This post will be a recap of the interview I conducted, and I will share some interesting and noteworthy pieces of information that I gathered. I will also evaluate the credibility of the source.
For this assignment, I interviewed Dr. Timothy Miller, who is a religious studies professor here at the University of Kansas. I am currently pursuing a minor in religious studies, but I did not know Dr. Miller before this interview, and found him simply by looking at the list of faculty. His contact information can be found here: http://religiousstudies.ku.edu/timothy-miller.
In the interview, Dr. Miller said was that he wasn't sure whether Fundamentalist Mormons would live so communally if it were't for the relatively hostile government they are avoiding, which I thought was an interesting point. He also said Mormons are the quintassential Americans and are upholding ideals that most of the US has moved on from.
Dr. Miller has not focused any of his research specifically on Fundamentalist Mormons. He has, however, spent about 50 years researching intentional communities in the United States, and has a Ph. D. in American studies. He also mentioned that he worked as a reporter for about 15 years, which would allow him insight into how the world of news works and better understand my questions about media coverage. Although he may not be as qualified as someone who has focused specifically on Mormonism and polygamy, he has an incredible wealth of knowledge on religious studies.
Miller said that because of their communal nature, he needed to be knowledgable and aware about Mormons in regards to his own research. When I brought up the topic of media coverage of the Fundamentalist Mormons, Miller admitted to having a limited scope because he relies mostly on newspapers, but was aware of the television shows. In response, I asked him if he thought the media coverage, and specifically the television shows, accurately portrayed the beliefs of the Fundamentalist Mormons, to which he expressed his doubt.
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