We are pleased to announce that Natalie Coffman, who is finishing her MA in our department, was awarded the Graduate Student Senate’s Most Innovative Research Award for her thesis and presentation at the Student Research Conference this week.
Natalie’s MA thesis, entitled “The Mormon Battalion’s Manifest Destiny: Expansion and Identity during the Mexican-American War,” examines the experience of the Mormon Batalion, a group of five hundred Mormon soldiers commissioned by President James K. Polk to enlist in the U.S. military and aid in the newly declared war against Mexico in 1846. By examining journals, letters and official Mormon Church records, Natalie found that despite participating in a war that promoted aggressive expansion, the Mormons’ understanding of Manifest Destiny contained unique perspectives regarding racial hierarchies and displays of masculinity, key elements of that popular ideology. She argues that the peculiar approach that the Mormons’ had to Manifest Destiny was directly influenced by their history as a persecuted body of believers, and that ultimately, the Mormon soldiers agreed to volunteer for the war not because they wanted to express patriotism, but because they had a firm dedication to their church and resolved obedience to their leader, Brigham Young.
Congratulations, Natalie!
