Racebending in Harry Potter

Racebending in Harry Potter is the act of portraying characters who are canonically considered to be one race/ethnicity as a different race/ethnicity in various types of fanworks, such as fanfiction, fanart, fanvids, or other fan-created works.
The exact origin of popular tropes, like Black!Hermione Granger or biracial!Harry are unknown. They may have arisen due to the ambiguity of the characters' descriptions in the books.
The fanon interpretation of a character's race may predate the Harry Potter movies and thus may be an interpretation of the original source material rather than an example of racebending. Interpretations after the films were made could be considered chromatic recasting, although the race/ethnicity of the actors are not always considered canon for the characters. The mostly-white production of the film version and the frequent changes in the race/ethnicity of characters like Lavender Brown led many fans to embrace the activity no longer as pure interpretation, but as an act of protest and greater representation of themselves and others in fandom. A way to make the Harry Potter universe more identical to the real world.
==Black Hermione Granger==
===History===
Hermione Granger is often imagined as a black female character. The origin of this fan interpretation lies in descriptions of Hermione in the novels; a young woman with "bushy brown hair" and brown eyes. According to Finite-whitewashing, by 2012, Hermione was already one of the most popular PoC interpreted characters.PoC characters in the Harry Potter books/films/games, May 2012. Reblogged by thetrolliestcritic, 10 May 2013.
In December 2015, it was announced that a black actress, Noma Dumezweni, had been cast as Hermione Granger in the premiere London run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.Monica Tan, "Noma Dumezweni cast as Hermione in new Harry Potter stage play", The Guardian, 21 December 2015 This resulted in controversy and wank within fandom (see Hermionewank). J.K. Rowling weighed in on Twitter, pointing out that she never explicitly specified Hermione's skin colour in the books, and stating that she "loves black Hermione."Tweet by J.K. Rowling, December 21, 2015 However, this event also popularized and raised fannish support for Black!Hermione, leading to an increase in fanart and fanfiction focused on a black Hermione Granger in the following years. Media stories sometimes positively highlight the Black!Hermione phenomenon.Daniel Wren, "Gallery: The best fan art of black Hermione Granger", Vada Magazine, July 29, 2016Patrice Peck, "This Artist Perfectly Reimagined Hermione From Harry Potter And People Are Saying It's The Best Depiction Yet", BuzzFeed, August 14, 2018 Fanartists have faced harassment for creating Black!Hermione fanworks.Louise McCreesh, "Harry Potter artist draws Hermione as black and faces horrific racist backlash", Digital Spy, September 20, 2017Lee Moran, "Racists Flip Out Over Artist's 'Harry Potter' Picture With Black Hermione", HuffPost, September 20, 2017
===Example Fanworks===
====Fanfiction====
* black by potterworm, Hermione's life has been a combination of racism, prejudice, and fighting the two. A series of short drabbles in honor of the casting of a black woman as Hermione in "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." (2015)
====Fanart====
* Harry Potter - Black Hermione by ArainMorn (2016)
* Hermione by Aveku-chan-Kataang (2014)
* Hermione Granger by kirstendraws (2014)
* Hermione by batcii (2014)
* The Golden Trio by HaNJiHye (2014)
* Hermione by Hellomynameisbasil (2014)
* Hermione Granger by by fridouw (2015)
* A little late night study sesh featuring BlackHermione! by twiggymcbones (2015)
* Hermione Granger by FFairyy (2015)
*woke up just to draw fetus Hermione by punziella (2015)
* I told you I thought about it by eighthsun (2016)
* Hermione by emibalissen (2016)
*Hermione by dasstark (2016)
*hermione! by aeyon (2016)
* Too Many Books by LouhiArt (2016)
* Hermione by mejeane (2016)
* Hermione Granger by Naimly (2016)
* Hermione doing what she does best: effortlessly being better than everyone else. by toodrunktofindaurl (2016)
* Hermione Granger, The Brightest Witch of Her Age by tuffuny (2016)
* This is for the friendly anon: Black Hermione by verasartblog (2016)
* Hermione by Tastikixtutsu (2016)
* Happy black history month! Have a Hermione in Rons sweater by maraudermap (2017)
* Hermione by dellbelle39 (2014)
* Hermione Granger by DJune-y (2017)
* WIP of Hermione Granger by cladelle (2017)
* S.P.E.W by fridouw (2016)
* Hermione by Hyacinth-Zofia (2017)
* Hermione Granger by LouhiArt (2017)
* Another Hermione by mejeane (2017)
* Hermione Granger by Sophingers (2017)
*Hermione and Crookshanks by rosielleny (2017)
* Books and Cleverness by upthehillart (2017)
* Hermione by luxuryzz (2018)
* A quick Hermione, living her best lifeSparkles by pieceofseoul (2018)
* Hermione by Jackxxline (2019)
*Minister of Magic Granger by somecallmegin (2019)
====Other====
* Hermione Granger and the Quarter Life Crisis, a fan film in which Hermione is played by a black actress
===Art Gallery===
File:Draco and Hermione by Bea-Gonzalez.jpg|Fanart by fanartist Bea-Gonzalez based on the Spanish-language Dramione fanfiction Lija y Terciopelo written by Dryadeh. This piece, from April 12, 2007, is an early example of black!Hermione.
