The Anthropology of Mormonism: An Emerging Field

Adam Dunstan, Kenai Peninsula College
Erica Hawvermale, Syracuse University

Abstract. Recent decades have seen the emergence of a nascent anthropology of Mormonism.* We demonstrate how anthropological work on Mormonism has crystallized around a set of themes with significant potential for both anthropology and Mormon social sciences: (1) religious authority, (2) ritual and the body, (3) physical engagement with Church history, (4) globalization, (5) gender and kinship, and (6) disbelief and heterodoxy. We argue that further progress can be achieved by focusing on the diverse individual experiences within Latter Day Saint groups.

Dunstan, Adam and Erica Hawvermale. 2022. “The Anthropology of Mormonism: An Emerging Field,” Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association 1, no. 1: 177–207. https://doi.org/10.54587/JMSSA.0107