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Sociology Professor Writes About Company Town's Life
Dr. Gordon Ericksen, professor of sociology, was a member of that group. They repaired aircraft for the British Eight Army in Gura, Ethiopia, for a West Coast aircraft company.
Many men from many walks of life in a small African town during World War II and their struggle for community organization set the scene.
Since management of the company failed to integrate the various moods and expectations of the workers, Prof. Ericksen decided to take advantage of the situation. He began to gather data for his doctoral dissertation.
At the suggestion of 78 women graduate students in a seminar class, Prof. Ericksen added to the dissertation. It has been published in paper back form as "Africa Company Town."
"When my employer and the Air Force got wind of my writing a sociological history of this village from its birth to its death, they warned me they would check my luggage when I left the country for the manuscript," Prof. Ericksen said
University Daily Kansas
When he did leave at the end of the war, they even took diaries from the men, Prof. Ericksen managed to get hold of these and use them in his dissertation.
"I sent the original to the American consulate in Asmara and the carbon to Lloyd's of London," he said. They kept them for him until the end of the war.
"There were many men in the village for many reasons, and they left for many reasons," he said. "Weeks and months would go by with nothing to do. Morale would go down."
When the story of a group of Americans building a town to support the British Eighth Army got around East Africa, many tribes migrated there for work.
"Some of them were not friendly to one another." Prof. Ericksen said.
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 1964
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