An Indian University Is Offering A Unique Law Course Based On Harry Potter

“Are you planning to follow a career in Magical Law, Miss Granger?” asked Scrimgeour. “No, I’m not,” retorted Hermione. “I’m hoping to do some good in the world!” – these are the opening lines of The National University of Juridical Sciences’ (NUJS) newest module – an interface between Fantasy Fiction Literature and Law: Special focus on Rowling’s Potterverse.

For law students who in their teens or pre-teens scoured through piles of leaves and dirt to find just the right twig to act as a makeshift wand, stalled meal preparations only to use kitchen utensils to stir up some magical concoctions, or included Harry Potter breaks in their board exam schedules, this course offered by NUJS, Kolkata, is tailor-made for you.

Designed and structured by Assistant Professor Shouvik Kumar Guha, this course uses the iconic fictional series to help students better their understanding and application of legal practice while helping them build a skill-set that will help them adapt and respond to relatively untapped scenarios. “In law schools, people get a very specific set of subjects. The curriculum revolves around the hard letter of the law, case laws etc. Given the fact that this course lasts about five years, students also get bored,” said Guha in an interview with The Telegraph, while explaining the reason behind adopting this unconventional teaching method.

When asked about the reason behind focusing specifically on Harry Potter, he said: “I could have designed the course based on our real political situation but it is not necessary that all my students will share my political leanings.”

“I was introduced to Potterverse in my tenth standard. Since then I have read the books multiple times. I am familiar with each and every line of all the seven books. So it will come to me naturally,” he added.

This course will be offered as an elective to 4th and 5th-year students of the BA LLB (Hons.). Pushing students out of their comfort zones, this course draws parallels between the magical world of Harry Potter and present-day events, giving students of NUJS an opportunity to experiment with the theoretical knowledge they are already well versed with. This course is the second of its kind in India, following in the footsteps of Jindal Global Law School’s Potterverse-centric elective law course that was introduced in 2012. Drawing from legal traditions and institutions featured in Harry Potter’s fictional universe, this course is a refreshing turn towards unconventional and innovative approaches that can be adopted to move away from orthodox, theoretically oriented methods of teaching, characteristic of the Indian education system.

This interesting take on interactive teaching is a different yet exciting addition to the phenomenon that is J.K. Rowling’s series of seven books that have been adapted into eight feature films and become an intrinsic part of many of our childhoods.

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