50 Years of Mormon Feminism - with Heather Sundahl & Katie Ludlow Rich

Breaking Down Patriarchy

Amy McPhie Allebest

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.9 • 654 Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2024

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Amy is joined by Heather Sundahl & Katie Ludlow Rich of the Exponent II to discuss their book 50 Years of Exponent II, explore the history of this essential publication, and celebrate the history and future of Mormon feminism.

Heather Sundahl believes in the power of stories. In the pursuit of this, she has volunteered with Exponent II for twenty-eight years. As a writer and editor, Heather works to amplify the voices of marginalized folks and has collected the oral histories of Batswana, South African, Native American, and queer Mormon women. She received an MA in English from BYU in 1994 and an MA in Marriage & Family Therapy from UVU in 2023. Heather currently works at a residential treatment center where she helps her teenage clients find narratives that promote growth and healing. She lives in Orem, Utah.

Katie Ludlow Rich is a writer and independent scholar of Mormon women's history. Her work focuses on centering women's voices and their agentive decisions even when functioning within a patriarchal tradition. She has a bachelor's in history and a master's in English, both from Brigham Young University. Her writing has appeared in Exponent II, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, The Journal of Mormon History, and The Salt Lake Tribune. She lives in Saratoga Springs, Utah.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee, All the Best. When I reflect on my personal
0:07.4	mission to deconstruct patriarchy, I think a lot about a period of about 10 years of my life when I was
0:14.1	really struggling. These were the years when the realities of being a young mother and homemaker
0:19.7	were setting in. My mind and heart had always
0:23.5	been devoted to the religion of my family and community, but my mind and heart had also always
0:29.6	been devoted to a quest for objective truth and social justice. The conflict between my love for my
0:36.3	faith and my lived experience of constant patriarchal injustice
0:40.3	caused a mental and emotional upheaval for which I had no outlet and in which I had very
0:46.5	little companionship. Only a handful of women, thank goodness for them, who felt equally anguished.
0:53.4	It was in this period of my life that I discovered a
0:56.5	magazine called The Exponent 2. It was a periodical for women in the Church of Jesus Christ
1:02.3	of Latter-day Saints to explore all the aspects of their lives, including struggles large and small,
1:09.1	in stunning, emotional, and intellectual honesty.
1:12.7	I immediately subscribed, and it became a life raft for me. And eventually, as I'll talk about
1:18.2	later, a launching pad for the work I do now. So today's episode is dedicated to the Exponent
1:25.3	2, and specifically to a book that celebrates 50 years of the
1:29.6	publication celebrating and supporting and nurturing LDS women. The book is called 50 Years of Exponent
1:36.9	2, and its editors are Heather Sundahl and Katie Ledlow Rich who are joining me today. Welcome,
1:43.1	Heather and Katie. We are so happy to be here.
1:46.3	Thanks. So I always start out the episodes with an introduction and by reading your professional
1:53.2	bio, so I'll do that first, and then I'll have you each introduce yourselves more personally
1:57.3	after that. Heather Sundal believes in the power of stories.
	...

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