Squibs & the Myth of Who is Magical

Summary

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Critical Magic Theory: Squibs & the Myth of Who is Magical

Host: Professor Julian Womble
Date: August 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Critical Magic Theory, Professor Julian Womble embarks on a deep analysis of Squibs in the Harry Potter universe, questioning the social and legal boundaries of magical identity. Instead of viewing criticism as dislike, Womble urges listeners to hold affection and inquiry together, probing what Squibs reveal about who counts as "magical," social hierarchies, and the precariousness of belonging in the wizarding world. Through examining characters like Argus Filch and Arabella Figg, the episode unpacks how ability, family lineage, and social perception collide to define (and limit) identity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Defining "Magical": Who Decides?

[01:27–06:01, 13:28–22:56]

• The central episode question: Who gets to be magical, and how is this determined?
  • Legal (de jure): Access to magical spaces, recognition by the Ministry, family lineage.
  • Social (de facto): Visible ability to perform magic, cultural acceptance.
  • Squibs (like Filch and Figg): Born into magical families yet unable to perform magic—occupying a liminal, often marginalized place.
• Prof. Womble highlights the ambiguity:
  • "Doing magic is not necessarily a prerequisite for having to be magical because non magical people don't have access to these spaces and places. And yet Mrs. Fig and Argus Filch have access to spaces where non magical people should not be allowed." — Professor Womble [14:39]
• Contrast with Muggleborns: They can perform magic but are not always recognized as "legitimately" magical, especially in oppressive regimes:
  • Example: Mrs. Cattermole’s hearing under Umbridge, where ability wasn’t enough without magical blood [18:01].

The Hierarchy & Social Construction of Magical Identity

[02:36–04:54, 24:00–32:13, 46:27–53:01]

• Magical society’s hierarchy: Purebloods > Half-bloods > Muggleborns > Squibs (but the boundaries frequently blur).
• Squibs challenge the hierarchy—born magical but not able, they fit awkwardly in a rigidly ability-based society.
• Pureblood supremacy influences how Squibs are seen; even in "good" families (Longbottoms, Weasleys), there’s discomfort with producing non-magical offspring.
  • "If you can produce a non magical person, does that undermine your being pureblood?" — Professor Womble [50:54]
• Biological claims to magical superiority often ignore genetic realities.
  • "The mentality... is, 'we are superior so our genes should beat out yours. And if it doesn't, that means we failed and that you are a failure because you are not magical.'" — Professor Womble [28:08]

Biology vs. Social Perception (& the Case of Merope Gaunt)

[26:17–32:13]

• Digression into genetics and the roots of Squibs (and Muggleborns). Biological explanations are inconsistent and prejudiced.
• Merope Gaunt, wrongly labeled a Squib due to her traumatic environment, highlights how the label is more an insult—a slur or tool for exclusion—than a strict biological diagnosis.
  • "[Squib] functions as a less accurate diagnosis and more as a Slur... a de facto and du jour identity that can kind of ebb and flow depending on who you are and where you are and in whose orbit you find yourself." — Professor Womble [31:12]

Living as a Squib: Access Without Power

[33:14–44:02]

• Argus Filch: His continued presence at Hogwarts is both solace and torment.
  • Hogwarts as "a constant reminder that at least part of you belongs here, even if there is no outward manifestation of that belonging." — Professor Womble [36:35]
  • Filch endures subordination from magical children and lacks the one thing that confers power and belonging: magical ability.
  • His relationship with Umbridge exposes the misleading power of context; even she cannot distinguish that he is not magically abled [41:59–43:27].
• Parallel to Voldemort:
  • Both Filch and Voldemort seek to claim spaces or status denied to them, “cosplaying” as something they are not fully permitted to be [44:30].
• How squibs are (or aren’t) accommodated: Society claims it is “kinder” to send Squibs away, but is it? For Filch, remaining at Hogwarts is an assertion of identity and belonging, even as it deepens his isolation.

Family & Social Pressure: The Case of Neville Longbottom

[46:27–51:56]

• The Longbottom family’s desperate efforts to prove Neville’s magical ability show that even anti-supremacist families fear social consequences of birthing a Squib.
  • "A family would rather you be magical than not be magical. And that in some ways, it feels like there’s a reputational cost if you aren’t." — Professor Womble [48:45]
• The need to demonstrate magical ability is so embedded that identities (pureblood, half-blood, etc.) are only valid if you can do magic—otherwise, you become a Squib regardless of lineage.

Reflections: The Social Construction of "Magical"

[54:02–59:57]

• What it means to be magical is context-dependent—politically, legally, and socially—and can shift with regime or social consensus.
  • “Being magical is a socially constructed identity... There are people who are born into magical families who have access to magical space, who, for all intents and purposes, are magical, but don't get to lay claim to that identity because they cannot do magic.” — Professor Womble [54:53]
• Access, not ability, often marks magical belonging—in the same way that race, gender, and other identities are dictated by external societal rules and recognition, not strictly by internal reality.
  • “The way that you understand yourself is not the same thing as the way that you were understood by external sources who get to define you in certain ways.” — Professor Womble [58:20]

The Power of Presence

[39:01–40:52, Closing]

