Harry Potter and the Hallowed Halls

CFP: Harry Potter (4/30/07; MPCA/MACA, 10/12/07-10/14/07)

The Harry Potter area of the Midwest Popular Culture and Midwest American Culture Association is now accepting proposals for its upcoming conference. The MPCA/MACA conference will be held Friday-Sunday, October 12-14, 2007 at the Radisson Hotel & Suites Kansas City-City Center, Kansas City, MO.

Please send proposals on any aspect of Harry Potter Studies to the area chair via email or mail.

So, I've been looking for another regional conference to attend on a regular basis. I have some travel money as a faculty member and I generally don't use a $500 chunk of that change. I've also been looking to branch out beyond the Communication Studies conferences; might as well see what the popular culture folks are up to, wot?

Now the trick is coming up with an interesting proposal regarding Harry Potter. Rather than going the traditional route and analyzing the specific characters, narratives, etc. I'm thinking I ought to do try and pull together a proposal on something unique. What about examining the intersection of the Muggle/Magickal world? Does the break between The Muggle World and The Wizarding World represent anything in particular? Given the phenomenon that is Harry Potter, it strikes me that this might be another example of the way in which significant numbers of people in our culture are clamouring for the extraordinary. With the Enlightenment shift toward the scientific method and human reason, the magickal, mystical, and mysterious have become prized commodities. The Wizarding World, with it's complexity, diversity, and novelty, particularly when contrasted with the simplicity and mundanity of the Muggle World, offers a critique of contemporary urban life. Having lost the inability to experience magick and mystery, we've become Muggles: stupid, boring, and glum. I'll have to come up with some witty theory to apply but that shouldn't be much of a problem.