Potterversity: A Potter Studies Podcast

JUL 14, 2025

Potterversity Episode 66: Back to Wizarding Business

<div>Why is there a lack of service businesses in the wizarding world? Following up on our earlier <a href="https://www.mugglenet.com/2025/04/potterversity-episode-63-the-business-of-witchcraft-and-wizardry/">episode about magical businesses</a>, our technical director, Emma Nicholson, joins us to continue the conversation. Perhaps there aren't many businesses that provide services, as opposed to goods, to wizards because people with magical skills should be able to easily do household tasks for themselves. Not being able to do so is seen as shameful. Consider the characters who perform manual labor or do maintenance work - house-elves, Squibs like Filch, low-level Ministry employee Reg Cattermole. What about entertainers, such as magical <a href="https://www.mugglenet.com/muggle-world/quadball/">athletes</a> and <a href="https://www.mugglenet.com/harry-potter/music-harry-potter/">musicians</a>? Is that kind of physical work different? Previous guest <a href="https://www.mugglenet.com/2022/05/potterversity-episode-21-david-martin-ftw/">David Martin</a> also wrote in wondering about what is considered a service business. Gringotts? The Knight Bus? St. Mungo's Hospital? Niche specialized skills or blended businesses that provide a product as well as a service, like newspapers or wedding marquee rentals, seem to be different than straightforward services. What does this say about the significance of tangible objects wizards can own? Why don't wizards open businesses to provide services to Muggles, secretly using magic to easily make or fix things? Why is any wizard poor when there's a whole untapped market of Muggles who would have more need of their skills? The International Statute of Secrecy and resulting segregation between wizards and Muggles may stop anyone from crossing that line. Magic leaves a trace, and magical repairs may not always work exactly as intended or may be suspiciously effective. The risks may just not be worth it to most people.</div>

41 MIN

JUN 9, 2025

Potterversity Episode 65: Potter & Trek Part 2 - The Reality Inside Your Head

<div>We're voyaging out to the farthest reaches of space and into the deepest recesses of the mind for another look at Harry Potter and Star Trek. Potterversity regular Louise Freeman, a retired psychology professor and licensed behavioral analyst who previously joined us for <a href="https://www.mugglenet.com/2024/09/potterversity-episode-56-the-murky-marshes-of-memory-part-2/">two episodes on memory</a> in Harry Potter, contacted us after our <a href="https://www.mugglenet.com/2025/05/potterversity-episode-64-where-no-potter-podcast-has-gone-before/">Star Trek episode</a> to share another connection that occurred to her. She asks us to consider the famous Dumbledore quotation "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" (<a href="http://www.mugglenet.com/harry-potter/harry-potter-series/the-deathly-hallows-book/">DH</a> 723) in the context of implanted memories in Star Trek. We focus on Captain Picard's life in an extinct civilization on the <a href="https://www.mugglenet.com/2024/05/sorting-the-characters-from-star-trek-the-next-generation/">Next Generation</a> episode "The Inner Light" and Chief O'Brien's prison sentence on <a href="https://www.mugglenet.com/2024/05/sorting-star-trek-deep-space-nine-characters-into-their-hogwarts-houses/">Deep Space Nine</a>'s "Hard Time." Both experiences take place only in the characters' minds within a few minutes yet feel like years to Picard and O'Brien. Technically, Picard never left the bridge of the Enterprise and O'Brien never served time in jail - it happened inside their heads but felt real to them and had lasting effects. We also discuss Captain Pike's time on Talos IV on <a href="https://www.mugglenet.com/2024/05/sorting-star-trek-the-original-series-characters-into-their-hogwarts-houses/">The Original Series</a>, where aliens can create convincing illusions either to trap people or to give them a better quality of life, which is particularly appealing for Pike after he becomes severely disabled. Nog's time in a Las Vegas nightclub in a holosuite following a traumatic injury on Deep Space Nine's "It's Only a Paper Moon" leads us to consider Potter's ghosts and another Dumbledore quote: "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live" (<a href="http://www.mugglenet.com/harry-potter/harry-potter-series/philosophers-sorcerers-stone-book/">SS</a> 214). These "unreal" experiences can have positive or negative consequences and demonstrate the power of escapism not only within these series but for audiences who feel immersed in them. Can you think of any other connections between Harry Potter and Star Trek? We’d love to hear from you! Send us an email at <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>, and connect with us on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Potterversity">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://instagram.com/potterversity_podcast/">Instagram,</a> and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/potterversity.bsky.social">Bluesky</a>.</div>

