Illicit Monogamy: Inside a Fundamentalist Mormon Community

Angel Park is a Mormon fundamentalist polygamous community where plural marriages between one man and multiple women are common. This book explores daily life in a polygamous community, considering the perspectives of husbands, wives, and children. It finds that people in polygynous marriages struggle to balance romantic intimacy with the obligation to support the larger family, and that men and women often form exclusive romantic pairs within the community. It challenges stereotypes of polygamous families as bastions of patriarchal power and helps us reconsider relationships, love, and family dynamics across cultures and settings.

Format: Hardback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 28 March 2023
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Angel Park is a Mormon fundamentalist polygamous community where plural marriages between one man and multiple women are common. In contrast to mainstream Americas idealization of the nuclear family and romantic love, its residents esteem notions of harmonious familial love, a spiritual bond that unites all family members. In their view, polygyny is not only righteous and sanctified but also conducive to communal life and social stability.

Based on many years of in-depth ethnographic research in Angel Park, this book explores daily life in a polygamous community. William R. Jankowiak considers the plural family from the points of view of husbands, wives, and children, giving a balanced account of its complications and conflicts. He finds that people in polygynous marriages, especially cowives, experience an ongoing struggle to balance the longing for romantic intimacy with the obligation to support the larger family. They feel tension between deeply held religious convictions and the desire for emotional exclusivity, which can threaten the stability and harmony of the polygamous family. Men and women often form exclusive romantic pairs within plural marriages, which are tolerated if not openly acknowledged, showing the limits of the communities beliefs.

Jankowiak also challenges stereotypes of polygamous families as bastions of patriarchal power, showing the weight that interpersonal and social expectations place on men. Offering an unparalleled look at the complexity of a polygamous religious community, Illicit Monogamy also helps us reconsider relationships, love, and family dynamics across cultures and settings.

Weight: 496g
Dimension: 224 x 148 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231150200