Global Mormon Studies 2023 Online Conference

“This Prison… of a Crooked, Broken, Scattered, and Imperfect Language”

June 1-4 2023

(asynchronous activities begin 29 May)

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.

Conference Committee

  • Melissa Inouye, Church History Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Michelle Graabek, department of History & Civilization, European University Institute
  • Farina King, Department of Native American Studies, University of Oklahoma
  • Spencer Greenhalgh, School of Information Science, University of Kentucky

Program Committee

  • Melissa Inouye, Church History Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Michelle Graabek, department of History & Civilization, European University Institute
  • Farina King, Department of Native American Studies, University of Oklahoma
  • Matthew Bowman, Mormon Studies program, Claremont Graduate University
  • Fred Axelgard, Wheatley Institute, Brigham Young University
  • Spencer Greenhalgh, School of Information Science, University of Kentucky
Joseph Smith Translating is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 by John Foxe

Conference Schedule

The full schedule for the conference can be found on this page.

Conference Registration

GMS 2023 is a free conference; however, you must register to get access to sessions, other events, and the Slack workspace where we will share information and encourage conversations. You can register for the conference at this link.

GMS 2023 Slack

Slack is a communication app that we will use to answer questions and share important information prior to and during the conference. We will also be using this app to replace the hallway conversations and other social aspects of a conference that we can’t easily reproduce on Zoom; in fact, we will be offering an award for the Slack participant who best helps tie this aspect of the conference together. You must register for the conference to get the link to join our Slack workspace. You can read a walkthrough of Slack on this page.

In collaboration with:

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

Mormon History Association

Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University

Claremont Graduate University