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Arts and Humanities

University of New Mexico

Theses/Dissertations

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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“This Is How You Navigate The World”: Impacts Of Mormon Rhetoric On White Queer Members' Identity Performances, Ben Brandley Apr 2020

“This Is How You Navigate The World”: Impacts Of Mormon Rhetoric On White Queer Members' Identity Performances, Ben Brandley

Communication ETDs

The Mormon Church is one of the fastest growing and most conservative religious organizations in the world. The Church’s conservatism has meant that its rhetorics, doctrines, and discourses have cultivated a culture of queerphobia and anti-queer sentiments. By interviewing 15 transgender, bisexual, and gay Mormons who are active in the Church, I conducted a critical thematic analysis that yields insights and critiques into how Mormon rhetoric impacts the identity performances and relationships of queer members. Using queer theory and Whiteness as conceptual and theoretical lenses, the analysis revealed four major themes: 1) queerness as non-identity, 2) the primacy of divine …


Imagining The Saints: Representations Of Mormonism In American Culture, Jeremy R. Ricketts Aug 2011

Imagining The Saints: Representations Of Mormonism In American Culture, Jeremy R. Ricketts

American Studies ETDs

The purpose of this dissertation is to address how representations of Mormons in American culture reveal not only key aspects of the history of Mormonism in America but also tell us a great deal about American life and thought since the founding of the religion in 1830 to the present day (2011). Representations are powerful vehicles for creating, shaping, reflecting, and naturalizing society's understanding of religious institutions and revealing cultural concerns and anxieties, and the methodology of this dissertation thus focuses on interdisciplinary analytical critiques of diverse texts to better elucidate the complicated but deeply intertwined history of the Mormon …