• Argus Filch's ongoing existence at Hogwarts serves as a reminder: magicalness is not just about what someone can do, but about who they are and whether the community (or institution) allows them to belong—whether or not they possess the abilities the majority values.
  • "Being magical is not contingent on what you can do. It's who you are. It's how you were born." — Professor Womble [59:55]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Access without power" — the driving paradox of Squib identity [33:19–36:13].
• "Our understanding of being a squib is one presented to us as comedy, but I think the reality is one that is very sad and also very, very complicated." — Professor Womble [05:45]
• "Ability does not dictate identity." — Professor Womble [59:57]
• On Filch and Umbridge: "Umbridge, our pure blood supremacist disaster of a character... can’t tell the differ because he’s in the space. And perhaps that’s why he’s in the space..." [42:24]
• "The moniker of Squib in Merope's case kind of deepens it because she isn't one, right? By definition, she is a person who is both magically born and magically abled, but she is magically stunted." — Professor Womble [30:33]
• Comparing Squib status to race and gender identity: "There are outward manifestations, but those manifestations may not always match one's identity." — Professor Womble [58:08]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:27–06:01] — Introduction to Squibs, hierarchies, and initial framing
• [13:28–22:56] — De jure vs. de facto magical identity; Squibs and Muggleborns
• [24:00–32:13] — The question of lineage, biology, and the slur-like use of "Squib"
• [33:14–44:02] — Deep dive on Argus Filch and the lived experience of Squibs
• [46:27–53:01] — Family pressure (Neville, Weasleys) and the social cost of Squib identity
• [54:02–59:57] — Closing reflections on the constructedness of magical identity; parallels to real-world identity politics

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Concluding Thoughts

Professor Womble’s critical exploration of Squibs explodes the simple binaries of magical/non-magical in the Wizarding World. By framing magical identity as a social (and legal) construct, the episode invites listeners to look beyond ability, consider community definitions, and reflect on how real-world identities are also shaped by context and power. The discussion asks: Who is erased, overlooked, or made the punchline—yet still manages to lay claim to belonging in spite of it? Squibs, it turns out, teach us more about the wizarding world’s anxieties and boundaries than about magical "deficiency."

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End of Summary

Transcript

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[Professor Julian Womble]

Welcome to Critical Magic Theory, where we deconstruct the wizarding world of Harry Potter.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Because loving something doesn't mean we can't be critical of it. I'm Professor Julian Womble and today we are going to be talking about Squibs. Now, admittedly, when I was conceptualizing what

[Professor Julian Womble]

the next episode in our summer series is going to be, I was gonna do a Prof. Response episode.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But then I started seeing people in the post episode chat and in the

[Professor Julian Womble]

Spotify comments talking about squibs. And then I got really excited about the prospect of talking about squibs. And so I said, you know what? We're going to jettison a Prof. Response episode and we're going to dive straight into Squibs because there's a lot

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

there for us to unpack. And this is a population of people that we haven't really spent a lot of time talking about because we really only know Filch. But we don't know that much about Filch.

[Professor Julian Womble]

We simply know that he's a Squib, that he's kind of the janitor of Hogwarts.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But there are other instances in which

[Professor Julian Womble]

we get to see squibs in action.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And the thing that I am most

[Professor Julian Womble]

excited to really unpack about Squibs is

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

the questions that they invite us to think about. Right? And the big question that we're gonna kind of grapple with throughout the episode is who gets to be magical? What does it mean to be magical. And who decides who is magical? Squibs offer us the ability to really understand that particular dynamic in no uncertain terms. When I teach my class every day,

[Professor Julian Womble]

every first day I go through the different hierarchies of the magical world. And I talk about the magical versus non magical, and I talk about the magical versus creature. And then I talk about purebloods, half Bloods, Muggleborns and Squibs.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And I always question where to put

[Professor Julian Womble]

Squibs in the hierarchy. Right. We know that Pure Blood supremacy invites us to see Pure Bloods as the most superior.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And then we know that Muggleborns also occupy a space where they are marginalized. But where do Squibs fit into that particular hierarchy?

[Professor Julian Womble]

And I always question whether or not Squibs should go before Muggle borns or after Muggle borns.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

I always end up though coming to the conclusion that they should come after Muggleborns because they are not magically abled. Which then means that within the scope of the magical non magical hierarchy, they are not magical. But the twist is, is that they are born into magical families. And so for all intents and purposes, in some domains they are magically born, but not magically able. Then how do we reconcile that particular dynamic of their identity with who they are and how they are perceived by other people in their orbit? We know a lot about the way that Squibs operate within the magical world

[Professor Julian Womble]

through our understanding of Filch. We also know that based on the limited time that we spend with Mrs.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Figg, that squibs are kind of invited

[Professor Julian Womble]

to or self select into moving into the non magical world.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

What does that mean though? And what does that look like when you are either being forsaken by your family or make the executive decision at a certain age to forsake your family. Now the other thing is, is that most of the time magic manifests when you're seven or eight. And so if it doesn't manifest by then, then you aren't making a decision. You're a child. You're being taken away or sent away to live in the non magical world. How do we reconcile what that means? And we spent a lot of time in the last episode unpacking a lot of the Ministry of Magic and all of these things. And the way that the Ministry is imbued with a lot of the pre

[Professor Julian Womble]

existing prejudices that define so much of the social interactions of the magical world.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And Squibs are part of that.

[Professor Julian Womble]

So we aren't completely leaving behind the Ministry of Magic.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

We're kind of expanding our understanding of this and thinking about the kind of

[Professor Julian Womble]

du jour, which is kind of the

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

more like legal understanding of magical identity and the de facto, which is a more social understanding of magical identity so that we can better understand the very, very precarious position of this particular group within the magical world. We're getting into all of it. And I personally cannot wait because this is something that we don't spend a lot of time, you know, thinking. And when we are introduced to squibs, a lot of it is kind of comedic, right? When they find out that filch is a squib, they laugh.

[Professor Julian Womble]

You know, we hear Hagrid throw around

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

the word at filch. And so our understanding of being a squib is one that is presented to us as comedy, but I think the reality is one that is very sad and also very, very complicated. And so we're diving into all of it.

[Professor Julian Womble]

But before we divide, before we dive

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

to that, you know, we have to bop, because once you bop, the fun don't stop. So the bop is coming to you in three, in two, in one. Let's bop.

[Professor Julian Womble]

We need to talk about Harry Potter.

[Jay Uso]

Sa.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

You danced in these perilous times.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Dancing is really all we have. Well, that's not all we have, but it's a thing that we do have anyways. You get it.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Welcome back, y'.

