Material Girls

Hey Witches! We'll be back on Tuesday with our regularly scheduled episodes, but we thought we'd give you the promised sneak peek at Hannah's new book A Sentimental Education. On September 22, Hannah launched her book at  Iron Dog Books through a conversation with  Minelle Mahtani  (Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Justice at UBC) and  Lucia Lorenzi  (artist...

Maia Kobabe (e/em/eir) has been censored enough! We're putting this exclusive bonus interview out to the public because it was just so dang fun to record and Maia is a true gem who deserves as big an audience as we can give em. We'll be back with regular episodes in two weeks (October 18th). If you don't already know Maia, e is the author of Gender Queer and the brilliant mind behind other zines,...

We continue our journey through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with another special guest, Erin Wunker! Erin is a settler scholar and an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Dalhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia. She is the author of Notes from a Feminist Killjoy: Essays on Everyday Life and the forthcoming Routledge Introduction to 20th and 21st Century Canadian Poetry...

We continue our journey through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with a special guest, Shira Lurie! Shira joins us to discuss historical memory in the Wizarding World. We're talking statues, stories, memorials and archives. If you enjoyed our episodes on Critical Archival Studies, Chosen One Narratives, Hauntology and Life Writing, then you'll love this episode! You can follow Shira Lurie on T...

In this episode, we begin Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! We cannot believe we're already at the start of Book 7, but honestly, we're so excited to finally get into it! We decided to go back to the start and revisit 'Chosen One narratives' which we discussed in Season 1, Episode 1 of the reboot. We pull on Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism and Joseph Campbell's work about "monomyth." But,...

We're still on a break and gearing up for our seventh season all about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Of course, we didn't want to leave you with nothing to listen to so please enjoy this unlocked Patreon perk: Witch, Please Tell Me! We do Q&A episodes every month for our $10+ tiers. They're goofy and meandering and very fun to record. You can submit a question to our Q&A through th...

We're in between seasons and thrilled to bring you a one-off bonus conversation with beloved podcasters Lark Malakai Gray and Jessie Blount. You may know them from Hashtag Ruthless , a podcast network that "creates hilarious chapter-by-chapter media analysis podcasts with a queer and trans focus." Lark and Jessie are the minds behind The Gayly Prophet, Esgaype from Reality, The Gay Pirate Podcast,...

In this episode, we wrap up Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and thus Season Six of Witch, Please . We talk Hermione in Granger Danger and fashion in Lewk Book, and of course we round out the episode with Marcelle's Devastating Fun Facts TM. Tune in for this goofy episode that gathers some loose threads but mostly just contains chatter about moments in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince...

In this episode we discuss Life Writing. We begin with a review of the monomyth and Structuralism, followed by a deep dive into the work of Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson. Using their book Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives , we consider the Pensieve in the Harry Potter series. How can we read the memories that go into it as life writing? What do we know from the...

In this episode we dig into Marginalia! After a brief revision of our episodes on Print Culture and Fan Studies, we take a look at the it's long histoy using Heather Jackson’s book, Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books (2001). Marcelle begrudgingly leads us through the contribution of the Romantics (specifically Samuel Taylor Coleridge) and we ultimately get to take a long hard look at Harry Potte...

In this episode we are joined by Matt Potts, co-host of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Matt is a reverend and a professor at Harvard specializing in literature, literary theory and Christian theology. He joins us for an episode all about "the soul" in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. You'll hear that we can barely contain our excitement in this episode as we dig into theology for the fir...

This week we get into Security Theatre — and what a timely topic it is! We go over what we learned from Book 3, Episode 6 with Mercedes Eng who walked us through the carceral logics of the Wizarding World. And we review Book 4, Episode 2 about the nation state and the way Benedict Anderson theorized nations as “imagined communities” that are imagined as limited, sovereign, and in need of prot...

In this episode, we're talking about Masculinity Studies with our special guest, Aspen! We begin with a brief review of our episodes on Feminist Theory, Celebrity Studies, Trans Studies and Chosen One Narratives (just to name a few) before getting into a discussion about masculinity in the Wizarding World. Aspen offers us a brief historical overview of the roots of Masculinity Studies, as well as...

