Asynchronous Sessions
Writing, Language, and Memory
Kelly Eggertsen, “The Stories That We Tell”: Mormon Women, Autobiography, and the Mormon Collective Memory of Persecution as Influenced by The Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt
Bruce Van Orden, W. W. Phelps and Parley P. Pratt: Purveyors of Exuberant Language in Print in Early Mormonism
This session will explore the influence of Parley P. Pratt and W. W. Phelps on Mormon language and memory. Kelly Eggertsen will explore autobiographies of three Mormon women as well as the ways they are influenced by a collective memory produced by Pratt. She will argue that factors such as distance, ideology, and narrative features influence response to collective memory. Bruce Van Orden will consider the influence of Pratt and his contemporary Phelps in early Mormon writing and evangelism. In particular, he will draw attention to the effectiveness and the similarity of their work.
The Digital and the International
Spencer P. Greenhalgh and Ray Celeste Tanner, Geographical and Digital Borders in the Community of Christ Toronto Congregation
This session will consider the intersection of digital religion and international religion within the Restoration tradition. Spencer Greenhalgh and Ray Celeste Tanner will present a summary of YouTube and Facebook data related to the streamed services of Community of Christ’s Toronto congregation. They will argue that establishing a digital congregation has allowed the Toronto congregation to transcend some geographical and linguistic boundaries—but that this has also introduced digital boundaries that congregations and denominations must navigate as they increasingly rely on the internet.
Synchronous Sessions
Keynote 1
Patricia Fortuny, Women and Men Mayan, Mexican, and Mormons Dealing with Religious and Cultural Translation
Based on ethnography done in various places in the state of Yucatán, México, first in the course of the 1980s and later on during the second decade of the xxi century, I discuss a number of issues related to women and men converts who became the first generation of Yucatec Mormons. For example, during the late 1980s I researched a community in the capital city of the state, Merida. Here I found that some of the males that I interviewed stated firmly their ethnical identity as Maya people, who had become protestants a few years previously to meeting the LDS Church. They also expressed in many ways not only a profound pride in being Maya but also were able to associate using different strategies in linking their Mayanness with being a Mormon. Listening to their statements and observing their mostly positive attitudes towards their new faith, it crossed my mind that it must have been easier for them –than for women- to translate their Mayan culture and previous Protestant religion into Mormonism. On the other hand, between 2011 and 2013, in the city of Tizimín, the anthropologist Carla Collí studied a community of LDS that converted in 1975. Collí focused on Yucatec women who had been Catholics before their conversion. Most of the female said in their conversations with Collí that in order to internalize, experience, and above all practice what they considered generally strict norms of their new faith, they had to struggle a lot to be able to get through a powerful and all-embracing social and cultural Catholic environment.
Session 1: Indigenous Perspectives on the Meanings of “Lamanite”
Eduardo Pagán, Daniel Hernandez, Farina King, Stephanie Griswold, Michael Ing, Monika Crowfoot, and Sarai Silva
This roundtable features participants and contributors to an ongoing workshop and consortium of public intellectuals who focus on “Indigenous Perspectives on the Meanings of ‘Lamanite’” in their work and lives. Participants come from different backgrounds in terms of religious beliefs, race, ethnicity, academic training, professions, and upbringing. The objective of these workshops and gatherings are to support a community of scholars with Indigenous ties who are interested in reflecting collaboratively on the discourses of “Lamanite” and Indigenous interpretations of the Book of Mormon and Mormonism more broadly. Participants are committed to strong connections with Indigenous communities, while developing work that relates to these discourses. They seek to bridge Indigenous, religious, and Mormon studies as well as academia and community. In the roundtable, participants will reflect on and highlight how the workshop has influenced their work and ongoing scholarship, especially considering the impacts of dialogue and collaboration.
Session 2: Settler Colonialism
Hemopereki Simon, Rolling Our Eyes Towards God: A Mediation on the Issues Arising from Mormon Missionary YouTube Activity and the Cultural Appropriation of Haka
Kael Moffat, Mormon Settler Colonialism, the Brigham Young Monument, and Indigenous Elimination
This session will address issues of settler colonialism as it relates to historical and contemporary Mormonism. Hemopereki Simon will analyze the case of a “Mormon missionary haka” created in Australia, discussing how it fits into longstanding patterns of cultural appropriation. This single case will contribute to a broader argument about relationships between the LDS Church and indigenous peoples. Kael Moffat will offer a reading of the Brigham Young Monument at Temple Square. He will relate this to previous work by Elise Boxer (Assiniboine & Sioux) and discuss implications for Mormon theology.
Session 3: Different Cultures, Different Experiences
Jason Palmer, “And They Call Our Homes Broken?” Peruvian Mormon Abundance within Nuclear Family Scarcity
Amaechi Okafor, A Different Prison: Black Mormons in Canada
This session will consider tensions between North American cultures and Mormons from other cultures. Jason Palmer will consider cultural differences between North American conception of the family and other family models prevalent in Spanish-speaking societies. In particular, he will argue that although Peruvian Mormons paid lip service to their church’s teachings about the family, they opposed those teachings through resilient practice. Amaechi Okafor will present conclusions based on conversations with migrant Mormons living in Canada. He will address questions of isolation, assimilation, and implications for religious practice.
Keynote 2
Michael Ing, “How Can we Ask Which Way is Best if We do Not Know the Ancient Stories of our Beloved Lands?”
Joseph Mokuʻōhai Poepoe is a towering intellectual from late 19th and early 20th century Hawaiʻi—producing more written work than any other person writing in Hawaiian. He wrote on everything from law, to histories of Hawaiʻi, to long traditional epics, to translations of English tales, to many things about Mormonism (including translating the Doctrine and Covenants and half the Book of Mormon). He was an active member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an active member of the intellectual scene of his time. This presentation will discuss the life of Joseph Poepoe, focusing on his work about Mormonism.