[Professor Julian Womble]

All. Welcome back to everyone. No matter whether you are catching up, this is your first episode with us or you've been caught up the whole time.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Welcome back and thank you to those of you who participated in the post

[Professor Julian Womble]

episode chat on our Ministry of Magic summer episode. You all brought some really, really, really interesting things to us.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And it's not out of the realm

[Professor Julian Womble]

of possibility that I will do a Prof. Response episode. But I got too excited about the squibs and so I had to do it.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

You know, I have to follow my heart. I have to go where the river

[Professor Julian Womble]

of life takes me. And it's taking me down Squib Lane where I am on vacation right now. There's actually a beach called Squibnocket.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And so that feels very apropos.

[Professor Julian Womble]

And so we're gonna go with that. I just thought of that, so don't even worry about it. I do want to take a moment, though, to welcome our newest Chronic Overthinkers. We have Emma, we have Liz, and we have Carissa.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Welcome to our ranks if you want

[Professor Julian Womble]

to join us as a paid subscriber. Chronic Overthinker, deep diver, outstanding owl, you can do so patreon.com criticalmagictheory you can also join for free and join in the post episode chats. If you are a listener on Spotify, you can also comment and there are ongoing conversations there which are also really fun to engage with.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

You can do both. You can DM me on Instagram Prof.

[Professor Julian Womble]

JW or on TikTok ProfW and talk to me about the episodes. People do that all the time.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

The world is your oyster. If you are a chronic overthinker or

[Professor Julian Womble]

a deep diver, you can also join our Discord where we have an ongoing lively conversation. Sometimes we have live episode chat so that when the episodes drop, people are there, they start it all together and we all are chatting. We also have post episode chat chats. There's all kinds of things that are available to you there, so feel free to join. If you are one of those paid subscribers also, and this will be very quick, you can go to our website criticalmagictheory.com, you can click the merch button

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

and you will see a bevy of

[Professor Julian Womble]

things that are available to you. T shirts, sweatshirts, crop tops, crop top, hoodies, mugs, stickers. The world is your oyster. And there you can get all the

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

things that you want for gifts for yourself.

[Professor Julian Womble]

I normally just build things and buy them myself. I live in my merch and so does my friend. So the quality is very good. So do that While you'[e-mail] you might

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

also see a button that says behind the cloak and you might say huh, what's that? Prof.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Hasn't mentioned that in every single episode since the this very thing was written and done.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

It's my book. You didn't know that I was writing a book, but I am. And I have heard that those of us who are in the UK can now get access to it via Amazon. And to that I say hurrah.

[Professor Julian Womble]

I know that there are still some of us who are unable to get access to the pre ordering. I am working on that with the powers that be.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But if you are in the position

[Professor Julian Womble]

to be able to pre order the

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

book, that would be great and go a long way in terms of pushing

[Professor Julian Womble]

us forward for the purposes of getting

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

the book in bookstores, you know, making it a best seller. So it would just be great all around.

[Professor Julian Womble]

If you are able to pre order

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

it, it'll be a great gift. So also pre order more than one if that's what your heart leads you to do. If it doesn't, that's, that's okay.

[Professor Julian Womble]

I think our next episode is going to be on wands.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Again. We're leaving room, we're being flexible.

[Professor Julian Womble]

It's summer.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

So if there are enough comments and

[Professor Julian Womble]

enough things for us to talk about from this episode in the post episode

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

chat and on Spotify, then we'll do that and then we'll talk about wands. But if not, then we'll move on the wands and all will be well regardless. But before we get there, before the wand chooses the wizard, we need to hear about the wizards that weren't chosen and what their story is.

[Professor Julian Womble]

So buckle up, tuck in because we're about to start our conversation on squibs

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

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[Professor Julian Womble]

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[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

So like I said, one of the

[Professor Julian Womble]

prevailing questions that we're going to be really diving into for this episode is

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

who is magical and who decides? When we think about magic in the

[Professor Julian Womble]

magical world, there is a very simple definition, right? A person who is magical is a person who can do magic.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But what we realize if we look a little bit closer is that in fact there are two different categories of magical people. There are those people who are magical by birthright, right? The individual who was born into magical families has access to magical knowledge and magical spaces. That does not disqualify squibs, right? We know that Arabella Fig shows up

[Professor Julian Womble]

at the Ministry of Magic, right? Which is a space that should not

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

be accessible to individuals who are non magical. We know that Hogwarts is protected by any number of enchantments to keep non magical people away, right?

[Professor Julian Womble]

They walk up, it looks like a

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

rundown building, and they immediately remember that

[Professor Julian Womble]

they have something to do and they walk away.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Yet somehow Argus Filch lives at Hogwarts. These two realities offer us the notion that in fact, doing magic is not necessarily a prerequisite for having to be magical because non magical people don't have access to these spaces and places. And yet Mrs. Fig and Argus Filch have access to spaces where non magical people should not be allowed. So this tells us that these individuals are magical by birth, right? That they have access to magical spaces that come from magical families. They simply can't do magic. And then the ability to do magic is another way that we can think

[Professor Julian Womble]

about what makes a person magical, right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And it's a very simple definition and it's one that we tend to occupy and think about when we think about

[Professor Julian Womble]

who is magical and who is not, right? When we think about the magical versus non magical community or the magical versus

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

non magical hierarchy, we think about individuals who are able to perform magic and those who cannot. And that particular definition of magical disqualifies

[Professor Julian Womble]

the Filches and the Figs of it all, right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Because those individuals can't do magic despite having been born into magical spaces. And so there is a way that when we think about,

[Professor Julian Womble]

I'm a professor and I do a lot of work on racial and ethnic politics and one

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

of the things that we learn, particularly

[Professor Julian Womble]

in the US history, is that there was de facto and de jure segregation,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

and the de facto is the more socially enforced segregation.

