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Critical Literacy in a Global Context: Reading Harry Potter

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Critical Literacy in a Global Context: Reading Harry Potter View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Research Online @ ECU Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 2006 Critical literacy in a global context: Reading Harry Potter Jill Reading Edith Cowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Reading, J. (2006). Critical literacy in a global context: Reading Harry Potter. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/ 47 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/47 Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 2006 Critical literacy in a global context: reading Harry Potter Jill Reading Edith Cowan University Recommended Citation Reading, J. (2006). Critical literacy in a global context: reading Harry Potter. Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/47 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/47 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorize you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. Where the reproduction of such material is done without attribution of authorship, with false attribution of authorship or the authorship is treated in a derogatory manner, this may be a breach of the author’s moral rights contained in Part IX of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Courts have the power to impose a wide range of civil and criminal sanctions for infringement of copyright, infringement of moral rights and other offences under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. USE OF THESIS The Use of Thesis statement is not included in this version of the thesis. ABSTRACT Millions of adolescents across the globe eagerly await and read each new Harry Potter fictional novel. As a series, the novels can be assumed to participate influentially in the production of adolescent literacies and subjectivities. Situated in politically conservative times, however, the texts may support readings in simple accord with culturally pervasive conservative views which favour conventionally masculinist, martial views of the individual and of society. Such readings potentially confirm ancient prejudices built out of differences which themselves may be associated with the socio-cultural reproduction of violent conflicts. Nevertheless, contemporary conditions such as planetary climate change and globalised political fear demand resolutions based not in conflict but in unprecedented degrees of global and local co-operation. This thesis, then, explores ways in which the Harry Potter texts may be approached from a critical literacy perspective to support readers to contest conservatively-aligned readings and to question the role of the texts in preparing students for a world of peace and co- operation. iii DECLARATION I certify that this thesis does not, to the best of my knowledge and belief: (i) incorporate without acknowledgment any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any institution of higher education. (ii) contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text; or (iii) contain any defamatory material. I also grant permission for the Library at Edith Cowan University to make duplicate copies of my thesis as required. Signature: ……………………………………. Date: …………………………….. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to my supervisor, Dr Lorna Kaino, for scrupulous academic oversight, pragmatic encouragement and endless kind forbearance. Thanks to my associate supervisor, Dr Barry Down, for useful comments on early drafts. I am grateful to the library staff for helpfulness sometimes beyond the call of duty, and to the theorists whose work inspired and motivated me. My mother’s faith sustained me through many challenges, my children kept me in touch with the currents and torrents of real life and real love, and the bright new faces of my little grandchildren, too often missed, reminded me of the reasons for my work. Thanks to Peni Opitz and Dr Marilyn Palmer, who provided welcome places of retreat for solitary writing. Ross Farnell, Laurie Roberts and John Roberts were extraordinarily generous in their support, as were Judyth Salom and Helen Reading. I am grateful to Dr Judith Roche and Steven Lawsen for consistent collegial support and encouragement. Finally, I dedicate this thesis to my father, Syd Peters, who died just before its completion. Had he not been subject to the most violent movements of 20th century globalisation – economic depression, forced migration and world war – he would have studied at university with the aim of improving the lives of ordinary people. v TABLE OF CONTENTS USE OF THESIS ii ABSTRACT iii DECLARATION iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v ABBREVIATIONS viii FOREWORD 1 Organisation of the thesis......................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 1 11 Methodology 11 Harry Potter in a globalised world: Interrogating meanings................................ 11 Three methodological tasks.................................................................................... 14 The production of theory........................................................................................ 14 Validity................................................................................................................... 17 Choosing theoretical standpoints ........................................................................... 18 Popular culture and Harry Potter........................................................................... 23 Cultural studies ...................................................................................................... 25 Importance 25 Description 27 Cultural studies and English teaching 30 Critical pedagogy ................................................................................................... 31 Importance 32 Description 33 In the classroom 39 Critical literacy....................................................................................................... 40 Importance 41 Definitions 43 Cultural studies, critical pedagogy and critical literacy in the classroom.............. 45 Limitations of the study ......................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 2 48 Production 48 Production of the child........................................................................................... 48 Production of the text............................................................................................. 54 What is genre?........................................................................................................ 58 Harry Potter and the jigsaw(lessness) of genre ..................................................... 60 Use and meanings of genre .................................................................................... 63 Folklore 63 Folk tales 64 Fairy tales 64 Myth 70 Biblical allegory 72 Legend 75 Fantasy 75 Tolkien’s influence................................................................................................. 78 The rise of modern fantasy..................................................................................... 81 CHAPTER 3 90 Globalisation, boys, (girls), and literacy 90 New worlds and new young................................................................................... 90 Defining globalisation............................................................................................ 92 vi Globalisation and boys (and girls) ......................................................................... 96 The pedagogical Atlas............................................................................................ 98 Harry and Hermione at school ............................................................................. 101 Globalisation and the school ................................................................................ 107 Globalisation and curriculum............................................................................... 109 Globalisation and teachers ................................................................................... 110 Globalisation and families ................................................................................... 112 Harry and his Hogwarts family............................................................................ 114 CHAPTER 4 122 That-which-must-not-be-named: Apocalypse 122 Voldemort as the vector of all evils ..................................................................... 122 Cultivating a culture of fear ................................................................................. 127 Harry as the servant of conservatism ................................................................... 131 Harry Potter’s looming apocalypse...................................................................... 136 Apocalyptic currents
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