The JI is pleased to welcome Mark Staker as the newest participant in the Scholarly Inquiry series. Mark, of course, is the author of the recently released Hearken O Ye People: The Historical Setting for Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations published by Kofford Books (see the table of contents and section overviews at Mark’s Hearken O Ye People blog).

Mark Staker has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Florida where he studied as a Grinter Fellow. He published a number of articles on the Venda and Yoruba in Africa and the Saramacca and Haitian Creole in South America and the Caribbean. He has worked for seventeen years with the LDS Church History Department spending fifteen of those years as a Curator at the Church History Museum where he produced numerous exhibits on Latter-day Saint history. The last two years he has worked as a Senior Researcher and Writer for Church Historic Sites. Mark was the project historian for the restoration of Kirtland, Ohio?s historic sites and received the J. Talmage Jones Award of Excellence for his article ?Thou Art the Man: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio.? He has published other articles ranging from plastic grapes to visual depictions of the Tree of Life in Latter-day Saint art. His first book, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith?s Ohio Revelations, was just published by Kofford Books.

We invite you to propose questions you would like to ask Dr. Staker in the comments below. Please keep questions generally focused on the scholarly study of Mormonism, Mark?s own research interests and projects, and other related issues. Thanks for your participation!