[Professor Julian Womble]

So that the rules on the books,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

the laws and the legislation didn't necessarily constrain the ability for black people in

[Professor Julian Womble]

the United and the Southern states in America from doing certain things.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But socially you were not allowed, right?

[Professor Julian Womble]

There were social covenants, there were just

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

even non spoken understandings of what was Allowed and what was not in the

[Professor Julian Womble]

dynamics between black people and white people.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And in that same way, for squibs, there is a kind of du jour

[Professor Julian Womble]

magical identity and then a de facto one, right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And squibs are magical in the du jour way, right? In terms of if we allow for the wards and the protection set up

[Professor Julian Womble]

on magical edifices to operate as kind

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

of legislation or, you know, creations that segregate magical and non magical people, and those wards recognize the magicalness or the magical identity of the Filches and the

[Professor Julian Womble]

Figs of the world.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

You know, it's not clear to us

[Professor Julian Womble]

whether or not Ms.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Fig actually sees dementors or whether or

[Professor Julian Womble]

not she can just feel their presence

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

and knows enough about them to know

[Professor Julian Womble]

that they were there.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But we know that again, she enters

[Professor Julian Womble]

into the Ministry of Magic. We know that Filch is there at Hogwarts.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

We know that these spaces are not created for people who are not magical, yet they are there. Interestingly, though, Muggle borns invert this particular idea, right, and offer us the reality that their magicalness is more de facto right, which is more social, because they can do magic. But when we get to the last book and we look at the Muggle Born registration commission, when Mrs. Cattermole is sitting in the hearing with Umbridge and Yaxley, we hear Umbridge say to her, you stole your wand. Only witches and wizards get to have wands. And so in that moment, she's using kind of legislation or a du jour understanding of magicalness to redefine who gets to be magical. And so the ability to do magic, then it doesn't disqualify them, but it doesn't qualify them to be able to

[Professor Julian Womble]

have the kind of magical moniker that allows for them to have the trappings

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

of magic, right, to have their wands. So what we get on one hand are individuals who are magically born, who are recognized by magic and by the legal things that guide access to certain magical spaces, getting access despite not being able to do magic. And then on the other hand, we have individuals who are born into non magical spaces but have the ability to do magic. But that that ability is not sufficient enough, especially once Voldiva's regime takes over, to be able to sustain their connection to and identity within and belonging within the magical community. And so that there is a way that, you know, we come to understand who is magical. And so much of that is born

[Professor Julian Womble]

out of our own understanding of, well, if you can do magic, you are magical.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But if we look at Squibs what we find is that in fact, doing magic is not a necessary prerequisite, right? Like it is not a sufficient condition

[Professor Julian Womble]

to be fully recognized as a magical person within the magical community, but that

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

there are spaces and places in which you can find yourself that prove that you are in fact magical, right? Like squibs are not muggles. They are not non magical people. They are magical people who are not magically abled. And that is a different mindset that we kind of have to have. Because when we look at these two characters, which are the only two squibs that we get to see in action in any way, right?

[Professor Julian Womble]

Like we get a reference to Ron's

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

second cousin who's an accountant, but we don't get any sense of, like, his

[Professor Julian Womble]

actions or how he understands himself.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

What we get from Filch is one

[Professor Julian Womble]

perspective of being a squib, which is a magically born person who is not magically abled, who has remained in the magical world.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And then from Mrs.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Fig, we get a magically born person who is not magically abled, who is living in the non magical world, right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And that these two things, when you juxtapose their realities with that of Muggle borns, highlight just how tenuous magical identity actually is and how many social dynamics are at work in defining who gets to be magical and who doesn't. And that magical ability is not a sufficient condition to be seen as magical. Because once Voldiva and the girls get in power, all of a sudden being magical is about who your family is and not what you can do. But that doesn't extend all the way to squibs either, right? Because in theory, most of them have to have a magical relative, and yet undoubtedly they would not be seen as legitimate either. And so when we look at magical identity, what we realize and what squibs help us understand is just how socially constructed the idea of even being a magical person is. Because there are these two countervailing definitions at work that then teach us that on one hand, you might be seen as magical if you can do magic, or you might be seen as magical if you have a magical family. And you are definitely seen as magical if you have both.

[Professor Julian Womble]

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[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

One of the things that I

[Professor Julian Womble]

used to think about a lot when I was thinking about squibs and who they were and how we were to

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

understand them was I had this kind

[Professor Julian Womble]

of conception, this headcanon, that most squibs came from pure blood families because like,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

who the heck else would care, right? You know, pure blood supremacy would suggest

[Professor Julian Womble]

that there's a specific kind of magical person that has to be born in

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

order to maintain the name or the

[Professor Julian Womble]

family and all these things.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And so I had kind of conceptualized the idea that in order for, you

[Professor Julian Womble]

know, pure blood purity, pure blood purity

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

for pure bloodedness to be maintained, that

[Professor Julian Womble]

if you came out to be a squib, this would be kind of cataclysmic. And so my thought at first was, well, only pure bloods are dealing with squibs because if you're half blood, that

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

means that you have a family member that is, you know, not magical. And it would make sense because you

[Professor Julian Womble]

have, well, at least in some of the configurations of half bloodedness, you have a non magical person in your family, right? Or you have someone who's come from non magical stock. And so then you being non magical isn't a big deal.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But then I read for the Umbridge's

[Professor Julian Womble]

episode, I read her kind of post canonical lore on the Internets and you read about her brother who was born obviously of a magical father, non magical

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

mother, and they called him a squib. And I thought that doesn't make any sense though because her mom is a muggle, so why is it such a big deal that her brother would not be magical? And then I thought, oh, see, that's how supremacy works though, right? Because the idea of it is, no, if we're magical, everybody's magical and if you don't get magic, then we are

[Professor Julian Womble]

not going to tolerate that.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And so there's a way in which there's this presumption of kind of magical superiority being borne out in genetics where it's like, no, no, no, if I'm magical, who cares if the other parent isn't? You should also be magical. And if you're not.

