Cephalopods 3 of 4: Octopus Maps

Seeing as how it?s ?Mormonism and Politics? month at JI, let?s talk about spineless carnivores with sucker-covered tentacles. One of the most common forms of octopus propaganda was a labeled octopus on a map representing an ?imperial? power of some sort—a nation or company or, in the Mormon case, a church/theocracy—that controlled various geographic areas politically or economically. Michelle Farran at Vulgar Army provides several examples (see image below).

Mormon political hegemony was a major theme in anti-Mormon discourse in the decades around 1900. Heebie-jeebies were given, hands were clutched to bosoms, and smelling salts were deployed on account of Mormonism?s actual and alleged political influence. [1] As early as 1861 writers spoke of Mormonism?s ?tentacles? reaching out geographically [2] and various authors—of fiction and (ostensible) non-fiction—referred to something like ?that great Mormon octopus stretching out its tentacles from State to State and enfolding in an almost undetachable grip that which it seizes.? [3] The graphic instantiation of this idea, the Mormon ?devil-fish map? (see image below) and its kin, played a significant role in anti-Mormon efforts from 1898 into the 1910s. [4]

For the Yanks: Happy We?re-Not-British Day

While looking for something else this morning, I came across the lyrics of a composed-by-a-Mormon song  from 1876 about the Fourth of July. Peter McBride wrote ?The Fourth of July Song? while living in Brigham City, a United Order community in what is now Arizona. Since it?s a holiday and I?m lazy, I present the text below without comment. [1]

Cephalopods 2 of 4: Devil Fish and Octopuses

Last week I posted on the cuttlefish and a few weeks ago I posted on the upas tree. The upas post was prompted by a line from Edgar Folk: ?[Mormonism] is the Upas tree of our civilization, the octopus of our political life.? [1] Having treated the vegetable, I now turn to the animal.

The octopus has had a long career as a symbol. [2] Beginning in the late nineteenth century and persisting to the present, various factions have used the octopus to represent their (almost always) enemies (see images below and Vulgar Army). [3]

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An American in Brazil

As a contribution to this month?s topic of ?International Mormonism,? I agreed to write about my experiences as a missionary in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, 1996-1998, which agreement I now sort of regret, since I?m not sure what to say. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sends out missionaries, and a significant percentage of them go to countries other than their own. [1] I was one of them—and I wasn?t kidding about not knowing what to say. Since my scheduled post time has come, I?m going to put bullet-points on my brainstorming and pretend that this is a carefully designed exercise to provoke discussion about international and inter-cultural aspects of Mormon missionizing.

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Cephalopods 1 of 4: Cuttlefish

Octopuses, squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids make up the class Cephalopoda (Greek: head-feet). Cephalopods appear in oceans, horror stories, nineteenth-century polemical literature, and—in their Mormon instantiations—in my next four posts. [1] I begin with the cuttlefish.

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Southwestern States Mission: The Release of a Mission President

James G Duffin was released as Mission President of the Central States Mission (formerly the Southwestern States Mission) in 1906 after six-and-a-half years as President. Below are transcripts of the correspondence leading to his release. [1] The stated cause for the release was Duffin?s recurring malaria: his ?constitution and temperament demand[ed] a cool climate.? Health was an imminently plausible cause for release in general and Duffin?s in particular. However, it was 1906, and Duffin was a (secret) polygamist, and a post-1890 polygamist at that. After the ?Second Manifesto? (1904) and its fallout, many leaders who were polygamists were quietly released from their positions. I have zero documentary evidence to contradict the ?medical release,? but I suspect Duffin?s polygamy might have been a silent factor in the decision.

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Southwestern States Mission: Germans and Other Europeans

The Southwestern States Mission during the time of this study included significant populations of French-, German-, and Spanish-speaking citizens. A variety of other languages were also spoken. For the missionaries in this study (mostly in Texas), German was the most common non-English language encountered, followed by Polish. [1]

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Southwestern States Mission: The Trip from Utah to Texas

Later today I will start driving from southeastern Texas to Utah for the 2013 MHA Conference in Layton. Many JI writers and readers are in the same metaphoric boat this week, so I have chosen to write about the reverse trip: how missionaries travelled from Salt Lake City (SLC) to their assigned areas in Texas. [1]

Mormonism as a Upas Tree

When I signed up for today?s slot in the Many Images of Mormonism series, I told Crissy I would write about Mormonism as a figurative octopus, but I was distracted by Edgar E Folk (1900): ?[Mormonism] is the Upas tree of our civilization, the octopus of our political life.? [1] I know what an octopus is, but what is a upas tree, and does civilization need one?

The short version: The upas (/’yoo-puss/) tree grows from Southeast Asia to Australia; its bark produces poisonous chemicals. In the nineteenth century the upas had a widely-known folkloric and literary life as the source of an air-borne poison potent and far-reaching enough to rival present-day nuclear weapons. References to the upas appeared in a variety of political and literary contexts, including criticism of slavery and of Mormonism. In some contexts identifying something as a upas tree merely suggested that the thing was undesirable. More developed versions of the metaphor implied that the target was so dangerous / evil that compromise was impossible and the whole ?tree? must be removed at the roots. By the early-to-mid-1900s upas / Mormon metaphors seem to have disappeared, partially due to the Mormon achievement of ?respectability? and partially because a more scientific understanding of the upas had penetrated popular culture.

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Southwestern States Mission: Boils and Other Skin Lesions

Caveat Lector: I have no medical training and this post discusses medical conditions, including those that suppurate, necrotize, and/or ooze. The medical aspects of the following post are, therefore, potentially both disgusting and unreliable.

A boil is a bacterial infection of a hair follicle resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin. [1] Four of the eight missionaries in this study report a total of ten instances of missionaries with boils. [2] I have not cataloged other types of skin lesions, but blisters and bug bites also appear in the diaries and affected missionaries in similar ways. [3]