Hey friends! Please skip this episode if that feels right for you. We'll be back in two weeks and we want you to take care of yourselves first! In this episode, we discuss Rape Culture. We begin with a brief review of our episodes about discourse, queer theory and classism before diving into the pervasiveness of rape culture in our daily lives and in the Harry Potter series. We'll dig into what it...

In this episode, we are talking ghosts! Tune in for a conversation with our guest, Lydia, as we consider Hauntology as an analytical tool for better understanding the Harry Potter series — specifically the Half-Blood Prince. Lydia guides us through a revisitation of Jacques Derrida and an introduction to Avery Gordon (among others) who ask us to consider the meaning of absences in narratives, hist...

In this episode, we begin Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by revisiting pedagogy! If you've enjoyed our past episodes about the professors at Hogwarts then you will love this episode digging into Horace Slughorn, Severus Snape, and (if you believe it) Albus Dumbledore! Tune in for a conversation based around the article “Collectors, Nightlights, and Allies, Oh My: White Mentors in the Acade...

This week we’re releasing some insider Patreon bonus content instead of a regular episode! Please enjoy this #WitchPleaseTellMe Q&A from May 2021. It’s a goofy little episode where we talk about our favorite lipsticks, where to store “eating chocolate,” and books that changed us! Join at the $10 USD/month tier ( Wizarding World Feminist Utopia ) to gain access to over a year of bonus episodes,...

In this episode, we wrap up The Order of the Phoenix, and thus Season Five of Witch, Please. We talk Hermione in Granger Danger and fashion in Lewk Book. We make a list of what we want to keep our eyes on in the coming book and round out the episode with Marcelle's Devastating Fun Facts TM (all of which make Hannah cry). Tune in for this wild episode that gathers some loose threads but mostly just...

In this episode we're joined by Aisha Wilks (she/her) for a dive into Mad Studies. Pulling on past episodes about Disability Studies, Critical Race Theory, Lycanthropy as Metaphor, PTSD and The Prison Industrial Complex, we take a look at St. Mungo's, the Longbottoms, Luna Lovegood and other representations of madness throughout Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Aisha guides us through a...

In this episode Marcelle leads us through an overview of famous Edmontonian and Media Studies scholar, Marshall McLuhan! We tackle McLuhan's “Tetrad of Media Effects” (a chart!) and use it to think through the DA's gold coins, Umbridge's Educational Decrees, The Daily Prophet, and other forms of communication that flood Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We also draw on previous episodes a...

In this episode, we are joined by jaye simpson to talk about centaurs! jaye is an Oji-Cree Saulteaux Indigiqueer from the Sapotaweyak Cree Nation. They are a writer, advocate and activist published in several magazines including Poetry Is Dead, This Magazine, PRISM international, SAD Magazine: Green , GUTS Magazine, SubTerrain, Grain and Room. They are in two anthologies: Hustling Verse (2019) and...

Hey Witches! We’re dropping this Bonus Episode into your feed as a little end-of-year thank you for everything you’ve done to make the  Witch, Please  reboot such a success. You’ve listened to the show, shared it with family and friends, and joined our Patreon . Instead of making resolutions for the New Year, give yourself the gift of bonus content from  Witch, Please  by joini...

In this episode, we take a closer look at the range of shapeshifters we meet in the Harry Potter series. Between Animagi, Werewolves, Metamorphmagi, Veelas, and Boggarts there is a lot to cover— and we need the Greeks, scholar Llewelyn Negrin, a history of Calvinism, and, of course, Judith Butler, to do it! Join us for a discussion on shapeshifting, as we apply what we've learned from our episodes...

Well Witches, we finally did it — we recorded an episode about fan studies and fan-fiction. And our wonderful guest, Amanda K. Allen (she/her), made it possible! Amanda is a professor of Children’s Literature at Eastern Michigan University who she came onto the show to discuss fan fiction conventions and genre at the intersection of power, adolescence, and the early days of the internet. Join us a...

This week we dig into publics ! The Order of the Phoenix is absolutely brimming with secret, self-organized clubs and we're taking some time to consider how they're formed, what makes them powerful and why we see similarities between the Order, the Death Eaters and Dumbledore's Army. Join us as we defamiliarize the very idea of organizing through Michael Warner's definition of publics, building on...