White and Delightsome: LDS Church Doctrine and Redemptive Hegemony in Hawai'i Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Anthony Guy Tenney Graduate Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies The Ohio State University 2018 Thesis Committee Dr. Cynthia Burack, Advisor Dr. Mary Thomas 1 Copyrighted by Anthony Guy Tenney 2018 2 Abstract The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church) in Hawai'i presents a specific context to studyLDS Church doctrine and Native members. In this thesis, I undertake an interdisciplinary analysis of LDS Church doctrine, practice, and ritual in Hawai'i alongside exploration of Native Hawaiian (Kanaka Maoli) belief and participation in the Church. The history of Mormon interaction with and doctrine on Native people leads to their focus on Hawai'i, with religious ingenuity and missionary work at the forefront of Mormon efforts to convert Native Hawaiians. I examine the histories that lead to and informed Mormon presence and activity in Hawai'i, and the subsequent success in conversion and establishment of a presence through land, institutions, and economic development. A study of the LDS Church in Hawai'i offers a site of exploration to make connections between theology, body, racialization, and settler colonialism. While scholars such as Hokulani Aikau, Simon Southerton, and W. Paul Reeve reveal the LDS Church’s racialization and inclusion of Native/Indigenous peoples, I add to their work by focusing on doctrine, practice, and the body. I claim that ritual of baptism serves as an embodied practice with theological implications for Mormon material and spiritual bodies. Using Catherine Bell’s theory of ritual, I analyze Mormon baptismal ritual and doctrine to magnify the centrality of bodies, racialization, and settler colonialism in LDS ii Church doctrine. The focus on baptism also points to the importance of Bell’s concept of redemptive hegemony as an important part of how institutions and individuals interact and negotiate their power. I argue that Native Hawaiians engage with the Church through baptism as a means of claiming power through claims to the Lamanite identity while the Church also actively racializes them as a settler colonial institution. iii Vita EDUCATION The Ohio State University – Columbus, Ohio Master of Arts: Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Candidate Expected Graduation Spring 2018 The Ohio State University – Columbus, Ohio Bachelor of Arts: Double Major: History and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Graduated May 2016 ACADEMIC WORK EXPERIENCE Graduate Research Associate The Ohio State University Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (January 2018-May 2018) Graduate Teaching Associate - WGSST 1110, WGSST 2230 The Ohio State University Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (August 2016-December 2017) Fields of Study Major Field: Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Vita ..................................................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: History of Lamanite Doctrine and Missionary Work ....................................... 5 Chapter 3. LDS Church and the Mission to Hawai'i ......................................................... 17 Chapter 4. Baptism, Ritual, Bodies ................................................................................... 23 Chapter 5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 34 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 36 v Chapter 1. Introduction The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormon Church) and Native Hawaiians have a complex relationship founded upon doctrine and upheld through histories of faith, culture, and negotiation. Since Joseph Smith officially founded the LDS Church in 1830, the Church grew in numbers and influence across the United States and the globe as missionaries traveled near and far to convert new members. In Hawai'i, the Mormon Church grew substantially and currently operates a temple, a university, and the Polynesian Cultural Center on the island of O’ahu. A combination of factors contributed to this phenomena, as Native Hawaiians converted to and remain faithful in the LDS Church while negotiating their position within the LDS Church as a “Chosen People”. The negotiation of cultural, ethnic, and religious identity within a faith with clearly defined doctrine demonstrates what Catherine Bell calls “redemptive hegemony” as a motivating factor in religious activity. Native Hawaiian participation in and negotiation with the larger Mormon Church displays how this theory works within the LDS Church on a larger level as it operates to normalize each of its subjects. In 1830, Joseph Smith commissioned the very first mission of the LDS Church which was called the “Mission to the Lamanites” as the faithful workers traveled to Native American tribes within the United States and its territories. The Book of Mormon, the seminal text and namesake for members (Mormons) of the LDS Church, is a story set 1 in the Americas and written by authors descended from the Tribes of Israel. Doctrine in the Church claims that these peoples migrated from Israel to the Americas, and that God cursed the wicked who are the ancestors of contemporary Native people in the Americas with a darkening of skin. The tale of the Lamanites’ curse created a connection between ancestry, righteousness, and Native/Indigenous people that followed commonplace racial ideologies of the 19th century and has continued to inform Mormon practice and canon. Converting Lamanites to the restored gospel was of primary importance to Joseph Smith and the Church, and so missionary endeavors emphasized this doctrine and its importance in an effort to convert Native people. Missionary work serves as a central tenet in the faith and a mechanism for growth for the LDS Church. In the decades following the Church’s move westward, missionaries traveled across the globe as Church leaders sought to spread the faith. As the Church and its missionary efforts expanded, so did their doctrine on Lamanites. Native Hawaiians were not included within the purview of Lamanite doctrine until George Q. Cannon and other missionaries began to proselytize in Hawai'i, arriving on December 12, 1850. During this mission, Cannon had a vision in which he was instructed to preach to the Native people as they were Lamanites and needed to be returned to their place in the Church. An important part of the LDS Church, revelation creates new doctrines and practices and Cannon’s vision changed the direction of the mission in Hawai'i. After this vision, the mission grew substantially as the missionaries had lacked success amongst the White settlers on the islands. Consequently, Church doctrine on Lamanite identity grew to include Native Hawaiians through religious ingenuity and targeted proselytizing. The 2 ways in which this new doctrine took hold in practice, doctrine, and faith are important to understanding how Native Hawaiians the LDS Church relate and engage with each other. As the Church grew in numbers in Hawai'i, so did its economic, social, and religious power. Mormons established various institutions, businesses, and schools while converting indigenous people and settlers across the islands. Amidst this growth, Native Hawaiians navigated their complicated relationship as Lamanites while making claims to culture, land, and economic means through the LDS Church. Hokulani Aikau’s concept of Native Hawaiians as a “Chosen People” gives a name to the ways in which a Lamanite identityempowered them to work within the LDS Church to negotiate their position as faithful members in a land being settled. An important aspect of the LDS Church is its universal message of inclusion that is especially relevant to Native people as the Mormon Church expanded in Hawai'i. Within this inclusive doctrine resides an emphasis on Lamanite identity that includes a racializing curse that can be removed through rejoining the Church and living a righteous life. In order to become a member, Native Hawaiians must be baptized as the first ordinance of the LDS Church. Through religious theory, particularly ritual theory, baptism into the Church serves a specific function to signify membership in the Church and inclusion into the fold. By applying Catherine Bell’s work on ritual theory and redemptive hegemony, Native Hawaiians and the LDS Church’s doctrine reveals how doctrine, practice, and ritual come together to (re)produce hegemony. Specifically, baptism of Lamanites serves as a way of imbuing Whiteness upon Native people in a 3 metaphorical/spiritual way while also allowing indigenous people to enter into the Church and negotiate their status within the faith. This thesis is an interdisciplinary analysis of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints that focuses in on the connection between the ritual of baptism and the doctrine on Lamanites in Hawai'i as a means to interrogate the complex relationship between the