July Theme: Mormonism and Politics

[This post is co-authored by Ben Park and Joey Stuart, the two conveners for this month’s topical series.]

In the 19th Century, Americans feared foreign “reptiles” like the Mormons and Catholics would infiltrate national politics.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the Fourth of July. In certain ways, the celebration embodies many aspects of our historical memory: the focus on the decisions made by white men separated from combat instead of the individuals who had risked their lives in battle for over a year, the sacralization of ideals that remained divorced from reality for many decades, and, most importantly, the emphasis on political language and principles over the practical ramifications and cultural experiences that resulted from those decisions. The document, words, and ideas of the Declaration of Independence are important, of course, but our narrow focus on a simple parchment written as a de-facto justification for actions that had already been taking place for months before, and would continue for years after, on our celebration of the nation?s ?founding? highlights the limited nature of not only our historical memory, but also the way in which we define ?politics. 

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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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Guest Post: Audrey Bastian, From Siamese Prison to Mormon Memory

Note: This post is part of our international Mormonism month.  Audrey Bastian is a freelance writer and interpreter speaking Mandarin, Arabic and American Sign Language.  She lived in various countries in Asia eight years and received her masters degree in International Law and World Order from the University of Reading in England.  Her bachelors degree is in History with a minor in Arabic.  She won an honorable mention in 2006 in the Writer?s Digest 75th Annual Writing Competition for a memoir entitled, ?Japanese Carp?.  She currently owns her own business and resides in Washington, DC.

?…the King confined bro. [Trail] 71 days in a Siamese prison, 14 feet square, with 50 other prisoners, some were confined for debt others for stealing &c several ware put to the rack to draw out a fu [teekals (tikal money)]…?  –Elam Luddington April 1854

A day after Elam Luddington baptized his first and only convert in Siam, Captain James Trail, the King of Siam thrust the convert into a debtor?s prison without food.  The captain?s crime was misunderstanding a command and firing a salute from his ship in the rhodes of Singapore.  

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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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Guest Post: Russell Stevenson, The Prophetess: Rebecca Mould and the Origins of Mormonism in Ghana

Note: This post is part of our series on International Mormonism.  Russell Stevenson is a freelance writer born and raised south in rural western Wyoming. He received his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University and his master?s degree in history from the University of Kentucky. He has taught history and religion at Brigham Young University and Salt Lake Community College.  He has a forthcoming biography on Elijah Ables, which will be available this afternoon.

In 1964, Abraham F. Mensah, a schoolmaster visiting Great Britain from Ghana, first came into contact with the Mormon church through literature given to him while he was visiting a Sufi friend living in St. Agnes, England.[1]

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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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Guest Post: David Michael Morris, United Kingdom Mormon Demographic Survey 2013

The Mormon Temple in Surrey

One of the most significant discussions of religion and politics during 2012, was the dynamics of the US presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, and his religious affiliation to Mormonism. While the presidential race was watched globally, within the United Kingdom, it remained mainstream news throughout and Romney received close examination of his history, religion and policies.  For many in the United Kingdom, they knew little of him except him being a Mormon, and a rich one at that, which seemingly concentrated their curiosity. However, during a goodwill visit to London, he successfully undermined his own standing with both the British political establishment and public at large by making ill-informed statements and swimming in blind ignorance.

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International Mormon History Month at JI: A Tahitian, Mormon Indian Scout

Grouard as a young man

Frank Grouard was something of an enigma in the nineteenth century.  In 1876, he had become a Chief Indian Scout for the United States Army, helping General George Crook locate and fight bands of Sioux who were refusing to stay on their reservations.    On June 25, 1876, he saw smoke signals rising from the Battle of Little Bighorn, rode to the scene of the battle where he discovered the bodies of the dead, and reported the death of Custer to the General Crook.  He also interpreted during peace negotiations between Crazy Horse and the American government and was present at the Battle of Wounded Knee.  For much of his life, Grouard lived in relative anonymity but a series of newspaper articles and the publication of an as-told-to biography in in 1894 catapulted the Indian scout to fame.

In spite of his newfound renown, however, certain parts of Grouard?s life remained mysterious.  One of the most interesting and perplexing for those at the time was Grouard?s racial background.  At various times, he was identified as a Lakota Indian, as a mulatto, as a French-Creole, and as a half-breed.  Throughout his life, however, Grouard claimed to be the son of Benjamin F. Grouard, a Mormon missionary who had traveled to the South Pacific in the 1840s and had married an indigenous Maohi woman.  It is the latter story that the archival record bears out.

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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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Reflecting on MHA: Mormonism in Colonial Spaces, with a nod to our Series on International Mormonism

One of the questions that emerged out of this year?s Mormon History Association Conference was how we should think about Mormonism in colonial spaces.  I had the pleasure of commenting on a session with Gina Colvin, Chad Emmett, and Russell Stevenson.  Colvin began the session by exploring what it would mean to write Mormon history in a way that would take seriously the perspectives and lives of indigenous people such as the Maori.  Emmett then detailed the lives of Mormon men and women living in Dutch Indonesia in the early- to mid-twentieth century.  Stevenson rounded out the panel by exploring the meanings of conversion in British colonial India through the lens of the life of Mizra Khan, a wealthy Indian convert who wrote letters to church leaders about the legal and social status of his polygamous wives.

Taken together,

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