Session 4: Mormonism in Multicultural Settings
Harry Bawono, De-stigmatization of the Mormon Christians Community: Mormon Christians and Mainstream Christians Community in Indonesia: Constructing Collective Understanding
Brenton Griffin, “Banned In Using Their [Own] Language”: The Termination of Samoan-Language Congregations in Brisbane, Australia and the Subsequent Legal Challenges
This session will explore how Mormonism responds to multicultural sessions, including both intrareligious and interreligious interactions. Harry Bawono will discuss the stigmatization of Mormons in Indonesia and efforts to overcome that stigmatization. He will describe the ways that Mormon Christians have made common cause with the broader Christian community in Indonesia and interacted with other institutions. Brenton Griffin will describe legal and other consequences of the LDS Church’s closing of Samoan-language units in Brisbane, Australia. In particular, he will argue that Mormon officials underestimated the need for language-specific congregations and the attention that has been brought to the LDS Church because of this event.
Session 5: Oral Histories
Caroline Kline and Shiloh Logan, Podcasting Global Mormonism: Ethics Representation, and Identity
Stacilee Ford, “In the Global Scheme of Things”: Dwelling in the Archive of the Claremont Mormon Women’s Oral History Project, and the Claremont Global Mormon Oral History Project
This session will address findings drawn from oral history projects coordinated by the Mormon Studies program at Claremont Graduate University. Caroline Kline and Shiloh Logan will focus on the This Global Latter-day Life podcast based on oral histories. They will use this podcast as a platform to reflect on broader questions about global Mormonism, ethics, and digital humanities. Stacilee Ford will draw from and reflect on The Claremont Mormon Women’s Oral History Project and the Claremont Global Mormon Project as part of her presentation. She will both address what has been learned from these projects and reflect on the projects as a whole.
Session 6: Common Languages
Erika McCombs and LaShawn Williams, Striving Towards Siblinghood in Christ: Finding Common Language for Conversations about Race
James Holt, Lost in Translation: The Problems of a Shared Religious Lexicon
This session will consider both the need for a common language within Mormonism and the difficulties created by the common language between Mormonism and other religious traditions. Erika McCombs and LaShawn Williams will discuss the need for shared language in doing anti-racist work within Mormon contexts. However, they will also discuss the limitations of language and the ways language is used to impede this work. Similarly, James Holt will address the ways that religious language is used to both emphasize similarities and establish difference between Mormonism and other religious traditions. He will argue for the need to be clearer when using and choosing language.
Keynote 3
Marie-Therese Mäder, “The Real Wedding for Us Was the One up in the Temple:” Memories and Mediatisation of Wedding Places
In our memories important moments are often strongly connected to where they happened. Therefore, it is not surprising wedding selecting the location of the ceremony is central. For the event and rite de passage should be remembered. Popular wedding locations may vary: synagogues, temples, churches, mosques, registry offices, or outdoor settings such as a beach, a public park, or a private garden. Yet, most of the time the wedding location is chosen for very specific and carefully considered reasons. It may be that the place was chosen because it evokes spiritual experiences, or the location itself is perceived to be particularly beautiful. Alternatively, it may be that the couple connects the place with a shared history, or family tradition may set the location
Based on 27 qualitative semi structured interviews in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland the focus of the current talk is on the significance, depiction, and memory of wedding locations. How is the wedding location staged in photos and videos, and how is the wedding venue emotionally and ethically valorized in the memories of the couples? How do couples describe their spatial experience during the wedding ceremony? The talk provides insights into an ongoing research project about the role of wedding photos and videos in remembering this rite de passage and the mediatisation of weddings.
Session 7: Global Mormonism in Literature and Writing
Ryan Davis, Making Sense of Mormons in 20th-century Spanish Pulp Westerns
Kent Larsen, Mistranslation for a Strange Land: Afonso Celso Júnior’s Encounter with Mormonism
Michelle Graabek, “The Golden Harp”: Poetry in the Danish-Norwegian Newspaper Bikuben, 1876-1935
This session will address the way that global literature and writing has engaged with Mormonism. Ryan Davis will describe how Mormonism is invoked in 20th-century Spanish literature, describing Spanish literature as more ambivalent about Mormonism than North American writing. Kent Larsen will describe Brazilian journalist Afonso Celso Júnior’s encounter with Mormonism in the late 19th century; although Celso’s reputation makes his account of this encounter relevant, Larsen will also describe the misunderstandings present in the account. Michelle Graabek will consider poetry in Bikuben, a Danish-Norwegian newspaper published for Scandinavian Mormons in Utah; in particular, she will describe how sources like these have been underappreciated in scholarship and what they contribute to Mormon literature.
Session 8: Translation of Latter-day Saint Scripture
Jeremy Talmage, “Injected Some Catholic Doctrine”: The Portuguese Book of Mormon and the Standardization of Scripture Translation
Christian Euvrard, “Traduttore, Traditore”, or the Difficulty of Translating Scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
This session will explore difficulties and problems associated with the translation of Latter-day Saint scripture from English into other languages. Jeremy Talmage will consider 20th-century accusations that translators of the Book of Mormon into Portuguese had deliberately traded Latter-day Saint doctrine for Catholic beliefs. He will argue that these events, while based on a misunderstanding, continue to influence Mormon approaches to translation today. Christian Euvrard will use the Italian expression “traduttore, traditore” (“translator, traitor”) as a starting point for describing the particular challenges associated with the translation of Latter-day Saint scripture. He will use the French language as a source of examples for illustrating a number of these challenges.