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Series Introduction: Material Culture

By Mees TielensSeptember 2, 2013

Though there’s a tendency in many religious circles to think of materialism, of owning objects, as something less-than-good, an attachment to the world perhaps, or a clear failure to follow Jesus’ directives in Luke 18:22,[1] objects aid religiosity in singularly effective ways. Being religious encompasses much more than scripture mastery, Sunday school lessons learned and internalized, the ability to recite a certain creed or, in a Mormon context, to be able to affirm the Articles of Faith or pass a temple recommend interview. And while material culture has a societal function in general,[2] material culture that expresses religion has its own special signifiers. Material culture of all kinds helps people learn the specific discourse and narratives of their religious communities, as new generations relearn symbolic systems through seeing, touching, and doing. If we look at specific Christian images, we see how they can help shape religion: a Catholic might hang a crucifix, while a Protestant sets more stock in a lavish family Bible, and a Mormon has the “Proclamation on the Family” displayed. Whatever the object, it is used to construct and reinforce meaning. The process of constructing meaning is a ecumenical one and crosses faith lines quite easily, yet the meaning encoded into the object is highly specific. This explains why a Catholic First Communion at seven years old is at the same time similar to a Mormon baptism at age eight (the white clothes, the age at which the ritual happens, the solemnity and preparation) and yet so very different for the participants themselves.

BYU and the 1984 National Championship

By Mees TielensAugust 8, 2013

As part of this month’s series on 20th century Mormonism, I’d like to take a brief glance at BYU and the 1984 National Championship. For those unfamiliar with 1980s sports history, BYU won the national championship for the very first time in 1984. As a 2009 article puts it, “I can’t think of a more unlikely national champion … an unranked (preseason) team from a non-power conference.” I refer you to the article for an analysis of games played; today, I’m going to give you a few media perspectives on the win.

New Guidelines for Missionaries

By Mees TielensJuly 19, 2013

In March, I wrote about the disrepancy in the guidelines for male and female missionaries. In light of the new guidelines, recently released, I’d like to revisit that post. In a nutshell, I argued that the disrepancy in guidelines demonstrated a difference in thinking about male and female missionaries.

Baptizing the royal family

By Mees TielensJune 29, 2013

This post is part of International Mormonism month.

A little over a year ago, newspaper headlines in the Netherlands read:

Pinning the Mormon Image: on Mormon (non)distinctiveness

By Mees TielensMay 23, 2013

Last September, I wrote about the Mormon “hey girl” meme as a signifier of Mormon culture. I’d like to continue in that vein today when talking about Mormon pins on Pinterest.

Mormonism and McDonald’s

By Mees TielensMay 6, 2013

While doing some background research on global Mormonism, I came across two Dialogue articles: Michael J. Cleverely’s “Mormonism on the Big Mac Standard” by and James B. Allen’s “On Becoming a Universal Church: Some Historical Perspectives.”[1] Discussing “America’s role as a catalyst in the spread of Mormonism” (Allen 19) can be tricky, but whatever conclusion you reach on that regard, it is not hard to see American terms in the transmission of the gospel. Allen describes one cultural misunderstanding,

Of Mormons and Baseball

By Mees TielensApril 16, 2013

I make it out to the US most summers, but when I don’t, there is one thing I miss more than absolutely anything: a baseball game. I have many fond memories of exciting baseball games in the heat of summer, cheering on my beloved Oakland A’s or San Francisco Giants (we’re equal opportunity Bay Area supporters at my house). And since April is the month of Opening Day, I thought I’d round up something about Mormons and baseball.

Guidelines for (sister) missionaries

By Mees TielensMarch 28, 2013

As a non-Mormon studying Mormons, I’ve been visited by my fair share of sister missionaries. I enjoy their visits and love hearing about their experiences, even if I have remained firmly unconvertable up till now. For that reason, when the new age restrictions for missionaries were announced last General Conference, and I read about the dress and grooming standards for missionaries, I was curious, and spent an hour or so browsing the site. For my contribution to Women’s History Month, I’d like to tie together some of my thoughts on that front.

Food and Faith

By Mees TielensFebruary 25, 2013

I spend a lot of my time thinking about food. My kitchen reflects my dual citizenship: I enjoy both Kraft macaroni and cheese and a good Dutch ?mashpot?,¹ and now that I live in Germany, I eat the occasional bratwurst. I know firsthand how picking and choosing your ingredients in the grocery store can both reflect and shape your identity. (Not to mention the ribbing you receive for bringing PB&J sandwiches to school here?that combination grosses Dutch kids out and will get you exiled from the lunch table fast.)

I?m teaching a course on food and faith in American culture next semester, and preparing for that got me thinking about (American) Mormon food culture. And when one thinks about Mormonism and food, one thinks about Jell-O. I?ve had so many Mormons tell me they don?t like Jell-O, or that it didn?t really feature in their lives growing up, or that they don?t consider it particularly Mormon. On the other hand, when I first arrived in Provo last summer, my roommates were doing Jell-O shots at a house party (obviously the non-alcoholic kind). And at the dinner that kicked off the summer seminar, Jell-O salad was served. So what?s a non-Mormon like me to think on that score?

Come, Come, Ye Saints: the International Version

By Mees TielensJanuary 25, 2013

As part of my dissertation on the ritualization of Mormon history, I have been researching the use of pioneer symbolism in both mainstream American and Mormon public memory. I’ve put together some basic thoughts on this subject for this post today, my third guest post here at Juvenile Instructor. You can find the others here and here.

The concept of public memory is central to what I want to talk about today. By this, I mean the ideas that a people may have about their history, ideas that help a society not only understand its past, but more importantly also its present and future. It reveals essential issues present in every society: issues of organization, of power structures, of the actual meaning of past and present as experienced by different societal groups. I’m operating on the premise that ultimately, how we think about the past is grounded in how we think about the present. Shaping public memory is a contested practice and involves a struggle for authority and domination between ideologies (Bodnar 13), often expressing itself as a conflict between ‘official cultures’ (civic and business leaders, for example) and ‘vernacular cultures’ (‘ordinary people’) [2].

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