File:Hermione by HoneyJadeCrab.jpg|Hermione by HoneyJade Crab (2014)
File:Hermione Granger by CamiFortuna.jpg|Hermione Granger by CamiFortuna (2017)
File:Hermione by ikimaru-art.png|Hermione by ikimaru-art (2018)
File:First Year Hermione by Nan Lawson.jpg|First Year Hermione by Nan Lawson (2018)
File:Still reading by jetsskeee.png|still reading by jetsskeee (2021) – Romione fanart featuring black!Hermione.
File:Romione by jetsskeee.png|romione by jetsskeee (2021)
==PoC Harry Potter==
Harry Potter is often headcanoned as biracial. The most common alternate heritage is British Indian/Pakistani. This interpretation is sometimes known as Hari Potter. Within fandom, James Potter is often portrayed as British Asian, with Lily widely agreed to be white. Another variation of the Biracial!Harry trope is when Harry is portrayed as black on his father's side. Such conjectures are made by fans based on descriptions, small sketches and other information about the characteristics of James Potter and later the great similarity between Harry and his father.
===Example Fanworks===
====Fanart====
*⚡👑📗 (The Golden Trio) by rosielleny (2017)
* Harry Potter by buns-char (2018)
* Harry Potter by buns-char (2018)
* Day out by EroEmo-chan (Drarry, 2017)
* the boy who lived by FlyboyBeFree (2017)
* by foolforfelton (2018)
* Harry Potter by fridouw (2017)
* Harry Potter by GoatBear1 (2021)
* Gryffindor Quidditch Team with poc!Harry by hanatsuki89
* Harry Freaking Potter by Jackie-lyn (2014)
* Harry inspired by Marlon Teixeira! by jackofallplagues
* Harry by lou2209
* Just Harry by LouhiArt (2016) 
* Hot Dad ™ Harry Potter? by lilabeanz
* young Harry Potter by LouhiArt (2016)
* Harry Potter by orakorvo (2015)
* save me @god by Pancrotch (2015)
* Happy September 1st guys, have a Harry✨ by peaceofseoul (2018)
* Harry Potter - My Interpretation by pzreich24 (2019)
* Harry Potter And The Upside Down by pzreich24 by (Stranger Things crossover, 2017)
* Harry sketch by RedFelix117 (2015)
* Harry Potter by shark-bomb (2016)
* Harry Potter poc by sibandit (2015)
* Harry and Ginny by Slayerintheimpala (Harry/Ginny, 2017)
* PoC - Harry Potter by surelox (Harry/Ginny, 2014)
====Meta====
* poc!potter makes so much sense by claudiaboleyn (2014)
* In My Mind, Harry Potter Is Indian by Richa Venkatraman (2017)
===Art Gallery===
File:Harry and Hedwig by Myrrky.jpg|A young PoC!Harry with his pet owl Hedwig (art by Myrkky).
File:Drarry by Myrkky.jpg |Drarry fanart by Myrkky featuring a PoC!Harry.
File:Blaise and Harry by Myrkky.jpg|Fanart by Myrkky of PoC!Harry with Blaise Zabini (canonically black) based on the fic Relief from Nightmares by ArielSakura.
File:Harry and Teddy by Myrkky.jpg|PoC!Harry with his godson Teddy Lupin (art by Myrkky).
File:The Chosen One satuwilhelmiina.jpg|The Chosen One by satuwilhelmiina - A depiction of Harry as an Indian man.
==Other Characters Interpreted as POC==
Other commonly racebent characters, or characters that are often interpreted as people of colour, include:
* Albus Dumbledore
* Severus Snape
* Sirius Black
* Helga Hufflepuff
* Newt Scamander was popularly headcanoned as POC before the casting for the Fantastic Beasts films was announced; for more on this, see Hopes for a PoC Newt Scamander
* Pansy Parkinson
==Art Gallery==
File:Golden Trio by Cazuuki.jpg|Art of The Golden Trio by Cazuuki with POC!Hermione and POC!Harry.
File:Golden Trio 2 by Cazuuki.jpg|Another depiction of The Golden Trio by Cazuuki.
File:The Golden Trio by rosielleny.jpeg|Art by rosielleny with POC!Harry and Hermione.
==Meta & Further Reading==
* On JK Rowling’s thing about after the fact diversity by stitch (2015)
==Archives & Links==
* Black Hermione Granger works on Ao3
* Biracial Harry Potter, Indian Harry Potter, Black Harry Potter and Desi Harry Potter works on Ao3
==References==
Category:Harry Potter Fandom GlossaryCategory:Race & Fandom