Back in 2016, acclaimed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling found herself on the receiving end of social media backlash when she released a digital story collection that included “North American wizards.” This digital collection, History of Magic in North America, contains the use of Indigenous American legend Navajo, a legend of the “skin walker.” It was meant to be a “new era” in Rowling’s wizarding world.

One of the many hindrances of this digital collection was that, not only was Rowling “borrowing” a Indigenous American religious belief for the use of her readers’ entertainment, but is also telling her own interpretation of this legend through a world that she is crediting herself to have created: her wizarding world. In other words, Indigenous American culture equates to fictional, magical, witches and wizards who were created for our amusement by some white lady. Take note that this was a year after Johnny Depp’s horribly tone-deaf Dior commercial for Sauvage.

Rowling’s ill-informed conception reminded me of Thomas King’s discussion around Edward Sheriff Curtis and his photo-manipulation with the use of “‘Indian’ paraphernalia” (King 34). Like Curtis, J.K. Rowling took it upon herself to manipulate a culture she deemed fit for fantasy-fuel. Unlike Curtis, though, Rowling had used this manipulation wholly for her own gain; she had also shown no proof of appreciation towards the Indigenous American people or their traditions. Rather, she has only highlighted fan reviews which praise her digital collection.

One Indigenous American fan in particular, I believe, completely captured the argument against Rowling’s idea of “enlightenment” for readers: “Yo, @jk_rowling my ancestors didn’t survive colonization so you could use our culture as a convenient prop” via Twitter. Well said, Brian.

If you’d like to read more about J.K. Rowling’s tone-deaf digital collection, click [here] (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/03/09/j-k-rowling-borrowed-a-navajo-legend-for-her-new-story-can-she-do-that/), [here] (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/160311-history-of-magic-in-north-america-jk-rowling-native-american-stereotypes), or [here] (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/09/jk-rowling-under-fire-for-appropriating-navajo-tradition-history-of-magic-in-north-america-pottermore) :-)