Little Mosque and Big Love: Mormons, Muslims, and the Comparative Regulation of Marriage.

This paper will explore the regulation of religious and cultural marriage practices with particular attention to the case of polygamy in Canada and South Africa. The title for the paper is taken from a new Canadian sit-com "Little Mosque on the Prairie" and the HBO series "Big Love". Through a comparative examination of the legal regulation of polygamy, I will explore the ways in which local norms and practises are affected by the criminalization of polygamy and its importance in the history of religious communities' interaction with the state in both countries. For example, in South Africa, Muslim marriages were not recognized as legal by either the colonial or apartheid government in part because of their potentially polygamous nature. The debate over recognition of Muslim marriages (even monogamous ones) continues today. In the Canadian context a well known polygamous Mormon community lives in Bountiful, British Columbia; there have not been charges laid under the Criminal Code of Canada. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]