Unsettling Mormonism
an archive of unsettling histories, mythistories, and mystories
from U.S. & Mormon settler colonialism, white supremacy, and imperialism
from U.S. & Mormon settler colonialism, white supremacy, and imperialism
This a visual essay synthesizing D&C 132, the scripture in which Mormon God reveals to Joseph Smith the “new and everlasting covenant” of eternal plural marriage and how this marriage is the path to Godhood through an infinite “continuation of seeds” Honestly, the idea of eternal families did still sit pleasantly in my exMormon heart. But now reading these (and remembering that women and children were literally property at the time) it’s clear that the Mormon eternal family is about the infinite increase of the Priesthood man. He enlarges himself by collecting wives and having infinite children, and thus his “eternal weight of glory” is equally enlarged. Joeseph justifies polygyny as another aspect of the Restored Old Testament-ish church, complete with Solomon’s temples. He writes that, because Abraham was polygynous, and Joseph is descendant from Abraham, then Joseph should be polygamous too. Finally Mormon God, through Joseph, threatens to “destroy” Emma, Joe’s wife, if she doesn’t go along with polygamy. And then makes the threat to any Mormon wife who tries to get in the way of this “new and everlasting covenant” Don’t know how one could feel good about any writing on the importance of family that includes a Divine death threat on a wife, woman, and mother. *In the images below I use the word "polygamy" where "polygyny" is a more accurate term. White supremacy in genealogyPart 1 is about how Mormonism foundationally used genealogy to reify its white-supremacist doctrines which teach that Euro-Mormons—as the keepers of the keys of THE “One True Church,” and descendants of Ephraim’s tribe of Israel—are God’s Chosen Race and People. Part 2 is about how this shows up in Mormon temple work, eternal families, & genealogy. Part 3 is on the classist, femicidal violences of Mormon doctrine on Eternal Families, Polygyny, and Godhood. Part 4 shares my personal experience with using genealogy in an anti-racist way. Part 5 is on the ways antisemitism and anti-Indigeneity overlap in Mormonism Part 6 builds on part 5 through a critical analysis of the art and history in the Manti temple and it's grounds. Part 7 addresses the Baptisms for the Dead that Mormons did for Jews killed in the Holocaust along with Hitler and other Nazis.
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AuthorI am nicholas b jacobsen, an artist, researcher, historian, educator, and organizer. I am a trans-non binary Euro-settler raised in the Nuwu lands of so-called Utah. My family has been Mormon and Utahn for as long as either of those concepts have existed. My ancestors sacrificed everything--their identities, homelands, jobs, health, & safety to become Mormon, Utahn, U.S. American, & white--to settler their Zion. They also sacrificed their humanities as they committed genocide against Kuttuhsippeh (Goshute), Timpanogos Shoshone, Shoshone-Bannock, Eastern Shoshone, Ute, Nuwu (Southern Paiute), and Diné (Navajo). Because my ancestors made my home through Indigenous genocide in their home/lands––I take it as my personal responsibility to unsettle what my ancestors settled, while helping my fellow settlers do the same through reading, writing, art, and community building. Archives
June 2023
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