A PAN-HISTORICAL ANALYSIS of MORMON FEMINISM by Tiffany
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CULTIVATING LEGITIMACY IN A RELIGIOUS CONTEXT: A PAN-HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF MORMON FEMINISM by Tiffany Dawn Kinney A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English The University of Utah May 2017 ProQuest Number:10273050 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ProQuest 10273050 Published by ProQuest LLC ( 2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 Copyright © Tiffany Dawn Kinney 2017 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Tiffany Dawn Kinney has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Maureen A. Mathison , Chair March 1, 2017 Date Approved Robin Elizabeth Jensen , Member March 1, 2017 Date Approved Angela Marie Smith , Member March 1, 2017 Date Approved Cecil T. Jordan , Member March 1, 2017 Date Approved Jennifer Andrus , Member March 1, 2017 Date Approved and by Barry Weller , Chair/Dean of the Department/College/School of English and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT Cultivating Legitimacy in a Religious Context brings to rhetoric a study of legitimacy, specifically focusing on female rhetors who pursue authority along nontraditional routes. As a case study, I consider how local histories provide texture to dominant narratives by analyzing the stories of three ex-Mormon feminist women who draw from rhetorical strategies to cultivate a position of authority for themselves inside a hierarchal, religious institution. This dissertation specifically takes a pan-historical approach to archival work by selecting rhetors who span the twentieth century and who were public leaders within their community: Emmeline B. Wells (1828-1921), Sonia Johnson (1936-present), and Kate Kelly (1980-present). Through archival critical analysis, I discover that these rhetors focus on certain rhetorical canons in order to articulate their legitimacy and cultivate a position of authority for themselves. To this point, Wells employs arrangement patterns, Johnson uses invention processes, and Kelly positions her delivery strategically to help Mormon women gain legitimacy. Although all rhetors employ the canons when composing, I argue that these rhetors draw from the canons unevenly because of the changing social context and exigency within which they find themselves—Wells argues for female suffrage in the early 1900s, Johnson for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, and Kelly for female ordination during the 2010s. By emphasizing certain rhetorical canons over others, these women intervene in the advocacy discourse and thereby shape how others after them similarly develop their authority. By examining women’s appeals to legitimacy, this project influences the interpretive and theoretical structures in multiple disciplines including the studies of feminism, rhetorical history, and religion. iv “The time has gone by when women may sit idly down and wait for a lover or husband. There is too much to be done, there is no room for idlers; there is essential work that women can do.” -Emmeline B. Wells, “Woman’s Work,” November 15, 1875 “That is what the Mormon patriarchy has on its hands: a sea of smoldering women. Those whose anger is still undifferentiated, who do not realize how thoroughly they are being betrayed.” -Sonia Johnson, “Patriarchal Panic: Sexual Politics in the Mormon Church,” September 3, 1979 “How long must women wait for our faith to reflect the equity fundamental to Mormon theology?” -Kate Kelly, “Organizing in the Manner of the Priesthood,” March 17, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ x Chapters 1. ARCHIVING THE APOCRYPHA: LEGITIMACY, FEMINISM, RELIGION .......... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Defining and Contributing to Legitimacy ............................................................... 2 Resituating the Rhetorical Canons: Arrangement, Invention, and Delivery .......... 6 The Historical Erasure of Women’s Writing ........................................................ 10 Recuperating Women’s Writing ........................................................................... 12 National Feminism Interfaces With Local Utah Feminism .................................. 14 The Exigency for Mormon Feminism: Patriarchal Structure in LDS Faith ......... 22 Cultivating Legitimacy: Outlining This Project ................................................... 24 Textual Descriptions and Justifications ....................................................... 26 Significant Contributions ............................................................................. 30 Outline of Chapters ............................................................................................... 32 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 35 2. LITERATURE REVIEW: A PRACTICE IN LEGITIMACY THROUGH CITATION ........................................................................................................................ 36 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 36 Definitions of Legitimacy ..................................................................................... 41 A Brief Sketch of Traditional Ways to Cultivate Legitimacy .............................. 44 Gaining Legitimacy When Traditional Pathways Are Blocked ............................ 46 Citing Nature or Being ................................................................................. 47 Drawing on Elements of Context: Exigency and a Politics of Location ..... 48 Earning Legitimacy Through Association ................................................... 51 Earning Legitimacy Through Popularity ..................................................... 53 Gaining Legitimacy Through Visibility ....................................................... 55 Citing Authorities......................................................................................... 57 Citing Texts .................................................................................................. 60 Citing Experience ......................................................................................... 64 Performing or Claiming Legitimacy ............................................................ 68 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 69 3. EMMELINE B. WELLS: LEGITIMACY THROUGH ARRANGEMENT .............. 72 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 72 Pre-Textual Context: Otherwise Historical Context ............................................. 73 A Crisis of Succession ................................................................................. 73 Restricting Plural Marriage Means Restricting Political Rights .................. 74 Encouraging Westward Migration: Granting Rights to Utah Women ......... 76 Emmeline B. Wells: Sarcastic, Devoted, Suffragist ............................................. 78 “The Woman’s Exponent” ........................................................................... 80 Methods: Studying the Life’s Work of Emmeline B. Wells ................................. 81 Theoretical Underpinnings of This Method ................................................. 88 Large-grain: Social Circulation ............................................................................. 91 Mid-grain: Publication Patterns and Placement .................................................... 94 Small-grain: Organization of Individual Newsletters ......................................... 101 Fine-grain: Paragraph, Sentence, Punctuation Order .......................................... 111 Conclusions: Descending Scales of Arrangement .............................................. 118 4. SONIA JOHNSON: ESCHEWING LEGITIMACY FOR INVENTION ................. 123 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 123 Pre-Textual Context: Otherwise Historical Context ........................................... 125 Correlating the Church’s Efforts Translates Into Forgetting Women ....... 125 Sonia Johnson: Irreverent, Imaginative, Equal Rights Feminist ......................... 128 Publications: Books, Presentations, Speeches ........................................... 130 Methods: Studying the Rhetorical