The release of part one of the movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows,” on November 19, 2010 concludes the seven-part series that most College of Charleston students have grown up with – seniors were nine years old when the first book was released in 1997. The series has influenced this generation – right down to the classes they are taking, the research they are doing and the sports they are playing.
English Professor Trish Ward has been teaching a course on Harry Potter since 2009, and has filled three different sections of the three-credit special topics course that requires students read the entire Harry Potter series – more than 4,000 pages! She divides the students into Hogwarts (School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) houses for group discussions and presentations. She specifically looks at the themes of love, loyalty, friendship, innocence and “ancient magic” as more powerful than the forces of evil that underestimate and forget the power of those they consider weak. The course also looks at some of the authors who had a profound influence on those themes including Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
Jason Coy, associate professor of history, focuses his research on magic and superstition in early modern Europe. He says the Harry Potter series has been very influential in the way students look at history and culture and it sometimes comes up in classes.
“Some of the practices that are featured in the books – like alchemy and the philosopher’s stone or the divination classes taught at Hogwarts – are actually rooted in historical phenomena,” Coy says. “However, magic and witchcraft in early modern society were a part of the everyday fabric of village life, whereas in the Harry Potter novels sorcery and the supernatural are sequestered from the everyday world.”
Coy will be giving a lecture on “The Real Harry Potter: Magic and Witchcraft in Pre-Modern Europe” on December 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Charleston County Public Library (68 Calhoun Street) in the Main Library Auditorium. The lecture, associated with the American Library Association’s “Harry Potter’s World” traveling exhibition, will explore the Renaissance-era magical beliefs that inspired the Harry Potter series.
Also as part of CCPL’s Harry Potter exhibit, students in College of Charleston’s professional chemistry honor society, Alpha Chi Sigma, will help children learn some of Harry Potter’s magic. They’ll conduct experiments like “The Clock of Repeating Time,” “The Glowing Slug Spew,” and “The Bubbling Brew of Acid.” This will take place on November 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the Main Auditorium.
College of Charleston students have also started a Quidditch team, and head to New York City for the Quidditch World Cup on Saturday, November 11. The game is brought down to Earth – literally – with participants running around on brooms throwing balls through mounted hula hoops. The sport is a mix between rugby, soccer and dodgeball.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows,” the seventh and final adventure in the Harry Potter film series, is a motion picture event, told in two full-length parts. Part 1 begins as Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission to track down and destroy the Horcruxes – they keys to Voldemort’s immortality. No longer just a boy, Harry Potter is drawing ever closer to the task for which he has been preparing since the day he first stepped into Hogwarts: the ultimate battle with Voldemort.
For more information, contact Trish Ward at 843.953.5648 or Jason Coy at 843.953.8273.
