Welcome to the Maxwell Institute podcast. I'm Joseph Stewart. In the 19th century, a fascination

with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made Mormons and Mormonism a common trope in French

journalism, art, literature, politics, and popular culture. Heather Belknap, Cory Cropter, and Darrell

Lee, all professors at B.Y.U. Bring to light French representations of Mormonism from the 1830s to 1914,

arguing that these portrayals often critiqued and parodied French society.

Mormonism became a pretext for reconsidering issues such as gender,

colonialism, the family, and church-state relations,

while providing artists and authors with a means for working

through the possibilities of their own evolving national identity.

I'll note before we begin that Mormonism is the term used by 19th century French people,

and that, as we see it, it represents best something that they're seeing.

In fact, Mormonism isn't necessarily the Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints for its teachings, it's something discursive. It stands in for other ideas.

In other words, Mormonism stood for things attributed to Latter-day Saints, but that made

particular sense in a time and place to French people. For that reason, we use Mormon and Mormonism throughout the interview,

as well as Latter-day Saints and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Heather Belknap is Associate Professor of Art History and European Studies Coordinator at BYU,

and an affiliate of the Global Women's Studies Program. Her research focuses on women in post-revolutionary

French, art, fashion, and culture, religion

and art in the modern era, transatlantic culture and Mormonism around 1900, and Mormon women's

history.

Cory Kropper is Associate Dean in the College of Humanities and Professor of French at BYU.

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