[Professor Julian Womble]

What we ultimately see in the case of Umbridge is that her father, she and her father kind of abandoned her non magical brother and non magical mother,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

but they call him a squid, despite the fact that like genetically it makes sense that one of the siblings wouldn't be magical because one of the parents isn't.

[Professor Julian Womble]

And someone brought this up in one of the comments on Spotify. Thinking about biology and trying to understand how we get squibs, right? And there's a lot of conversations about

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

that in terms of how Muggle borns

[Professor Julian Womble]

happen, how do we get squibs? What does this mean for the kind of passing on of magic through bloodlines?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And so much of what we know

[Professor Julian Womble]

about the magical world is that it's so born out of particular legacy based thinking and legacy based ideologies.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And it's interesting because obviously the magical

[Professor Julian Womble]

world is not steeped in the science of genetics or biology.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And there's this antiquated notion that if that any variation in one's ability to do or not do magic, if it's the latter, it is a failure. And that there is a problem with that person because they cannot do magic. And it is interesting because if we

[Professor Julian Womble]

think about what we just talked about

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

in the last section, most of those people probably have magical accessibility that they can get into magical spaces and places

[Professor Julian Womble]

because they have a parent who is magical. It is the to ability that they struggle with.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And it made me think of, you

[Professor Julian Womble]

know, in which book is that Prisoner of Azkaban when Marge is talking about dogs and insulting Harry's parents and she says something along the lines of good blood will out.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And I think that that is actually the mentality of a lot of people in the magical world where the language of biological inevitability ignores how biological inheritance actually functions even within the internal logic

[Professor Julian Womble]

of the text, right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

That it's this idea of like, well,

[Professor Julian Womble]

we are superior so our genes should beat out yours. And if it doesn't, that means that

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

we failed and that you are a

[Professor Julian Womble]

failure because you are not magical.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And what else is interesting about the kind of identity of a squib is, you know, I was thinking about this

[Professor Julian Womble]

and I was thinking about

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Merope Gaunt and the fact that Morfin called her a squib all the time. Like he spent a considerable amount of

[Professor Julian Womble]

time deriding her, saying that she was a squib.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Her father called her a squib because she struggled to do magic. And you know, and it was the

[Professor Julian Womble]

biggest insult of his life that she

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

was unable to do it because she came from such deeply magical stock and yet she struggled. But the reality is, is that Merope wasn't a squib. Merope was an abused woman. She was someone who was navigating emotional blockages left and right that controlled her ability to be able to do magic. And when you think about that reality, I think about this all the time

[Professor Julian Womble]

when I think about King Henry VIII

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

and the struggles that so many of

[Professor Julian Womble]

the women in his life, so many of the wives had to conceive, first of all.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But then, you know, and it's like, well, it's hard to, you know, carry a pregnancy to term when there's a man just beheading ladies because they don't give him what he wants. And there's a way that somehow we act as if emotions and stress don't play a part in the way that like bodies function and the way that genetics manifest. And in this way, I think the, the moniker of squib it, Merope's case kind of deepens it because she isn't one, right? By definition, she is a person who is both magically born and magically abled, but she is magically stunted. And that stuntedness also gives us a sense of how squib identity is understood. Because in her case, it wasn't that she couldn't do magic. They knew she could do it, she wasn't doing it well. And they said, you're squib. And that could have been born out

[Professor Julian Womble]

of their own ignorance.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But I also think that the identity of squib is not defined in any meaningful way.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Right? It's like half blood insofar that it's

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

a catch all for anyone within a magical space who should, under the guise of magical superiority, be able to do magic and cannot perform it the way

[Professor Julian Womble]

that people believe it should be performed.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And then we see after Morfin and Marvolo are taken away, her abilities don't come back, but they are able to manifest.

[Professor Julian Womble]

And we recognize this because allegedly she was able to use them to ensnare one.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Tom Riddle sr. And I think that that also complicates how we understand who gets to be magical because it tells us that one's magical identity is not just tied into your ability to do magic or the family that you were born into, but the mental state that you're in to be able to perform magic if in fact it is something that you have the ability to do. And so in that regard, squib functions as a less accurate diagnosis and more as a Slur, right? So it becomes both this biological and social, this de facto and du jour identity that can kind of ebb and flow depending on who you are and where you are and in whose orbit you find yourself.

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[Professor Julian Womble]

let's talk about Argus Filch, because I think that in many ways there's

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

a world in which we see so much of him, but we know so little about him. And I think what is interesting is that he presents to us a really, really compelling case about what it means to be a squib. He presents to us the idea of access without power. He can live inside the wards inside Hogwarts and can do so without being able to do magic. And we know that he wants to

[Professor Julian Womble]

do magic because Harry stumbles upon the quick. Well, not quick quotes, Quill. It's the quick spell or the kind of infomercial thing that helps people get better at magic, right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And he clearly either made the decision

[Professor Julian Womble]

to come back into the magical world

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

or never left it. But you know, they talk a lot about how he hates the kids at Hogwarts. And in that way I think it makes sense that there's a ton of resentment there. And I think what else is interesting about Filch is the reality that, you know, unlike other squibs sent into the non magical world, his entire adult access is bound to this space, right like his ability to access Hogwarts is the only indication of his magical identity, right? Like his ability to pass through the wards, to be in the space, to be able to see ghosts and, you know, talk about peeves and all of these things. Like, it is these things that allow for him to remain magical so much.

[Professor Julian Womble]

During my reading of these books, I

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

often ask myself, why the hell is he staying here? Like, why is he staying in Hogwarts?

