( Read more... )

We have seen that the demographics of the wizarding world resembles pre-industrial Britain between the late middle ages and the early modern period. I have discussed the burden of infectious diseases on wizarding society but traditionally disease is not the only problem facing pre-industrial societies.

Where death stalks the land, it does so in the ( Read more... )

A discussion of

• Purely magical diseases
• Ways in which infections can jump from magical creatures to wizards
• How the magical world controls the spread to muggles
• Why the magical world doesn't use modern medical techniques

In the previous essay I discussed how diseases contributes to the high death rate in the wizarding world and how the magical world ( Read more... )

High death rates in pre-industrialised countries reflect a large disease burden. Mostly this disease burden is due to infectious diseases that are endemic and also circulated as frequent, regular epidemics. With modern medical care, developed nations like Britain have managed to cut both the disease burden and death rate from infectious diseases ( Read more... )

Darkness will appear on the face of the Abyss; Night, Saturn and the Antimony of the Sages will appear; blackness, and the raven's head of the alchemists, and all the colours of the world, will appear at the hour of conjunction; the rainbow also, and the peacock's tail. Finally, after the matter has passed from ashen-coloured to white and yellow, ( Read more... )

Here's an essay on what I think is one of the several unresolved issues leftover from Deathly Hallows, and what I think it will mean to the HP fanfic community. SPOILERS FOR DEATHLY HALLOWS BENEATH THE CUT.

( Social and Institutional Prejudice in Harry Potter, and the Future of Harry Potter Genfic )

Random essay about something that will have little-to-no effect on the books! Yay!

I think it still has some good thoughts in it, though. Besides, it was fun to write.

( Follow the Fake Cut to My LJ! )

I have an essay on changing attitudes towards muggle fashions in the wizarding world over at essay_exchange.

Some thoughts on the old magical families and bloodlines, and where muggleborns come from.

( Read more... )

Let us talk seriously about lineages, genealogies, and heirships.