Polygamy's rights and wrongs : perspectives on harm, family, and law / edited by Gillian Calder and Lori G. Beaman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Plus ça change? Bountiful's diverse and durable marriage practices -- How should public institutions assess religious identity? The case of polygamy -- Polygamy and the predicament of contemporary criminal law -- Are they not us? A personal reflection on polygamy -- Reflecting on polygamy : what's the harm? -- Polygamy in the Parisian banlieues : debate and discourse on the 2005 French suburban riots -- Polygamy and race-thinking : a genealogy -- Making them fit : the Australian national census and Aboriginal family forms -- Raids at Short Creek and yearning for Zion Ranch and the law of unintended consequences.

"Assumptions about the harmful nature of polygamy have left little room for debate, with monogamy coming to represent a hallmark of civil society, and polygamy the immoral alternative. Opponents have argued that polygamy is harmful to women, children, personal freedom, and even national values, and press for prosecution.

Yet in this volume, a diverse group of eleven scholars asks whether this response is justified by examining, among other perspectives, the lived experiences of polygamous families. These historians, legal scholars, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, and religious studies scholars, some of whom are personally connected to polygamous families, seek to complicate a conversation that is more often simplified. In essays that fearlessly face difficult questions of love, choice, and dignity, the authors point to the less well-known stories of polygamous family life - the women living radically non-patriarchal lives in polygamous families, the powerful sense of pride and belonging within polygamous communities, and research that interrogates the real differences between monogamous and polygamous families.

Thoughtful and persuasive, Polygamy's Rights and Wrongs is both a close consideration of polygamy - its historical place and its presence in contemporary society - and a challenging reflection on the ways in which we value family and intimacy."--Pub. desc.

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