GUATEMALAN HOT COLD MEDICINE AND MORMON WORDS OF WISDOM - INTERCULTURAL NEGOTIATION OF MEANING/

This study examines the interactions between an imported religious hea lth code and local medicinal concepts among members of a Latter-day Sa inte congregation in Antigua, Guatemala. It challenges David Martin's assertion that if any of the rapidly growing religious groups originat ing in North America is engaged in the (North) Americanization of Lati ns, then the Mormons would be that group. Based upon ethnographic inte rviews with active and inactive converts to Mormonism, the data sugges t that Guatemalan interpretations of the LDS health code are influence d by both local concepts of hot/cold medicine and North American inter pretations promoted by missionaries and church leaders. These findings indicate that conversion is always two-sided and that one should expe ct to find variation among religious practitioners from separate cultu res even within a single multinational religious Body.