This session invites participants to reenvision clashes between Mormonism and other western forces within a new geocultural framework—that of the Deep West. The Deep West is conceived of as the adjacent heartlands of the Colorado Rockies and plateau in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northern Arizona, and New Mexico, along with the area’s deeper native and cultural bedrock. We’ll begin by mapping its five urban/geologic edges and fifteen inner “corners,” then explore the nine cultural archetypes/forces that characterize Deep Western conflicts/geopolitics, including the native, colonizer, operator, trader, agent, and stockman. Finally, we’ll use this framework to illuminate exemplary archetypal clashes in four Deep West corners.

Craig Decker