Harry Potter has given the study of popular culture a unique platform for exploring the nature of human identity. "Potter Studies" is developing into a vibrant interdisciplinary field of scholarship.

This collection of new essays examines issues surrounding race, class, gender, sexual orientation and personal virtue, both in the wizarding world and in our own. The contributors discuss an array of meanings and contexts in the Harry Potter universe relating to identity issues, and the ways in which these manifest in fandom cultures and real-world schools and businesses.