Rex Wilkins

Background

About Rex Wilkins

I am a PhD candidate of Hispanic Literature. My areas of scholarly interest include Latin American religious studies, Mormon Studies, 20th and 21st century Latin American literature, and Critical Theory. My dissertation, titled "En el reino de Dios: Latinos at the Borders of Identity in the LDS Church," is a forthcoming analysis on the subjectivity of the Latino Mormon. In my dissertation, I argue that the alterity ascribed to Mormonism through the Orientalist practices of Mormon Studies and Anglo Mormon leadership produces a double-bind between the central cultural politics of the Church and its geographical/ethnic peripheries in places like Mexico. Analyzing more contemporary cultural artifacts such as Ensign Magazine articles, the "Soy mormón" ad campaign from the 2010s, Narco literature and terrorism non-fiction written by former CIA/FBI Anglo Mormons, and other recent Latino literary contributions, I attempt to trace the current trajectories of Latino identity within the LDS Church and how such trajectories came to define socio-political relationships within the international LDS community.