Reinventing Mormonism: Guatemala as a Harbinger of the Future?
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 29.1 (Spring 1996): 177-192.
16 Pages Posted: 19 Jan 2013
Date Written: 1996
Abstract
Mormonism in Guatemala is being locally reinvented. Cultural translation can be observed through a variety of avenues. One particular example is a public assertion by a Guatemalan Mormon of an ethnic difference with Euro-American Mormons. This claim is examined with insights from anthropological literature on ethnicity. Comparable avowals of ethnic distinction by Native American Mormons are highlighted. A second avenue of cultural translation can be seen in Guatemalan interpretations of the Book of Mormon and the Popol Vuh in the context of Guatemalan nationalism. A third avenue can be seen in recent assertions of a Mormon ethnicity by scholars in the United States that are analyzed in relation to ethnic distinctions affirmed in Guatemala to suggest that rapid growth is reshaping Mormonism at its center as well as at the periphery. The emerging international gospel is increasingly lived locally by individuals trying to make sense out of a globally interconnected world. In the next century claims of an ethnic Mormon identity will continue to be made by those uncomfortable with the changing character of Mormonism; but they will be countered by an uneasy attachment to an international gospel adapted to a variety of local cultures.
Keywords: Mormon, Guatemala, Mayan, Ladino, Popol Vuh, ethnicity, Book of Mormon
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