Race, Gender, Nation and the Criminalization of Polygamy In
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“What’s love got to do with it?” Race, Gender, Nation and the Criminalization of Polygamy in Canada and the United States. By Anastasia Alexopoulos A thesis submitted to the Graduate Program in Gender Studies In conformity with the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada August 2020 Copyright © Anastasia Alexopoulos 2020 ABSTRACT This project interrogates the weaponization of heteronormative marriage in processes of state formation and in relation to practices of polygamy. This dissertation explores how gender and race have been used at the service of the white settler-colonial state via the criminalization of polygamy; and, the role of law, policy, and science in the contemporary construction and perpetuation of normative gender roles and racial hierarchies which rely on the primacy of monogamous marriage and the criminalization of polygamy to remain coherent. Engaging with bodies of theoretical work that highlight how polygamy has been and continues to be utilized in a myriad of processes including normative constructions of the family, nation building, the state and citizenship; race and racism; sexuality; and gender equality, this dissertation investigates and interrogates struggles over the meaning and representation of polygamy at the intersection of history, law, and culture. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have been working on this dissertation for over a decade and I could not thank every person who made this possible because that list would be as long as the dissertation itself. If I don’t thank you individually here please know that I am beyond thankful for every coffee, dinner, park visit, walk, car ride, email, and text message. Thank you to the members of my committee: Katherine McKittrick, Trish Salah, Grace Adeniyi- Ogunyankin, Elizabeth Brulé, Lee Airton, and Dina Georgis. Thank you to Dan Cohen for Chairing my defense. It was such a privilege to work with so many incredible people. Never ending gratitude to my supervisor, Katherine McKittrick. From my very first year at Queen’s as an undergraduate Katherine has modelled what it means to be revolutionary. Katherine always challenged me to take risks and be more rigorous. Katherine’s brilliance is only matched by her kindness and this would not have happened without her. My utmost appreciation to Dina Georgis, who was one of my first professors and always inspired curiosity and passion. It was very special to complete this project with two people who put me on this path to begin with. Liz Brulé showed me the kind of teacher I wanted to be. Her trust, care, and guidance during a difficult time is one of the reasons I was able to complete this project. I have to thank the person who brought us together in a roundabout way: David Noble. David supported this project academically and he was a friend. David made fighting the system fun and he is sorely missed. Thank you to my colleagues at Mount Allison who read and edited this work and gave me feedback on talks and presentations. I must express my gratitude to Elaine Naylor and William Lundell for consistently being in my corner. Marie Hammond Callaghan showed me so much kindness and friendship. She was such a wonderful professor and mentor; I was incredibly lucky to have worked with her and I miss her very much. Thank you to all the students I have had the honour of teaching and learning from over the years. There are too many of you to thank individually, but when I thought finishing a PhD was pointless, when I wanted to abandon this project, it was teaching you that always brought me back. Thank you to Nicole Gosling, Owen, Kade, and Jason; Nor’Ali McDaniel; Brittany Jones, Haiden and Sawyer; Lisa Dawn Hamilton and Shelly Colette; Meaghan Beaton; the Baseball Bat Gang; Christopher Young; Lisa Boucher; Maxine Proctor; Helen O’Connor; Jessica Hogan; Emily McDonald; Colleen Renihan and Geoff Hendry; Hans Rollman; Naomi Lang; and the Book Club at Dorchester Penitentiary. Finally, and most importantly, I cannot thank my family enough. My parents and siblings never wavered for a second in their support and they encouraged me to do what was right even when it meant a longer, harder road. Thank you to my partner Jerry Ropson (who hates the beach but went anyway) and his amazing family. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................................II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................................... III INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER ONE: A FEMINIST APPROACH TO THE POLYGAMY DEBATE ............................................... 6 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................................. 6 THE STATE, NATION, MARRIAGE, AND FEMINIST THEORY ...................................................................................................... 8 QUEER THEORY, SEXUALITIES, MARRIAGE ......................................................................................................................... 19 FEMINIST LEGAL THEORY ............................................................................................................................................... 24 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................................... 30 INTERDISCIPLINARITY ................................................................................................................................................ 30 FEMINIST JURISPRUDENCE .............................................................................................................................................. 32 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................................................................... 33 NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, AND ILLUSTRATED PERIODICALS ................................................................................................. 37 ANTI-MORMON FICTION ............................................................................................................................................... 38 TELEVISION ................................................................................................................................................................. 41 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER TWO: CONSTITUTIONS, LEGAL FRAMEWORKS, AND LEGAL INTERVENTION ........... 46 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 46 CONSTITUTIONS ........................................................................................................................................................... 48 CANADIAN CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION AND REFERENCE QUESTIONS ............................................................................ 52 LEGAL RESPONSES TO POLYGAMY IN THE UNITED STATES ..................................................................................................... 56 CANADIAN LEGAL RESPONSE TO POLYGAMY ...................................................................................................................... 59 REFERENCE RE: SECTION 293 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF CANADA ........................................................................................ 61 LAW AND THE MYTH OF NEUTRALITY ............................................................................................................................... 62 WHO WAS A RAPIST? ................................................................................................................................................... 65 WHAT WAS CONSENT AND WHO COULD GIVE IT? ............................................................................................................. 72 WHO COULD BE A LAWYER? .......................................................................................................................................... 85 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................... 88 CHAPTER THREE: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ............................................................................................... 90 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 90 THE EMERGENCE OF MORMONISM .................................................................................................................................. 92 THE TWIN RELICS OF BARBARISM: PUBLIC REVELATION, RELIGIOUS REVIVAL AND THE UTAH WAR ............................................... 95 CRIMINALIZING POLYGAMY IN THE