[Professor Julian Womble]

He clearly hates the kids.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

He wants them all to be punished. He has this kind of draconian idea of what discipline needs to look like. If you are so miserable, sir, leave this place. And the more I really began to unpack the notion of Squib identity, the more I realized, no, he can't. He won't. Because in the same way that wands, which again, we're going to talk about later, but the wand allows for people to kind of prove their magicalness by virtue of having access to this, this piece of wood and this magical core

[Professor Julian Womble]

that allows for them to be able

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

to channel their inherent magic in external ways. Hogwarts allows for him to be able to channel his magical identity without needing to have a magical ability because his very presence in the space proves the

[Professor Julian Womble]

truth of his magical nest.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And so for Filch, Hogwarts is more than just a job. It's more than just a reminder of what he's not. It is a reminder of what he is and who he is in a way that other people who may have made the decision to leave the magical world because they are Squibs don't get to have. And so that when we think about,

[Professor Julian Womble]

you know, the misery that he clearly

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

is in, there is a way that, you know, he feels he has to stay there because so much of his identity is probably wrapped up in being magical despite not being able to do magic.

[Professor Julian Womble]

That's the only reason why you would go so far as to try to figure out how you might be able

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

to do it and pay the money

[Professor Julian Womble]

to be able to get this kind of course that's gonna teach you how

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

to do magic and to do so

[Professor Julian Womble]

in an environment where you are constantly subordinated by the children because they have

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

the thing that you want more than anything. And we see some of this, right,

[Professor Julian Womble]

slightly, not to the same degree, but to a certain degree with Hagrid as well, right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

The idea that Hagrid loses his wand, it's snap, but he keeps it because having a wand is the totem and the symbol of belonging within the magical world. Squibs don't get that Squibs only have memories. Unless, like Filch, you find a space where you can occupy that is a constant reminder that at least part of you belongs here, even if there is no outward manifestation of that belonging. And it is interesting, right, because there seemingly are no provisions made for someone in his exact position. He's failed on so many levels because they have this prevailing idea that it is kinder to send squibs away. Better for them, they say. But the reality is that is it better? I mean, Filch might make the case for yes, right, like he's clearly miserable. But again, we're talking about kids who are what, seven, eight, when their powers are meant to manifest, maybe nine, 10, they have working memories like they will remember their life before. And I think that there is a way that so much of what Filch's existence in the magical world offers us is the fact that being able to access magical spaces is such a powerful totem that we as readers are really

[Professor Julian Womble]

invited to take for granted in the same way that Harry does.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Does, right? Like the ability to pass through the

[Professor Julian Womble]

barrier at platform 9 and 3/4. To pass through the Leaky Cauldron into Diagon Alley.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Like all of these things to just stumble into the Ministry of Magic so

[Professor Julian Womble]

that you can go, you know, fight in the Department of Mysteries.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Like all of these things feel very old hat. So much of our understanding of even getting into Hogwarts feels so. What's the word I'm looking for? Like, inevitable, right? That because it's because everyone that we're engaging with, they're all magical. But for a Filch, I wonder about the first time that he was going to step foot into a magical space that was protected against non magical people. And if your understanding of non magical

[Professor Julian Womble]

people is that they are people who

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

cannot do magic, well then by definition you yourself are non magical. And I wonder the relief he might have felt when he walked into Hogwarts and saw it there. A school that he could never have access to, a place that he could never attend because he could never get a wand, but he could see it. So much of Harry's existence is based

[Professor Julian Womble]

on the idea of his, you know,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

belonging in the magical world.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Right.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

The first two years he's kind of

[Professor Julian Womble]

really questioning whether or not this is a place that actually exists for him. Him.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

He's wondering if it was all real before Dobby shows up and gives him all of his mail. Harry's like, did I even have any friends? The only thing that reminds him that

[Professor Julian Womble]

it is real is the trauma of it all.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Imagine not being able to even have the memories of being at a place like Hogwarts as a child.

[Professor Julian Womble]

We don't know what Filcher's childhood looked

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

like, but we know he couldn't go to Hogwarts. And so I imagine that like there's also something so incredibly powerful about someone who couldn't attend the school, working at the school. But it is also traumatizing. It's a constant reminder both again of who you are and who you're not. And here's the thing.

[Professor Julian Womble]

One of my favorite moments in the series writ large but, but particularly in Order of the Phoenix, which as I've said before is not my favorite book,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

is the moment where Fred and George

[Professor Julian Womble]

have set off the fireworks and have set off all of these things and Umbridge is losing it. Cause she's losing control. It's her first day of being headmistress of Hogwarts. She really thought she ate, she thought she had it, she thought she did the dang thing. And all of a sudden bedlam has broken out. Faculty members are not helping. Filch is her only person because he, a la the Ratdassity himself really does connect himself to people who are powerful

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

because he lacks power. And so Filch is there trying to

[Professor Julian Womble]

help her figure out what to do

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

and all these things. And there's a moment where she turns to Filch and is like, you know, hex them or you know, cast a spell. She presumes he is magically able to and he is not magically abled. And he buys into it and kind

[Professor Julian Womble]

of is like, yeah girl, okay, yeah,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

sure, whatever you say. And that's the thing about magical identity broadly construed, right? Which is that you don't know who is and is not magically abled who are and are not magically abled.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Both, both things are true.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

The reality of the situation is, is that Filch's very presence at Hogwarts suggests that he is magical and he is magical. He's simply not magically abled. And those are two different things. And Umbridge, our pure blood supremacist disaster of a character, a person who is, you know, the person who spearheads the Muggle Born Registration Commission can't tell the differ because he's in the space. And perhaps that's why he's in the space because when we first meet Filch,

[Professor Julian Womble]

we have no reason to believe he's not magically abled.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

He's at Hogwarts. We know non magical people can't be there. So if he is there. Ergo, he is magical. And he is magical. He just can't do magic. And so we can see how the kind of ebbs and flows of what metric we're using to define what it means to be magical really does complicate the way that we understand who belongs and who doesn't. And in that way, I think Filch is such a complicated character.

[Professor Julian Womble]

And I'm not a person who wants to defend a lot of the kind of more heinous things like that go on at Hogwarts.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

But I also think it is so

[Professor Julian Womble]

brave for him to be at this

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

place where he could never get his education. And you know what it reminds me of?

