Mormon Barrio - by Sujey Vega

Book Synopsis

Illuminates the unique struggles and triumphs of Latino Latter-day Saints, the second largest demographic group in the church

The Mormon community is usually thought of as a homogenous, white-dominant faith. However, Latinos make up the second largest demographic group in the Church, with about 3.3 million practicing members today. Despite their rich history and influence, little research has focused on Latinos within the LDS Church or the push-pull factors that have attracted Spanish-speaking members to Mormonism in record numbers.

Mormon Barrio charts the century-long history of Latino Latter-day Saints, examining their historic and present contributions to the Mormon faith as well as their unique positioning within the religion's demographic makeup. Early in the Church's history, founder Joseph Smith's successor, Brigham Young, denied Black members full participation in the faith. Latino Saints existed somewhere between White and Black members in this system. Since the late 1970s the church has disavowed the belief that people with dark skin are inferior, but the Church is still an overwhelmingly white institution.

Centering the voices of Latino LDS members, the volume explores how Latino Mormons have navigated and established a sense of belonging for themselves within the faith, countering its Whiteness and coming to terms with its racist history. It shows how Latino Mormons have developed ethnoreligious barrios (communities) to function as sacred ethnic collectives where their religious beliefs and cultural practices can intersect. And it pays particular attention to gender, and to the ways in which Latina Mormons engage their faith and feminism to navigate their gendered positions within Mormonism. Mormon Barrio demystifies the lived ethno-religious experiences of Latino Mormons and accentuates their efforts to build a sense of communal belonging within their faith.

Review Quotes

"A pathbreaking work on Latina Latter-day Saints. Professor Sujey has captured the joy, pain, commitment, and disillusionment of being brown and female in the LDS church. It can strengthen faith or it can cause a loss of faith, but most importantly this book will force the reader to engage faith regardless of faith tradition, or none at all. Latina/o Latter-day Saints need this at the moment, and so do other people of faith."--Ignacio Garcia, Brigham Young University

"A profound exploration of Latina/o Mormon history, identity, and politics. Written with grace and meticulously researched, Vega weaves together stories of faith and culture to explore how Latina/o Saints found a home in the Mormon Church. Mormon Barrio is a major accomplishment."--Felipe Hinojsa, Baylor University

"Sujey Vega uses oral histories, family albums, and memory books to humanize the experiences and history of Latina/o Saints. Mormon Barrio weaves together the complicated history and diversity of Latina/o Saints as they make sense of their faith, ethnicity, and belonging within the LDS Church."--Elise Boxer, author of Mormon Settler Colonialism: Inventing the Lamanite

About the Author

Sujey Vega is Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and American Studies, and Affiliate Faculty in Transborder Studies and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. She is the author of Latino Heartland: Of Borders and Belonging in the Midwest.