In April 2016 Manchester eScholar was replaced by the University of Manchester’s new Research Information Management System, Pure. In the autumn the University’s research outputs will be available to search and browse via a new Research Portal. Until then the University’s full publication record can be accessed via a temporary portal and the old eScholar content is available to search and browse via this archive.

MEXICAN MORMON MASCULINITIES: navigating religious and gender normativities and identities in Mexico City

Siles Barcenas, Isaac Ali

[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2019.

Access to files

Abstract

This thesis explores the production and experience of masculinities among Mormon men (and women) in the contemporary context of Mexico City. It draws on a qualitative methodology, based on the analysis of texts and documents that make up the institutional normativity and discourse of Mormonism; ethnographic observations of two traditional Mormon congregations and the collective of self-identified LGBT Mormons 'Afirmacion'; and individual in-depth interviews with 25 Mormon men and 5 Mormon women. Drawing on the debates on secularisation and detraditionalisation, the thesis argues that contemporary Mormon masculinities in Mexico are neither merely current manifestations of 'traditional' forms of religious masculinity, nor the product of the ever-increasing 'modernisation' and secularisation of Mexican society. Rather, they consist of nuanced and fluid processes that simultaneously display elements of long-standing religious and gendered belief and practice, as well as ways of being in the world and interacting in it influenced by what can be seen as modern and post-modern discourses. Such processes are traced in four dimensions throughout the thesis, namely, the display of masculinities in different spaces configured either by Mormonism's gender regime or other such regime(s), the particular positions assigned to masculinities in those regimes through the notion of priesthood authority, the gender relationships that such structure produces, fosters and/or hinders, and the biographical accounts that participants articulated of their becoming 'Mormon men'. Throughout this exploration, the thesis addresses the issue of how useful or illuminating the concept of hegemonic masculinity can be in understanding religious masculinities in general and Mormon masculinities more specifically. It also seeks to illustrate the interaction between long-standing forms of being and doing religious masculinities, and others sometimes characterised as 'post-traditional' or even 'post-modern'.

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:
Content type:
Form of thesis:
Type of submission:
Degree type:
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree programme:
PhD Sociology
Publication date:
Location:
Manchester, UK
Total pages:
273
Abstract:
This thesis explores the production and experience of masculinities among Mormon men (and women) in the contemporary context of Mexico City. It draws on a qualitative methodology, based on the analysis of texts and documents that make up the institutional normativity and discourse of Mormonism; ethnographic observations of two traditional Mormon congregations and the collective of self-identified LGBT Mormons 'Afirmacion'; and individual in-depth interviews with 25 Mormon men and 5 Mormon women. Drawing on the debates on secularisation and detraditionalisation, the thesis argues that contemporary Mormon masculinities in Mexico are neither merely current manifestations of 'traditional' forms of religious masculinity, nor the product of the ever-increasing 'modernisation' and secularisation of Mexican society. Rather, they consist of nuanced and fluid processes that simultaneously display elements of long-standing religious and gendered belief and practice, as well as ways of being in the world and interacting in it influenced by what can be seen as modern and post-modern discourses. Such processes are traced in four dimensions throughout the thesis, namely, the display of masculinities in different spaces configured either by Mormonism's gender regime or other such regime(s), the particular positions assigned to masculinities in those regimes through the notion of priesthood authority, the gender relationships that such structure produces, fosters and/or hinders, and the biographical accounts that participants articulated of their becoming 'Mormon men'. Throughout this exploration, the thesis addresses the issue of how useful or illuminating the concept of hegemonic masculinity can be in understanding religious masculinities in general and Mormon masculinities more specifically. It also seeks to illustrate the interaction between long-standing forms of being and doing religious masculinities, and others sometimes characterised as 'post-traditional' or even 'post-modern'.
Thesis main supervisor(s):
Thesis co-supervisor(s):
Language:
en

Institutional metadata

University researcher(s):

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:
uk-ac-man-scw:319886
Created by:
Siles Barcenas, Isaac Ali
Created:
20th June, 2019, 16:13:54
Last modified by:
Siles Barcenas, Isaac Ali
Last modified:
2nd July, 2020, 11:33:23

Can we help?

The library chat service will be available from 11am-3pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). You can also email your enquiry to us.