Females and Harry Potter; not all that empowering.9780742537798Females and Harry Potter; not all that empowering. Mayes-Elma, Ruthann. Rowman & Littlefield 2006 155 pages $17.95 Paperback Reverberations; contemporary curriculum and pedagogy series PR6068 This study offers a critical reading of the representation of women's agency by the female characters in the first book in the Harry Potter series (US edition), drawing on critical theory, feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical, ground. It encompasses work done in a broad variety of disciplines, prominently including the approaches to women's roles and lives and feminist politics in anthropology and sociology, economics, , and critical discourse analysis Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse, which views "language as a form of social practice" (Fairclough 1989: 20) and focuses on the ways social and political domination is reproduced by text and talk. . She finds that women's agency is presented in manner in keeping with the dominant discourse on gender, with women largely characterized char·ac·ter·ize tr.v. character·ized, character·iz·ing, character·iz·es 1. To describe the qualities or peculiarities of: characterized the warden as ruthless. 2. as doubting themselves, mothering men, and requiring the validation See validate. validation - The stage in the software life-cycle at the end of the development process where software is evaluated to ensure that it complies with the requirements. of men. She further argues that J.K. Rowling allows her female characters to resist gender oppression only up to certain point, thus allowing them some agency but still reinforcing the constructions and institutions of patriarchal pa·tri·ar·chal adj. 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a patriarch. 2. Of or relating to a patriarchy: a patriarchal social system. 3. power relationships. ([c]20062005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR) |
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