We have all heard of universities like Yale and Georgetown offering Harry Potter courses and we get excited and say, "I wish this were at our school." Well after hearing her students say that very same thing, one sociology assistant professor in Bowling Green decided that she would do just that.
As a result, Bertena Varney, Assistant Professor of Sociology, will be taking her Soc 235 “Inequality in Society” class and develop a fully immersed Harry Potter themed class this fall at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College.
The course will grow from ideas that she has used in her other classes that focus on pop culture units such as Harry Potter, comic books, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Last spring she incorporated a few of the ideas from the Harry Potter series into one of her classes. From that unit she decided that it would be possible to incorporate the course competencies with the Harry Potter series but this will be the first class that will be fully immersive in one of these topics.
In the course, students will use the following books, The Sociology of Harry Potter, The Harry Potter Series, Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Cursed Child, and Tales of Beetle the Bard. They will be expected to read one book every 2 weeks, 1-3 articles a week and the other books as directed. She is emphasizing to her students that this class will be book focused and not movie focused.
The course will begin with a Sorting Hat Ceremony where each student will take his or her results from Pottermore.com and then work with their houses on group projects, presentations, and social campaigns to earn house points to win the house cup that will be awarded Finals Week during the End of Year Feast.
There are other professors and staff that have volunteered to play the parts of the Heads of Houses and to be mentors to these students when they are working on their projects and campaigns. David Jones, Assistant Professor of Art, will oversee the Gryffindor House. Librarian Kathryne LeFevre will help the Hufflepuff House, and she is still searching for a Ravenclaw and Slytherin Head of House but is confident that she will find other coworkers that will want to participate in this new course.
The course will focus on the inequalities that are found in the Harry Potter series that mirror those inequalities in the "real" world. These will range from social status, racism, feminism, child abuse, education, poverty, government corruption, and more. The students will then take these inequalities and examine how J. K Rowling explained and at times resolved these issues in the series. Then as a discussion the students will find a solution as to how they can help take this issue and make the world a better place. The students will also find a local social organization that will allow them to volunteer their time and see how they can make a change in their world.
This is what SKYCTC Librarian, Kathryne LeFevre had to say about the class:
“Great literature provides both a mirror and a window for the reader. The mirror provides readers with the opportunity to reflect on their own experiences and how they relate to the characters of the story. This self-reflection can then become a window to the real world and help readers better understand their place in the world and help them be more empathetic to those who are different than themselves. Ms. Varney’s use of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series in her Social Inequality class will provide her students with the opportunity to explore the inequalities in Rowling’s fantasy world and connect them to the inequalities they see in their own communities and throughout the world. By reflecting on these inequalities, these students will gain a better understanding of themselves and others, and, hopefully, be motivated to fight for equality and pursue positive change. Plus, they will experience the joy of reading some really great books!”
The class will provide many opportunities for collaboration throughout the semester. Two such events are to present a project at the school's Banned Book Week Event and the Comic Book Art Show, both organized by Ms. Varney's Mass Media class and David Jones' Art Classes.
A third option to collaborate with The Fandom of the Phoenix, a local nonprofit chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance with book discussions, trivia nights, and campaigns dealing with animal rights that will coincide with the release of the Fantastic Beasts movie in November. The SKYCTC Movie Club is also joining in on this by inviting the class to attend a showing of the movie on the release night.
Then all three will be offering an evening event titled Fantastic Beasts, Animal Rights, and Environmental Awareness Showcase. It is on Tuesday, Nov. 22, from 5-7 p.m. at the SKYCTC Main Campus Building F Conference Room. There will be displays about how to help animals and the environment. IT features many of the messages from the movie. There will also be snacks and a discussion about the movie. For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/253531821686352/
The Harry Potter Alliance is a nonprofit that is recognized by JK Rowling and helps make "fans into heroes" by creating social awareness campaigns that local community chapters like Fandom of the Phoenix can participate in and bring awareness to social inequality issues. A few of the upcoming students as well as Varney and LeFevre are also members of the Fandom of the Phoenix.
When asked about what she thought about the upcoming class, SKYCTC student and Fandom of the Phoenix President Jackie Travis said,
“I am so excited about the new Social Inequities class this fall. I am really excited that we are g to be able to look at different inequities in the world through the world of Harry Potter. Since we are probably going to be covering topics that most people don’t like to talk about, I think this is going to be a good way to bring light to these sort of issues. Yes, we are going to be having fun in this class but we will also be covering some serious topics too. I can’t wait to see what Ms. Varney have planned for us in the fall!”
If you are interested in learning more about this course please check out the Ms. V’s Harry Potter in the Classroom Facebook page here- https://www.facebook.com/Msvsharrypotterclass/
To learn more about the Fandom of the Phoenix – the Southcentral Harry Potter Alliance, click here - https://www.facebook.com/FandomofthePhoenix/
And to learn more about Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College and the programs that they offer click here- http://www.southcentral.kctcs.edu/