Stand ye in holy places: place and identity in contemporary Mormon meetinghouses

Latter-Day Saint ward meetinghouses have been designed to emphasize certain spatial mythologies of the Church in order to encourage a distinct(ly Mormon) sense of place. The meanings interpreted in these places inform member relationships both within Mormon culture and across societal cultures. Furthermore, these texts inadvertently tell the global story of "circulation, consumption and communication" which are key features of what anthropologist Marc Augé calls "non-places" (vii). This thesis explores the tensions that exist in the stories told through contemporary meetinghouses and which inform Mormon religious and cultural practices. In order to explore these tensions, I engage in close readings of significant Mormon religious texts and the Mormon built environment. I also draw from ethnographic fieldwork performed at an LDS meetinghouse in Utah. Through this mixed-methods approach, I hope to explore the role of LDS architectural practices on the cultural identities and understandings of active LDS practitioners.