Throughout Mormonism’s scriptural canon, individuals struggle with what Joseph Smith lamented was “this prison… of a crooked, broken, scattered, and imperfect language”. Contemporary scholars, too struggle with “imperfect language”, hemmed in by disciplinary boundaries, language barriers in sources and publication outlets, and a mismatch between terms and definitions native to academic study and religious movements. Many diverse voices remain largely absent from global Mormon studies.

Suggested proposal topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Cultural constraints
• History of translation
• Negotiations between ‘human’ and ‘divine’ influences
• Marginalised voices in global Mormon history

Conference Committee

• Melissa Inouye, Church History Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Michelle Graabek, department of History & Civilization, European University Institute
• Matthew Bowman, Mormon Studies program, Claremont Graduate University
• Spencer Greenhalgh, School of Information Science, University of Kentucky

Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Mormon History Association

Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University