitus Amelia Female Mid 20s No No Unknown St. Louis I nfi nttus/ Wrockstock Nora Female Mid 30s No No Hufflepuff North Dakota Diarist Olivia Female . Early 20s No No Hufflepuff North Dakota Infinitus Quinn Female Mid 20s No No Hufflepuff North Dakota Infinitus Bonnie Female Mid 20s NO NO Slytherin Unsure Infinitus Moira Female Mid 20s NO NO Gryffindor Indianapolis Infinitus Lisa Female Mid 20s No No Unknown Boston Infinitus Atticus Male Unsure - 40s Committed BF No Stytherin/Puff Salem Infinitus Anna Female Early 20s No No Unknown Unknown Infinitus Lila Female Late 20s NO No Unknown Boston Azkatraz Dr. K Female 50s Unsure Yes Hufflepuff Philadelphia Infinitus Chris Male Late 40s Yes Unsure Slytherin NYC Infinitus Tina Female Late 20s No No Unknown San Diego Infinitus Jeff Male Mid 20s No No Unknown Buffalo Leaky Con Erin Female late 30s Unsure Unsure Unknown Los Angeles Infinitus Amber Female Mid 20s No No Unknown Dallas Infinitus Darcy Female/Male 27 No No Slytherin, teased about being Hufflepuff Vancouver Seattle, Infinitus, Wrockstock, Diary Dorothy Female Late 50s Unsure Unsure Unknown NYC Diarist Elenna Female Early 20s Unsure Unsure Unknown NYC Diarist Imogen Female Mid 30s Unsure Unsure Slytherin Unsure Costumer, Infinitus Richard Male Early 20s Unsure Unsure Slytherin Unsure Infinitus Liana Female 20 No No Gryffindor/Slytherin Vancouver Wrockstock Vanessa Female 23 No No Ravenclaw/Slytherin Alabama Wrockstock Zoe Female 28 No No Gryffindor