Material Girls

Latest Episodes:

Book 4, Ep. 7 | Monstrous Women with Jess Zimmerman Sep 14, 2021

Show notes

In this episode we are joined by author Jess Zimmerman (she/they) to discuss the history of monstrous representation in cultural texts across history. Jess, who recently published a wonderful book, Women and Other Monsters, offers her vast knowledge about Greek mythology and metaphor to our investigation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We ask questions like: what makes monsters monstrous? How do representations of femininity get used to characterize monstrous threats to "the hero" of our journey? Why is Fleur's "Veela blood" both monstrous and eroticized, while Madame Maxine's "Giant blood" only the former? And how do Molly Weasley's fits of anger fit into this feminist reading?

Tune in for a powerful new way to read some of the series' most beloved and interesting women characters.

Follow Jess Zimmerman on Twitter @j_zimms and scoop her book at any local bookstore or online! And be sure to follow Witch, Please on Twitter @ohwitchplease and Instagram and let us know what you think of the episode. Join our Patreon for exclusive content including bonus interviews, Q&As, Watch Alongs and more — our tiers range from $2-$13!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 4, Ep. 6 | The Return of Pedagogy Aug 31, 2021

Show notes

We're revisiting pedagogy, Witches!

We first tackled this topic to kick off Season Three by defining the term and considering the teaching methods of various Hogwarts professors (using a D&D Alignment Chart, of course). In this episode, however, we get a bit more granular and look closely at the teaching style of Barty Crouch Jr. and his impersonation of Professor Moody. Ultimately, we get to ask the question: Is Professor Moody AKA Barty Crouch Jr. a great teacher? Can he be one despite his obvious flaws (like...being a Death Eater)? With a little help from Jane Gallop's book, PEDAGOGY: The Question of Impersonation, we dig into the man, the myth, the Moody: Barty Crouch Jr. Tune in for what might be the most lively discussion about pedagogy ever caught on tape.

Content Warning: In this episode, we briefly discuss child abuse and grooming as it pertains to Barty Crouch Jr.'s teaching style.

Be sure to follow Witch, Please on Twitter and Instagram @ohwitchplease and let us know what you think of the episode through a review on Apple Podcasts. As always, you can join our Patreon for exclusive content including bonus interviews, Q&As, Watch Alongs and more — our tiers range from $2-$13!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 4, Ep. 5 | Trans Studies with Taylor Allgeier-Follett Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

This is a must-listen, Witches!

Guest Taylor Allgeier-Follet joins Hannah and Marcelle for a conversation on Trans Studies and The Goblet of Fire. Taylor (they/them) is a PhD candidate at University College Dublin who brings their expertise as both an academic and a person who has read the Harry Potter series over forty times. In this episode, Taylor, Hannah and Marcelle dive into transcoding and transphobia as it relates to the characterization of Rita Skeeter. If you're interested in the evolution of Trans Studies and Trans Theory, then you'll love this episode that stems from the work of Susan Stryker, Grace Lavery, Patricia Elliot and Lawrence Lyons — just to name a few.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 4, Ep. 4 | Post-Critique Aug 03, 2021

Show notes

What happens when Marcelle asks Hannah to do an episode on gay whimsy? We get an episode on post-critique! Dive into this theory with Hannah and Marcelle as they discuss what post-critique offers readers and its downfalls in a world where critique has real, material value. In other words, come for the theory and stay for the discussion about Blast-Ended Screwts. Ron's love of Viktor Krum, and the Prefect's bathroom (all whimsical, pleasurable details of The Goblet of Fire!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 4, Ep. 3 | Critical Race Theory with K. Alex Jul 20, 2021

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You don't want to miss this episode, Witches!

Guest K. Alexandra joins Hannah and Marcelle for a conversation about Critical Race Theory and The Goblet of Fire. Noted by some as a Harry Potter trivia queen, K. Alex is also an educator, activist and member of communities such as Black Girls Create, Black Hotties at Hogwarts, Fandom Forward, and Wizards in Space Literary Magazine. She's basically a badass who swooped in to catch us up on this academic discipline and how we can use it to think through the characterization of beloved characters like Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Parvati and Padma Patil — and Hermione, just to name a few.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 4, Ep. 2 | The Nation State Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

Imagine this... imagined communities! In this episode, Hannah and Marcelle talk all about the Triwizard Tournament and the Goblet of Fire's relationship to nation states and nationalism.

If you've read this book and thought, "Huh... why are they all rooting for Ireland?" you may finally find yourself with some answers. And if you've just celebrated Canada Day or the Fourth of July or you're just thinking about borders and patriotism (as one does), you won't be disappointed – Hannah and Marcelle talk all about the formation of communities (imagined or not) in and outside of the Harry Potter world through a thorough overview of scholar Benedict Anderson's work and some light bullying of him as well, (of course).

Note: In this episode we refer to Uganda as the only African nation mentioned in the series, but we talk about Egypt a bit earlier on! Our mistake!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 4, Ep. 1 | Structuralism Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

Guess what Witches, it's time to jump on the Hogwarts Express because we're back with our fourth season — all about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

In this episode we get down and dirty with the structuralists. You may be thinking, aren't those a bunch of old white guys who thought everything could be reduced to the same component parts? To which we say, yes kind of. But as we begin a book that's all about tasks, quests, and our "hero's journey" towards victory in the Triwizard Tournament, we need some tools to help us think about plot! Tune in for this brain-bending overview of structuralism and post-structuralism through the ideas of Barthes, Foucault and Borges — and Hannah and Marcelle, of course.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 3, Ep. 7 | Prisoner of Azkaban Wrap-Up Jun 08, 2021

Show notes

Well Witches, it’s time to hop on the back of the nearest hippogriff and fly into the sunset, because we’re officially wrapping up Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Oh how time flies when you’re examining disability, metaphor, and the prison industrial complex! It's almost as if time is... a construct? (Kidding, kidding, physicists please don't come for us.)

We spend this episode sorting Harry Potter characters into Dungeons and Dragons classes, interrogating the magic of boggarts, and bracing ourselves for another round of Marcelle's Devastating Fun Facts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 3, Ep. 6 | The Prison Industrial Complex with Mercedes Eng May 25, 2021

Show notes

Special guest, poet and educator Mercedes Eng, joins us to take a closer look at Azkaban, the carceral logic of the wizard world, and how it reflects our own ideas about monstrosity, punishment, and innocence. We take a look at restorative and transformative ideas of justice and debate whether the nightmarish portrayal of Azkaban is a radical call for prison abolition or an insidious device meant to make our own prison system look reasonable.

Content warning: this episode discusses trauma linked to incarceration, settler colonialism, racism, police brutality and sexual assault.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book 3, Ep. 5 | Werewolves: A Metaphor? May 11, 2021

Show notes

Greetings, Witches!

Our last two episode on Animal Studies and Disability Studies laid the groundwork for this week's episode all about how to read Remus Lupin and his Lycanthropy. In an ebook released on Pottermore, J.K. Rowling stated that she meant Lupin's werewolf condition to be a metaphor for AIDS. This week we look at the way that metaphors of illness circulate ideologies about those who are ill - implying certain truths about their worthiness, deviance, and threat to society. We discuss specifically the history of AIDS and its metaphors, and examine how reading Lupin as a character with AIDS reinforces rather than challenges dangerous narratives about queer and disabled folks.

Resources:

How She Read by Chantal Gibson

Illness as Metaphor + AIDS and its Metaphors by Susan Sontag

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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