[Professor Julian Womble]

Come with me on this journey, friends. This might be a bit of a stretch, but we're stretching, okay? Stretching is good. Keeps the muscles loose.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

It reminds me of Tommy Riddz. It reminds me of Voldiva. It reminds me of all the ways in which his own feelings of insecurity and a lack of belonging in the magical world manifested in certain kinds of behavior. Choosing to have the Horcruxes that he had taking over, putting one of the Horcruxes in Bellatrix's vault, a vault he could never actually have himself because he

[Professor Julian Womble]

does not come from a pure blood family.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Taking over Malfoy Manor because he could never get an old wizard money, manor house with house elves and all, and the trappings, he could never have any of those things. And so he just places himself in that space as a way to kind of cosplay these things. And it's interesting because Filch does the exact same thing, right? Like, he could never go to Hogwarts as a student. Now he works there. And there is something to be said about, you know, what insecurity allows for you to believe is possible for yourself, and the way that people go about navigating that insecurity. And both Voldiva and Filch do it the same way. They say, oh, I could never have

[Professor Julian Womble]

that as a child.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

I could never have that because the social mores don't allow for it. But now I'm in a position where I can at least get myself close. And I'm gonna do it. And y' all never did I ever

[Professor Julian Womble]

think that I was gonna be making a comparison between Argus Filch and Tommy J.

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[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

One of the things that

[Professor Julian Womble]

I did in behind the Cloak, the book that I wrote that I hope you pre order, I don't know if I've mentioned it a thousand million times, and I know that you all can't wait till I'm done. But until then, one of the things that I did in one of the chapters, one of the opening chapters, what I, I'm not going to edit that out, I don't care, was try to kind of unpack the various hierarchies, right? So I go through and reintroduce people to, you know, purebloods, half bloods, muggle, born squibs.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And one of the things that I,

[Professor Julian Womble]

you know, remember thinking about as I was working on that section, the squibs

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

section that is, was the idea of the lengths to which Neville Longbottom's family went to try to get him to prove that he was magically abled. And one of the things that really stood out to me was the fact that the Longbottoms, for, you know, all

[Professor Julian Womble]

the reasons that are before us were, are kind of good purebloods, right? You know, both Alice and Frank Longbottom were Aurors who fought against Death Eaters and Pure Blood supremacists and actively suffered the consequences of that particular ideological lean

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And so it's not as if these

[Professor Julian Womble]

individuals, the long bottoms, that is, have

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

a very like, you know, antiquated idea of what it means to be, you know, pure blood. But what we see, like even amongst

[Professor Julian Womble]

these individuals, right, even amongst his grandmother,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

is that there is a desperation, there is this kind of deep seated need for him to be magical. And we hear in, in the very beginning, like Neville is retelling this whole thing about how they thought he might be a squib and how, you know,

[Professor Julian Womble]

they were really concerned because his magic

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

wasn't manifesting and how they were doing all of these things, dropping him off of piers and trying to scare him and do all of this stuff to try and get him to be magical. And when he is accidentally dropped off

[Professor Julian Womble]

the balcony or out of the window, I can't remember, you'll correct me. Jaz, I'm looking for you. I know that you're gonna do it and I appreciate you for that.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

When that happens and he bounces, his grandmother cries, she's so relieved she gets him a toad. That's how we get Trevor. And there's something to the idea of, you know, a family would rather you be magical than not be magical. And that in some ways it feels like, you know, there's a reputational cost if you aren't. And I just wonder, you know, what would happen to Neville if he wasn't magical? What would he, you know, what Would his experience have been like had he

[Professor Julian Womble]

not bounced that day? Well, if he hadn't bounced, I don't know that there would have been much of an experience. And again, that was accidental. I want to be clear that his parents or his uncle, his great uncle, didn't throw him out of the window,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

but that there is this idea that some of us might occupy a space of. So much of the rigidity of magical ability exists within pure blood supremacist space. And we see this because of Voldemort, because of Umbridge, because of all of

[Professor Julian Womble]

the different ways in which we see

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

pure blood supremacy manifestations. But the reality is, is that it's broader than that and it exists outside of that particular ideological space. Now, it might be something that is

[Professor Julian Womble]

exacerbated within these pure blood supremacist spaces, but it is not a prerequisite by any stretch of the imagination.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And we also see this again for our other quote, unquote, good pure blood family. In the first book when Harry asks, you know, he asks Ron on the Hogwarts Express, are all your family wizards? And Ron says, yes, I think my mom has a second cousin who is an accountant. But we don't talk about that. And I think, you know, one of

[Professor Julian Womble]

the things that resonates with me as

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

it pertains to pure bloods and squibs is that that if you can produce

[Professor Julian Womble]

a non magical person, then does that undermine your being pureblood, right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Because, you know, being a squib is not an identity like you are a

[Professor Julian Womble]

pure blood, non magical person, you are

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

a half blooded, non magical person. Yet somehow that particular identity is wiped away, that entire hierarchy is undone. Because what we are learning, right, and what squib identity tells us is that in order to be seen as a pureblood, as a half blood, as a Muggle born, you have to be able to do magic like you have to be able to perform magic. Magical ability is a prerequisite to even be considered within that hierarchy. And no matter where you fall, even if you were Neville Longbottom, a pureblock born without magic, you are no longer a pure blood, you are a Squib. And isn't that interesting, right? And again, it speaks to the kind

[Professor Julian Womble]

of de facto versus du jour, the biological versus the social, the idea of

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

what does it mean to be magical if the very kind of socially understood hierarchies at work can be undone when you can't do magical magic, but you still have access to magical spaces, right? And we see when Ron doesn't bring up his family. It's like, well, are you doing that

[Professor Julian Womble]

because you're afraid that that somehow undermines how you understand yourselves, Right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And again, again, these are our good pure bloods, right? Like, these are people who are fighting against Voldiva. And he's just like, yeah, we don't talk about that. And isn't that fascinating? And it, it stands in direct contrast with Filch, right? Because in many ways, Neville is who Filch could have become, right? Because all it takes is his ability to do magic. And he could have been a Neville,

[Professor Julian Womble]

he could have been a Ron, he

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

could have been any of those students, and yet he's not. And that this goes beyond, again, this goes beyond our understanding of, like, you know, supremacist ideology. There is an embedded desire and necessity for you to be magical, because if you're not magical, you can't be in this space. But what does it mean to be magical? Because for all intents and purposes, Filch is magical. He's at Hogwarts. Neville is magical. Even if he couldn't do magic. What does it mean? It's my turn.

