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The Dialogue Foundation and the University of Virginia’s Mormon Studies program present “It’s Time We Began: Race, Relationships, and the Life of the Church Now” recorded live on April 25, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia, as part of our continuing “All Are Alike Unto God” series. In this second part, moderator Laurie Maffly-Kipp shapes the discussion with Vinna Chowriamah and Matthew Harris on untangling and naming tensions for members around the world regarding race.
Vinna Chowriamah is a Religious Studies PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studies global Mormonism, particularly in India and Mauritius. A Mauritian convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Chowriamah has spoken and written extensively on the Mormon experience and negotiation of Hindu cultures for events like the Global Mormon Studies Lectures, among others.
Matthew L. Harris is Professor of History and Director of Legal Studies at Colorado State University-Pueblo, where he explores the intersectionality of religion and law, race and religion, civil rights and race construction, and right-wing extremism and American politics, particularly among religious groups. Some of his many books include Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality, Watchman on the Tower: Ezra Taft Benson and the Making of the Mormon Right, and The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History.