Young Single Adult Mormon Women in Tennessee: a Brief Ethnography

Young Single Adult Mormon Women in Tennessee: A Brief Ethnography by Melody Cook A thesis presented to the Honors College of Middle Tennessee State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the University Honors College Fall 2015 Young Single Adult Mormon Women in Tennessee: A Brief Ethnography by Melody Cook APPROVED: Dr. Rebekka King Department of Philosophy Dr. Ron Bombardi Chair, Department of Philosophy Dr. Jackie Gilbert Department of Management and Marketing Honors Council Representative Dr. John Vile Dean, University Honors College i For Mia Sonora II ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I wish to thank my interlocutors, especially those with whom I had the opportunity to sit for interviews. These women generously shared their stories with me, and I am so grateful for their candor. Funding for the completion of this project was provided by MTSU’s Undergraduate Research Office in the form of an Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URECA) grant. I am grateful to Dr. Jenna Gray-Hildenbrand for introducing me to the study of religion over Starbucks at the perfect time in my life. Thank you! My sincerest thanks to Dr. Rebekka King, who showed me the beauty of the ethnographic method and has walked with me through every stage of this project. Thank you for your patience, constant encouragement, careful mentoring, and friendship. Finally, I wish to thank my parents, Hope and Chip Cook, for their constant and unwavering emotional, spiritual, and financial support throughout this process. iii ABSTRACT This thesis examines the lives of young single adult Mormon women living in Nashville, Tennessee. Through an ethnography of the Nashville YSA Branch, a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I argue that my interlocutors are part of what I call the Mormon diaspora. Additionally, I find that the LDS Church provides a set of standards to be followed by its members in the interest of the future of the Church. Drawing from six months of fieldwork and five oral history interviews conducted with members of the Nashville YSA Branch, I compose a brief ethnography of a subgroup of contemporary Mormonism (i.e., YSA Mormon women) that is often ignored by scholars. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures vi Epigraph vii Introduction: Lived Mormonism 1 Chapter One: The Nashville Young Single Adult Branch 19 Chapter Two: The Mormon Diaspora in Nashville 37 Chapter Three: “Not, Like, an Altar Mormon”: Contemporary Gender Issues in the Church 49 Conclusion: Why Is No One Crying? Self-reflection, After the Field 64 References 74 Appendix A: The Family, A Proclamation to the World 78 Appendix B: Interview Questions 79 Appendix C: Interview Transcripts 80 IRB Approval 124 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: A print available for purchase from The Woods Barn 3 Figure 2: Current cover of the Book of Mormon 13 Figure 3: Official logo of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 14 Figure 4: Artwork displayed at one of the entrances in the Nashville meetinghouse 21 Figure 5: The “Plan of Happiness” illustration 34 Figure 6: Current cover of “For the Strength of Youth” 55 Figure 7: An artifact from the field 65 vi EPIGRAPH O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God. – Alma 37:35 vii INTRODUCTION Lived Mormonism A lived-religion approach helps us go beyond stereotypes of cookie-cutter conformity and to recast Mormonism’s growing diversity not as fragmentation or declension, but as evidence of the fertility of its soil for the human religious imagination. – Tona J. Hangen (2015: 209) An older man wearing a suit with a red and grey-striped tie ambles up to a podium situated before a filled auditorium in Salt Lake City, Utah. 91-year-old Russell M. Nelson, President of the Quorum of Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaks softly. He smiles to the men seated to his right and then goes on to describe recent deaths among the leadership of the Church. He speaks about the men’s late wives: “It would be impossible to measure the influence that such women have […], as wives, mothers, and grandmothers; as sisters and aunts; as teachers and leaders; and especially as exemplars and devout defenders of the faith.” He tells a story referencing his “pioneering efforts in open-heart surgery” before continuing to praise the women of his Church. Closing his eyes and shaking his head, he uses an index finger to punctuate his words: “We brethren cannot duplicate your influence.” Mimicking the phrasing of an earlier leader of the Church, he continues: Attacks against the Church, its doctrine, and our way of life are going to increase. Because of this, we need women who have a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ and who will use that understanding to teach and help raise a sin-resistant generation. We need women who can detect deception in all of its forms. We need women who know how to access the power that God makes available to covenant keepers who express their beliefs with confidence and charity. We need women who have the courage and vision of our Mother Eve.1 (Nelson 2015) 1 Mormonism’s narrative of Eve differs from most traditional narratives. See Campbell 1992: 475-476. 