BOOKS
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CURRENT PROJECT
Seeing Things: Technologies of Vision and the Making of Mormonism (2023) uses fresh archival research to emphasize just how much technologies of vision--including print, panorama, photography, micro/film, and television--have enabled and shaped Mormonism as a culture of seeing. Fusing German media theory with feminist new materialism, the book offers a media archaeology of performing distinctions, beholding to engender radical visions, and standardizing vision to effect assimilation as peculiar media practices born of a distributed agency between users and technologies. From gazing in stones to TV screens, Mormonism has been forged by managing visions in media. |
Weimar Cinema, Embodiment, and Historicity (Routledge, 2017)
reveals how the medium of film shaped modern historical experience and understanding—how it moved audiences through moving images. Whereas the tradition of nineteenth-century historicism entailed “self-extinguishment” and, thus, the extraction of the sensing body in the construction and reception of history, historical film addressed the carnal presence of modern embodied viewers. Combining historicization with close readings of Ernst Lubitsch's historical films, Passion (1919), Deception (1920), and The Loves of Pharaoh (1922), Weimar Cinema, Embodiment, and Historicity argues that cinema shaped postwar international relations, innovations in history writing, and historical consciousness. Central to this argument is the way film came to shape bodily response and organization around historical presentations, how it fashioned a cinematic “regime of historicity” in Weimar Germany.
reveals how the medium of film shaped modern historical experience and understanding—how it moved audiences through moving images. Whereas the tradition of nineteenth-century historicism entailed “self-extinguishment” and, thus, the extraction of the sensing body in the construction and reception of history, historical film addressed the carnal presence of modern embodied viewers. Combining historicization with close readings of Ernst Lubitsch's historical films, Passion (1919), Deception (1920), and The Loves of Pharaoh (1922), Weimar Cinema, Embodiment, and Historicity argues that cinema shaped postwar international relations, innovations in history writing, and historical consciousness. Central to this argument is the way film came to shape bodily response and organization around historical presentations, how it fashioned a cinematic “regime of historicity” in Weimar Germany.
Documents, Volume 13, Joseph Smith Papers. Co-edited with Christian K. Heimburger, Jeffrey D. Mahas, Brent M. Rogers, J. Chase Kirkham, and Matthew S. McBride (Church Historian's Press, 2022)
Documentary edition with meticulous transcription and contextualization of documents to and from Joseph Smith during the months of August to December 1843.
Documents, Volume 10, Joseph Smith Papers. Co-edited with Elizabeth Kuehn, Jordan Watkins, and Matthew Godfrey (Church Historian's Press, 2020)
Documentary edition with meticulous transcription and contextualization of documents to and from Joseph Smith during the months of May to August 1842.
Documents, Volume 8, Joseph Smith Papers. Co-edited with Brent Rogers, Brett Dowdle, and Gerrit Dirkmaat (Church Historian's Press, 2019)
Documentary edition with meticulous transcription and contextualization of documents to and from Joseph Smith during the months of February to November 1841.
Documentary edition with meticulous transcription and contextualization of documents to and from Joseph Smith during the months of August to December 1843.
Documents, Volume 10, Joseph Smith Papers. Co-edited with Elizabeth Kuehn, Jordan Watkins, and Matthew Godfrey (Church Historian's Press, 2020)
Documentary edition with meticulous transcription and contextualization of documents to and from Joseph Smith during the months of May to August 1842.
Documents, Volume 8, Joseph Smith Papers. Co-edited with Brent Rogers, Brett Dowdle, and Gerrit Dirkmaat (Church Historian's Press, 2019)
Documentary edition with meticulous transcription and contextualization of documents to and from Joseph Smith during the months of February to November 1841.
ARTICLES
“Developing the Dead: Spirit Photography, Mormonism, and Noise,” Journal of Mormon History 48 (April 2022): 106-130.
“Discordant Images: Joseph Smith’s First Vision in the Lutheran Tradition of Ars Moriendi,” Journal of Mormon History 47 (October 2021): 122-134.
"Dark Temporalities: Technologies of Race and Lighting in Ernst Lubitsch's The Loves of Pharaoh (1922)," Film History (Summer 2021): 60-90.
"Panoramic Visions: Consolidating the Early Mormon Gaze," Material Religion (December 2020).
“Re-Membering the Past: Historical Film and the Embodied Viewer,” Research in Film and History (November 2018).
"Mormonism and the Archaeology of Media," Mormon Studies Review 5 (2018): 46-52.
"Circulating Specters: Mormon Reading Networks, Vision, and Optical Media," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, (June 2017): 527-548.
Translation of Egon Friedell, “Dubarry,” Weltbühne, March 3, 1921: 276-79, in The Promise and Threat of Cinema Reader, eds. Anton Kaes, Nicholas Baer, and Michael Cowan. (University of California Press, 2016).
“Die ‘Erinnerung/Ein-Gliederung’ der Vergangenheit: Geschichtsfilm und der verlieblichte Zuschauer,” in Film und Geschichte: Produktion und Erfahrung von Geschichte durch Bewegtbild und Ton, ed. Pauleit, Winfried. (Berlin: Bertz + Fischer, 2015).
“Integrating the Best Books: Interwar Intellectualism and Extratextuality in Dorian, 1922," in Dorian: a Peculiar Edition. (El, Cerrito, CA: Peculiar Pages, 2015)
“Foreign Bodies: Border Control, Jewish Identity, and Der Student von Prag (1913),” Jewish Studies Quarterly 21 (2014): 277-295.
