22 May 2007
Association meeting May 24th at MHA conference (and by phone)
The inaugural meeting of the Association will be held May 24th, 2007, from 5-6 pm, in meeting room 1 at the Salt Lake City Hilton (255 South West Temple). This is the location and opening day of the Mormon History Association conference. The ASPMS meeting was scheduled so as not to conflict with the MHA events that evening.
There will be a conference call number for participation by phone. Contact sadams@byu.edu for the call-in number.
The Association of Spanish and Portuguese Mormon Studies is a group of scholars/publishers/consumers with an interest in Spanish and Portuguese Mormon Studies. The scope of the organization includes studies about Mormonism among Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries and individuals, and, more generally, Mormon studies written in Spanish and Portuguese.
The association’s draft objectives are to:
• Increase the level of contributions by Spanish and Portuguese speakers to Mormon Studies–in part by providing forums where such works can be easily reviewed, published, or distributed.
• Encourage traditional Mormon Studies publishers and scholars to examine Mormonism among Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries and individuals.
• Encourage translations into Spanish and Portuguese of significant Mormon Studies content that is currently available only in English.
• Create a sense of community among Span./Port. speaking Mormons that transcends geography (where an Argentine has a place to learn from his Mexican sisters and both of them can share their experience with someone in the U.S.).
• Identify existing Spanish/Portuguese Mormon studies (history, sociology/ anthropology, theology, etc.), and improve the ability to share these with Spanish & Portuguese speakers.
The draft May 24 meeting agenda is (suggestions are welcome):
• Introductions
• Is there a need for an association?
• What objectives should the association have?
• How to involve Spanish and Portuguese speakers.
• Volunteers for weekly communications to post on the Association web site for first few months (if we have 8 volunteers, that’s one post/review/introduction every 2 months).
• Incentives (annual awards, cash award?) to encourage translations of existing Mormon Studies works and encourage new works (in any language) addressing Spanish and Portuguese Mormon Studies.
• What should the name of the organization be, in English, Spanish (La asociación de estudios Mormones en español y portugues?), and Portuguese (La associação para estudos Mórmones em espanhol y português?) [these translations may imply studies in the Spanish and Portuguese languages, and may not connote the larger scope of the association].
Kent, thanks for setting the site up. The ability to easily post and read in the the 3 language is important–bem feito!
I like your tagline (”Bringing Mormon Studies to Speakers of Spanish and Portuguese”). I wonder if it would be good to also include the broader concept of “Involving Spanish and Portuguese Speakers in Mormon Studies”? Perhaps this could be done by alternating the text, que sé yo?.