56 MIN

MAY 12, 2025

Potterversity Episode 64: Where No Potter Podcast Has Gone Before

<div>Space: the final frontier. Our Prime Directive: to boldly examine what Harry Potter has in common with Star Trek. Hosts Katy and Emily and producer Laurie have found themselves making Star Trek references on past episodes and realized that while Harry Potter is often compared to Star Wars, the future United Federation of Planets is less commonly put in dialogue with the wizarding world. We explore why that is and what looking at Potter and Trek side by side can uncover. Star Wars may be the more obvious point of comparison because it is a mythic story with fantasy elements and a hero's journey, but Trek, like Potter, deals with issues of prejudice, cultural relativism, fascism, justice, and institutional corruption. The magical world and the scientifically advanced society of Trek still have problems. We discuss which Star Trek series is the most like Potter and why it's Deep Space Nine. We compare the loathsome characters Dolores Umbridge and Kai Winn, the troublesome ones Peeves and Q, and the self-sacrificing nonhumans Dobby and Data. Both series also have mirrors (literal or figurative), time travel, and explorations of the past, even though Trek is set centuries in the future. Another important theme is the power of friendship - something that can transcend time, species, and genre. Live long and prosper, listeners! </div>

73 MIN

APR 14, 2025

Potterversity Episode 63: The Business of Witchcraft and Wizardry

<div>Let's get down to business - in both the wizarding world and the fandom. Abigail Kohler, adjunct lecturer at Brown University's Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, is relatively new to Harry Potter but was quickly introduced to scholarship on the series through the Harry Potter Academic Conference at Chestnut Hill College. In her own presentation at the 2024 conference, "From Wizard Wheezes to Etsy Empires: An Exploration of Fandom and Entrepreneurship," Abbie explored the types of businesses depicted in the books - including shops, restaurants, and publications - as well as Potter-inspired businesses created by fans. The wizarding world seems to have many consumer goods businesses that sell products but not many service-based businesses, such as plumbing or broom repair. Businesses like the Leaky Cauldron and Honeydukes serve as thresholds for Harry to enter magical areas like Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. While commerce and wealth are often portrayed as evil in fantasy and children's media, they appear to be morally neutral in Potter, where a business can create good or bad things and their products can be used for good or evil, such as Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes items. Fans who create their own Potter-themed businesses are often motivated by a desire to participate in the wizarding world. Before there was so much official merchandise available, fans were creating the types of products they would want to have using their own artistic skills. Abbie surveyed 46 business owners, 44 of whom were women, and was surprised to find that most did not think of themselves as entrepreneurs, a term she advocates for more small business owners to claim for themselves. Fan businesses can also be a tool for positive change, allowing fans to support each other rather than a large corporation and a wealthy author and to reclaim their fandom for the LGBTQ+ community in the wake of the author's comments. Abbie feels that entrepreneurship can be a form of activism. She also offers some helpful tips for listeners who may be interested in starting their own business!</div>

66 MIN

MAR 10, 2025

Potterversity Episode 62: Harry Potter and Revenge

<div>Vengeance is sweet - sometimes. Explore revenge in Harry Potter and the ancient Greek Oresteia by Aeschylus. We welcome back to the show classicist Dr. Mitchell Parks (Knox College), who presented on "Dumbledore, Agamemnon, and the Imperfect Legacy" at the 2024 Harry Potter Academic Conference. He was struck by the epigraph from The Libation Bearers, one of the plays that makes up the Oresteia, at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We discuss the parallels between the play trilogy and the book series, particularly the intertwined themes of justice and revenge. Although there are some similarities between Harry and Orestes, the former spends much more time wrestling with his options and emotions than the latter. The two texts have very different gender politics, which have been reinterpreted in different ways over the years based on current contexts. Although authorial intent is not Mitchell's main interest, the author made a very deliberate choice to include the epigraph, which is formatted similarly to the lightning bolt-shaped dedication. Still, if a reader can notice parallels and convince other readers of their significance, whether or not the author had a deep familiarity with the referenced text doesn't invalidate the meaning.</div>

77 MIN

Potterversity: A Potter Studies Podcast

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