Comments on: Review: The History of the Mormons in Argentina

By: Kent Larsen

Kent Larsen — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:47:51 +0000

"In terms of writing, the book does not always flow, making the book seem a little longer than its 230 pages, but much of this problem may be the result of translation rather than poor writing.

From what I read of the Spanish-language original, I think the problem is more likely in the original, which is quite dry. However, As I understand it, from talking with Erin several years ago when she was in the midst of the translation, Erin doesn't speak Spanish. Her translation was done using computer aided translation. This also might explain some of the difficulties.

This is not to say that the book is poorly translated, but rather to remind the readers of the difficulties of language translation. All things considered, Erin Jennings has done a remarkable job in translating Curbelo’s book into English, a process which anyone will agree is by no means easy."

Since I'm in the midst of several translation projects (see http://www.mormontranslation.com), I have to agree. We should be grateful for any translations we get.

By: Jared T

Jared T — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:55:06 +0000

Craig's comment piqued my interest so I brought out my copies of his histories of Uruguay and Paraguay in Spanish. I'm actually kind of surprised that these books are of fairly recent release. Uruguay in 2002 and Paraguay in 2003. I looked up the Argentina and it was published in 2000. So, he started with his home, went on to his birth country and then to Paraguay, which shares a lot culturally with Argentina and Paraguay. In looking through the Uruguay book there isn't much national historic context either, but in the Paraguay book there are a few pages like what Craig describes. The LDS historical antecedents are understandably similar, but far from a simple cut and paste. Maybe I'll get to reviewing these at some point. I'm definitely a fan of efforts like these as I express at the end of my review of the Denton, Texas history.

By: Craig M.

Craig M. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:42:07 +0000

While I was on my mission in about 2004 I read Curbelo’s History of the Mormons in Paraguay (in Spanish). If I remember correctly, it also had a chapter or two on Latin American Mormon beginnings – I wonder if they are identical? Curbelo provided perhaps a little bit more context leading up to the entrance of missionaries in Paraguay, noting, for example, the dramatic decline in the male population from the War of the Triple Alliance (or was it the Chaco War?) as well as explaining why some of the earliest converts were German. The book was somewhat stale at times, but still had interesting information (for me it was sad to realized that a lot of the very first converts went inactive – I had been expecting to hear about how they became the first leaders as well).The primary focus, aside from the first converts, was on the lives of individuals who became prominent in the church and a chronology of early ward buildings, stakes, and finally the Asuncion temple. I believe that the books were written more for the members in those countries to get a sense of their spiritual heritage than as contributions to the Mormon historical studies corpus. But they are certainly an important pioneering effort in their own right.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:12:49 +0000

Thanks for the review, Brett.

By: David G.

David G. — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:10:06 +0000

“International church” is problematic, which reveals more I think about the undeveloped nature of the historiography of Mormonism outside of the U.S. than Brett’s own training as an Americanist. Despite great new work on Mormonism in non-U.S. contexts, I don’t think there’s been enough theoretical work interrogating traditional concepts of center and periphery.

By: David G.

David G. — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:01:43 +0000

Thanks for the review, Brett. The lack of dialogue with Argentine historiography shouldn’t be that surprising, right? Whatever contribution Curbelo is making to Mormon historiography, he’s an amateur (I don’t mean to start a storm here–amateurs can and do make meaningful contributions), and as such he lacks the professional training that would allow him to engage broader dialogues. We’re always complaining about how U.S. historians write on Mormonism without enough context. Why is it so surprising that Curbelo’s doing the same thing for Argentina? He’s plowing a lot of ground, but future scholars with a better grasp on Argentine and Latin American history will (hopefully) produce better interpretive works.

By: Brett D.

Brett D. — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:07:07 +0000

Great comments. I hadn’t thought about the way that Argentine nationalism would have influenced the book. As far as the term “international church,” I suppose I revealed my Americanist leanings in history.

By: Susan W H

Susan W H — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:29:25 +0000

Another book dealing with the history of the church in Argentina, as well as South America, is Mark L. Grover’s A Land of Promise and Prophecy: Elder A. Teodore Tuttle in South America, 1960-65 published by BYU Religious Studies Centers in 2008. This was the era when the chapel construction program was getting underway. I don’t know if it has been translated into Spanish yet.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:43:01 +0000

Thanks for the informative review, Brett! It’s very nice to see foundation-creating works of this kind springing up in various places.

Not to create a threadjack here, but could somebody define the phrase “the International Church” for me? I’m not offended or anything, but it seems to me an imperialist misnomer of an unfortunate kind.

For example, when I write about Mormon history in Finland, I don’t write about “the international church.” I write about the history of the church in Finland, just as an American scholar may write about the history of the church in the US.

Or would you like me to write a piece focusing on the hitherto neglected happenings of Jordan River, Utah, and then call it an article on the international church??

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:08:01 +0000

Brett,

I wonder how much of a role Argentinian nationalism played in the production of the book. If a historian accepts a national narrative without question he or she sometimes feels no need to be in dialogue with this narrative because it is assumed, as Jared seems to be pointing out, that readers will have internalized it to the same degree that the historian has. This happen all the time in the more popular genre of American history.