[Professor Julian Womble]

I realized that I haven't been able to do that because we haven't been reading people's comments. So I decided I'd throw in at the end for the reflection. Speaking of reflections, we've now reached the point in the episode where I am going to reflect and try to pull together some of the threads that have come from this episode.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And so, as we think about what does it mean to be magical? The answer is a very simple yet annoyingly complex one. Because what it means to be magical is context specific. It depends on who you're around. It depends on what political context you find yourself in. And I think it, in that reality reifies the idea that despite the kind of physical manifestations of one's magicalness vis

[Professor Julian Womble]

a vis their ability to perform spells,

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

that being magical is. Is a socially constructed identity.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Because there are people who are born into magical families who have access to

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

magical space, who, for all intents and purposes, are magical, but don't get to

[Professor Julian Womble]

lay claim to that identity because they cannot do magic.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

There are people who can do magic

[Professor Julian Womble]

but don't get to lay claim to that identity, because they don't come from magical families in specific context.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And so that the idea of what it means to be magical is context specific. And when we think about it in

[Professor Julian Womble]

terms of the de jure and de facto framework that we set up here, the genetics of it all, the destabilization of one's identity or ability based on emotion.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

The idea of the precarity in which these individuals find themselves, all of it comes to a head because it reflects the idea that what it means to be magical has nothing to do with a person. Like, I can't decide that I'm magical.

[Professor Julian Womble]

The Ministry of Magic decides whether I'm magical, right? Because it's interesting in the wisdom Gammat hearing when Dumbledore brings in Arabella Fig Fudge is like, there are no magical people who live in and around Harry Potter. We would know that because he's Harry Potter.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

And she's like, no, I'm a squib. Which is to say that y' all don't even keep track of these individuals, despite the fact that she can somehow show up in the Ministry of Magic, which means she is magical. But her inability to do magic within the realms of the legislative space, the political space, the individuals who determine what power looks like and what magic is, legally you don't qualify, and so you don't count. And so we have made the determination that you don't get to lay claim to that identity, and we don't recognize you as such, even if your presence in this space tells us that you are, in fact, magical. When Filch is running around there with Umbridge, she doesn't recognize that he can't do magic. He's magical, right? And in that moment, he is fully incorporated into what it means to be a magical person. Because his presence at Hogwarts allows for her to believe it, even if she's never seen it. Because seeing is not believing.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Here, it only matters because if seeing

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

was believing, then Mrs. Cattermole's wand would never have been taken away from her. Because her ability to do magic, the fact that she got a wand in the first place, the fact that she was chosen, tells us a story about who she is and what she can do. But when the powers that be get to move the definition because it's so nebulous, it tells us that being magical is not something that is super straightforward. It's something that we don't even get to decide. Being magical is, you know, like one's racial identity.

[Professor Julian Womble]

There are outward manifestations, but those manifestations

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

may not always match one's identity. It's like one's gender expression. The way that you express your gender may not match the way that you identify.

[Professor Julian Womble]

The way that you express your gender

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

may not match the sex and or gender that you were assigned at birth. The way that you understand yourself is not the same thing as the way that you were understood by external sources who get to define you in certain ways.

[Professor Julian Womble]

When you have to check boxes on censuses and applications and all of these things, right?

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Like that is an external source telling you who you are. And being magical is the exact same thing. And squibs give us the unique opportunity to recognize what feels so normal and so natural. Four Muggleborns, four Half Bloods, four Pure Bloods. For any magically abled group, it leads us to believe that being magically abled is what it means to be magical. All the while, for seven books, Argus Filch is in that castle, lamenting but groaning, just losing his mind. Because these kids are doing anything and everything. And also forcing them in many ways to forsake their magic. Because he wants them to do things without using magic. Because he can't. But he's there. And his presence matters. His presence means something. It means that being magical is not contingent on what you can do. It's who you are. It's how you were born.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Which means that purebloods are magical.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

It means that Half Bloods are magical. It means that Muggle Borns are magical. And it means that squibs are magical. And that ability does not dictate identity.

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[Professor Julian Womble]

Foreign.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

This has been another episode of Critical Magic Theory. I'm Professor Julian Womble and if you like today's episode. First of all, thank you. Please feel free to like, rate, subscribe and do all the things that one does where pods are cast y'.

[Professor Julian Womble]

All.

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

I don't know about you, but this

[Professor Julian Womble]

episode took me on a journey and

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

I really hope that you enjoyed it. And if you did enjoy it, I hope that you will join us in

[Professor Julian Womble]

the post episode chat patreon.com criticalmagictheory where you can join for free if you are not already a member and you

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

can be a part of this ongoing conversation. I think if the conversation is good

[Professor Julian Womble]

we might have a Prof. Response episode. If not, then we're moving on to

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

Wands and I personally cannot wait.

[Professor Julian Womble]

But I do hope that you will join us. Please feel free to pre order my book behind the Cloak. Wherever you can pre order books, please feel free to buy some merch criticalmagictheory.com click the merch button all right, join us on Patreon. I've already said it. Follow me on social media, profw. On TikTok, Prof. JW on Instagram and

[Co-host of Critical Magic Theory]

until then my friends friends, be critical and stay magical. Bye.

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