Michele Alexandre, an associate law professor at the University of Mississippi, is a 2004 Fulbright Scholar researching the legal protection afforded to women under the Haitian practice of placage, an informal form of polygamy.

O. Kendall White Jr. is William P. Ames Jr. Professor in Sociology and Anthropology at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., and has written extensively on Mormonism.

Daryl White is a professor of sociology and anthropology at Spelman College in Atlanta who has researched Mormonism.

Patricia Dixon is associate professor in African-American studies at Georgia State University in Athens, Ga., and co-founder of the African-American Relationships Institute. She contends that a shortage of eligible African-American men, combined with men’s natural tendency to engage in multiple relationships, makes polygamy a practical option for African-Americans.

The Hindu Society of Berbice is a nonprofit religious organization in Guyana that promotes and preserves Sanatan Dharma and Hindu culture by engaging its community in Hindu projects, programs and activities.

Rick Ross is founder and executive director of the nonprofit Ross A. Institute, which is based in Jersey City, N.J., and has a mission of studying controversial groups and movements. The institute maintains a database on polygamist groups

James J. Hughes is the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, as well as a bioethicist and sociologist at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Ananda Marga is a global network of centers in nearly every country that provides support and education focused on the welfare of humanity and the world. The organization promotes meditation centers, schools, children’s homes, food distribution centers, disaster relief organizations and community development projects. The organization’s mission is twofold; “self-realization and the welfare of the universe.”

Help the Child Brides is led by Flora Jessop, who lives in Phoenix, Ariz.