When JK Rowling first announced that she would be revealing new details about the wizarding world, people were very excited.

But after the first in her four-part series was released earlier this week, some fans have accused the author of ‘cultural appropriation and colonialism’ due to her depiction of Native Americans.

In her story, JK reveals information about the early North American wizards, stating that they’re skilled in things like plant magic and don’t need to use wands in order to conjure spells.

So far, so... OK. But the author goes on to label skin walkers as Native American Animagi, despite the fact that skin walkers are very much a real part of Native American culture.

Described as ‘evil witches or wizards that can transform into an animal at will’ (with mention that they have their ‘basis in fact’), a fan asked JK to clear up confusion as to whether skin walkers are evil are not.

She responded on Twitter: “In my wizarding world, there were no skin-walkers. The legend was created by No-Majes (non-magical people) to demonise wizards.”

This has led to people accusing JK of appropriation, due to the fact that she has taken ‘existing culture’ and changed it for the purpose of her story.

JK hasn’t yet responded to the criticism.