Coetzee were selected in order to try to map a range of possibile understandings of what has been called “the question of the animal” - which also includes reflections on ethics and compassion towards this animal Other.
As theoretical ground for this reading, writings from thinkers such as Martin Heidegger, Giorgio Agamben, Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Lévinas, Michel Foucault and J. Rowling in order to try to prove that such representations outline posthumanist conceptions of animality and, consequently, of humanity. The analysis undertaken here was carried out with the intent of identifying how non-human animals are represented in the Harry Potter series of seven novels by author J. Keywords: Imperialism, British literature, colonial studies, post-colonial studies, Harry Potter. I conclude by discussing the (lack of) possibilities for the referred creatures to leave their place of subalternity, and what are the implications of it in the story and for the reader. I analyse the mechanisms used by wizards to keep them in an inferior position and how these creatures subvert the hierarchic order of the magic community. Then, I apply my analysis on the British Empire on "Harry Potter", using creatures like goblins, centaurs and house-elves as examples of subaltern peoples on the saga. Secondly, I investigate some forms that subaltern colonised peoples had found to rebel against British domination.
Firstly, I present a brief historic background on the British Empire, analysing the social, political and economic justifications and mechanisms not only for the creation of the empire, but also for the establishment of rigid hierarchies between the peoples of Britain and of its colonies. Thus, I intend to show the presentness of the British imperialist past through the example of a contemporary and extremely popular story, scrutinised under a post-colonial approach to concepts such as hegemony and subalternity. Rowling’s work in the Victorian tradition of the adventure novel, I establish in this dissertation a comparison between British imperialist rhetoric and the discourse of wizards in the saga through the way both created and maintained social hierarchies. "Harry Potter" is a story influenced by uncountable elements of the British history, literature and culture.
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