“Pumping Up Masculinity: The Initial Intervention and Lasting Legacy of Hans and Franz,” Journal of Popular Culture Volume 45, Issue 2 (April 2012): 241–263.
“Discordant Images: Joseph Smith’s First Vision in the Lutheran Tradition of Ars Moriendi,” Journal of Mormon History 47 (October 2021): 122-134.
"Dark Temporalities: Technologies of Race and Lighting in Ernst Lubitsch's The Loves of Pharaoh (1922)," Film History (Summer 2021): 60-90.
"Panoramic Visions: Consolidating the Early Mormon Gaze," Material Religion (December 2020).
“Re-Membering the Past: Historical Film and the Embodied Viewer,” Research in Film and History (November 2018).
"Mormonism and the Archaeology of Media," Mormon Studies Review 5 (2018): 46-52.
"Circulating Specters: Mormon Reading Networks, Vision, and Optical Media," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, (June 2017): 527-548.
Translation of Egon Friedell, “Dubarry,” Weltbühne, March 3, 1921: 276-79, in The Promise and Threat of Cinema Reader, eds. Anton Kaes, Nicholas Baer, and Michael Cowan. (University of California Press, 2016).
“Die ‘Erinnerung/Ein-Gliederung’ der Vergangenheit: Geschichtsfilm und der verlieblichte Zuschauer,” in Film und Geschichte: Produktion und Erfahrung von Geschichte durch Bewegtbild und Ton, ed. Pauleit, Winfried. (Berlin: Bertz + Fischer, 2015).
“Integrating the Best Books: Interwar Intellectualism and Extratextuality in Dorian, 1922," in Dorian: a Peculiar Edition. (El, Cerrito, CA: Peculiar Pages, 2015)
“Foreign Bodies: Border Control, Jewish Identity, and Der Student von Prag (1913),” Jewish Studies Quarterly 21 (2014): 277-295.
“Pumping Up Masculinity: The Initial Intervention and Lasting Legacy of Hans and Franz,” Journal of Popular Culture Volume 45, Issue 2 (April 2012): 241–263.
RECENT PRESENTATIONS
“Sensitive Machines: Mormon Women, Writing Technologies, and Creation,” The Association for Mormon Letters, UC-Berkeley Institute, March 2019, Berkeley, California.
“Dark Temporalities: Historicizing Lighting and Race in Weimar Historical Cinema,” O. Meredith Wilson Symposium, "History, Film, and Race," October 2018, Salt Lake City, Utah. (by invitation)
“Developing the Dead: Spirit Photography’s Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Mormonism,” Mormon History Association, June 2018, Boise, Idaho.
“The Material and Immaterial Past of Joseph Smith,” Eugene England Memorial Lecture Series, July 2017, Berkeley, California. (by invitation)
"Panoramic Vision: Mediating Mormon Visionary Experience," American Society of Church History, April 2017, Berkeley, California.
"Circulating Specters: Regulating Mormon Vision in the Face of Print and Optical Media," Mormon Media Studies Symposium, November 2016, Laie, Hawaii.
"Dr. Hirschell and Mr. Hyde: Restorationism, Descendancy, and Orson Hyde's Shifting Jewish Identity," Mormon History Association, June 2016, Snowbird, Utah.
"Framing Conversion: Edgar Reitz's Mahlzeiten (1965) and the Mormons," Association for Mormon Letters, March 2016, Laie, Hawaii.
"Re-Membering the Past: Historical Film and the Embodied Viewer," Bremen International Film Symposium, "Film and History," May 2014, Bremen, Germany (by invitation).
“History as Sensual Experience: Lubitsch’s Madame Dubarry (1919)” Third Annual London Film and Media Conference, “Pleasure of the Spectacle,” June 2013, London, England.
“Dark Temporalities: Historicizing Lighting and Race in Weimar Historical Cinema,” O. Meredith Wilson Symposium, "History, Film, and Race," October 2018, Salt Lake City, Utah. (by invitation)
“Developing the Dead: Spirit Photography’s Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Mormonism,” Mormon History Association, June 2018, Boise, Idaho.
“The Material and Immaterial Past of Joseph Smith,” Eugene England Memorial Lecture Series, July 2017, Berkeley, California. (by invitation)
"Panoramic Vision: Mediating Mormon Visionary Experience," American Society of Church History, April 2017, Berkeley, California.
"Circulating Specters: Regulating Mormon Vision in the Face of Print and Optical Media," Mormon Media Studies Symposium, November 2016, Laie, Hawaii.
"Dr. Hirschell and Mr. Hyde: Restorationism, Descendancy, and Orson Hyde's Shifting Jewish Identity," Mormon History Association, June 2016, Snowbird, Utah.
"Framing Conversion: Edgar Reitz's Mahlzeiten (1965) and the Mormons," Association for Mormon Letters, March 2016, Laie, Hawaii.
"Re-Membering the Past: Historical Film and the Embodied Viewer," Bremen International Film Symposium, "Film and History," May 2014, Bremen, Germany (by invitation).
“History as Sensual Experience: Lubitsch’s Madame Dubarry (1919)” Third Annual London Film and Media Conference, “Pleasure of the Spectacle,” June 2013, London, England.
