The Red Nation Podcast Mormon Settler Colonialism w/ Elise Boxer
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Nov 17, 2025 Elise Boxer, a Dakota historian and Associate Professor, discusses her upcoming book on the complexities of Mormon settler colonialism. She shares how her LDS upbringing shaped her research, sparked by a revealing conversation about stereotypes. Elise delves into the racialization of Indigenous identities in Mormon doctrine and critiques the Indian Student Placement Program. She also connects modern LDS narratives to historical patterns of dispossession, aiming to open dialogues between Mormon and Indigenous studies for deeper understanding.
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Personal Origin Of The Project
- Elise Boxer recounts being raised LDS and feeling othered after moving off the reservation at age 12.
- A conversation with white Mormon friends who blamed Indigenous violence catalyzed her research into Lamanite narratives.
Scripture Shapes Racialized Identity
- The Book of Mormon frames some Indigenous peoples as descendants of Lamanites marked by a 'skin of blackness.'
- That scriptural racialization underpins Mormon claims about Indigenous origins, destiny, and missionary obligation.
Joseph Smith And Settler Belonging
- Joseph Smith functioned as a bridge linking Book of Mormon narratives to nineteenth-century American settler claims.
- Mormon notions of persecution and prophecy helped justify land claims and a shifting Zion across the frontier.
