Women and Mormonism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives . Edited by Kate Holbrook and Matthew Bowman.

Abstract

Women and Mormonism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, edited by Kate Holbrook and Matthew Bowman, emerged out of a 2012 conference. The collection contains essays that explore historical methodology, social science approaches, and historical and current narratives of Mormon women’s experiences. The theme of how Mormon women relate to the concept of agency, whether by acting within the institutional bounds of the church or by pushing back against the church’s expectations, bridges the essays in this collection. The collection succeeds with two important endeavors: first, the streamlined inclusion of essays about international women and women of color; second, scholarship that models how to uncover women’s experiences in unlikely places. Essays by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Jennifer Reeder, and Kristine Wright look beyond the written record to showcase the many ways women existed within the church. Drawing from sources such as autograph books, relief society album quilts, and sacred temple textiles, these essays demonstrate how women claimed space within church practice. Analyzing material culture helps—as Jennifer Reeder writes—to “preserve insights into skills, relationships, and domestic and public practices not often described in textual records” (p. 69). Amanda Hendrix-Komoto’s essay also challenges the assumed prestige of the written record by taking up the “messy, frustrating task” of using white male Mormon missionary accounts to distil information about a Polynesian woman’s marriage to a missionary (p. 151).