McGill Marks 10th Anniversary of Annual Global Mormon Studies Lectures

The McGill University School of Religious Studies hosted the 10th Anniversary Global Mormon Studies Lecture, a symposium titled “Religion and Globalization: Exploring Ethnicity and Gender in Global Mormon Studies.” Scholars gathered on November 20, 2024, to speak at the Birks Heritage Chapel on topics related to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its position in the world.

Michelle Graabek, PhD, president of Global Mormon Studies, set the tone by exploring whether the Church should be considered an American religion. She proposed some unique aspects of Latter-day Saint history that set it apart from having American origins.

Caroline Kline, PhD, assistant director of the Global Mormon Studies program at Claremont Graduate University, presented research about women in the global Church. She described how she had to modify her personal priority of gender equality because she found that the women she interviewed had different views of what mattered most to them. She found that women in Mexico and Botswana stayed active in a patriarchal Church because they valued how the Church encouraged their husbands to make positive contributions to the family. For these women, abuse, oppression and alienation were greater evils than inequality. Kline called the position of these women “non-oppressive connectedness,” a concept that emphasizes relationships and security over gender equality. These women valued their Church membership and male leaders because they saw them as contributing to safer interpersonal connections. “Equality is not the only priority,” said Kline. “These women found creative solutions.”

Following the keynote speech, there was a panel discussion. Amaechi Okafor, a PhD candidate in history at Concordia University, addressed the hybrid identities of African Church members. He suggested that the Church could help Black members reconcile these different views of themselves by allowing African cultural practices to be expressed in Church services.

Russell Stevenson, PhD, of the United States Military Academy West Point, told of how Afro-Brazilian members in the 1950s and 1960s made the diversity of Church membership obvious to Church leaders and paved the way for large numbers of African and Asian converts to join the Church in later decades.

Vinna Chowriamah, a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, drew attention to personal positionality. She recalled her experience as a convert to the Church in the island nation of Mauritius, where most people are from Hindu backgrounds and view conversion to other religions as “selling your soul for a baguette,” a reference to French colonizers of the past. She said that under these pressures, some Church members celebrate Diwali, a Hindu festival commemorating the victory of light over darkness — not as a religious holiday but as a way to stay connected to their culture of origin: “Some Church members may see in Dwivali a similitude of the light of God that overcame the darkness around Joseph Smith when he was praying in the Sacred Grove.”

The talks, as a whole, celebrated the diversity of Latter-day Saints in a globalizing Church and authentically explored the dilemmas that new Global South members may experience in a Church that is hierarchical and organized by leaders far away in Salt Lake City, Utah. For many, this is less of a problem than may be expected, as the benefits of Church membership and its positive effects on families, security and abundant spirituality make participation an act of gratitude and humility.

Professor Garth Green, director of the School of Religious Studies at McGill, offered some concluding remarks. He expressed appreciation for the authenticity and diversity of the speakers as they courageously expressed their experience as Latter-day Saints. “I learned a lot,” he said, “and I hope we can continue these discussions beyond this symposium.”

Kyle Roth, a student at the University of Montreal, said, “My biggest takeaway was a better understanding of how individuals navigate plural senses of identities as members of the Church. Because of our church’s unique history, it’s easy to universalize my experience and apply it to everyone, making it harder for me to understand people’s varying choices and methods of engaging with the faith. These presentations opened my perspective and will make it easier for me to view all members with nuance and cultural awareness.”

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