1 As he speaks, President Nelson focuses his gaze on the crowd before him, emphasizing important phrases in his speech: bedrock understanding, sin-resistant generation, courage. Standing up a bit straighter, he glances down at his notes on the podium and says, “So today I plead with my sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to step forward. Take your rightful and needful place in your home, in your community, and in the kingdom of God – more than you ever have before.” Nelson’s speech ends with his testifying of the truth of his words and his thanks to the women of the Church. He turns and leaves the podium.2 The above speech, or “talk” as it is called in the Mormon vernacular, was given at the October 2015 session of the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also called the LDS Church or Mormon Church.3 General Conference occurs biannually and consists of talks given by the leadership of the LDS Church, known as general authorities. Church members revere these talks. Only a short time after the October 2015 Conference, quotes from Nelson’s talk printed in decorative typography were available for purchase online (see Figure 1). 2 The text of Nelson’s talk is included in the General Conference section of lds.org (see Nelson 2015). I also referenced a video recording of Nelson’s talk found on YouTube.com (see Nelson [LDS General Conference] 2015). 3 When referring to the LDS Church as an institutional body, I use “Church.” Additionally, I consciously refer to members of the LDS Church as “Mormons.” Officially, the Church prefers its members to refer to themselves and be referred to as “Latter-day Saints” or “LDS”; noted historian of Mormonism Jan Shipps often uses “Saints” in her writing. However, taking into account trends in recent scholarship (e.g., Cannell 2005, Sumerau & Cragun 2015) as well as the tendencies of the Church members featured in this study, I believe that it is most appropriate to refer to my interlocutors as “Mormons.” 2 Figure 1: A print available for purchase from The Woods Barn (The Woods Barn 2015) The religion founded by Joseph Smith and known as Mormonism, continues to exist in a variety of forms and organizations, such as the LDS Church, the Community of Christ, and various fundamentalist sects; the largest of these today is the LDS Church.4 Over the past 185 years, the LDS Church has grown from a small new religious movement into an American religious pillar with a global presence. In the mid-nineteenth century, Smith moved his new church from New York to the American Midwest, spending time in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Following Smith’s murder in Illinois, Brigham Young took thousands of Mormon “pioneers” west to Utah Territory, where he founded Salt Lake City and there established Church headquarters. Today, there are LDS meetinghouses throughout the world in locations as diverse as Barrow, Alaska, and Kiribati. In 2014, the Church announced a milestone 15 million members baptized, with over 8 million members residing outside of the United States. Indeed, Jan Shipps notes, “[Mormonism] is no longer a regional faith, much less an American faith” (2000: 270), and Marie Cornwall writes, “As the [LDS Church] expands into new territories, Mormonism once again becomes a new religious movement” (2001: xiii, emphasis 4 For the remainder of the thesis, “Mormonism” and “Mormon” refer exclusively to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. 3 mine). Despite this growth, however, the LDS Church does not appear on track to meet the expectations of Rodney Stark’s (2005) infamous prediction of 265 million Mormons by 2080, and Mormons remain a minority in the United States, with the vast majority living in the area within and surrounding what is affectionately known as the “Mormon Bubble” that includes Utah and Idaho. In Tennessee, less than 1% of the population are members of the LDS Church. According to the Church, nearly 50,000 Tennesseans are members, and the state boasts two missions, two temples, and 105 congregations.5 In Davidson County, whose Mormons serve as the focus of this thesis, less than 0.8% of the population are members of the Church.

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