Chapter 3 - Forever in Debt to the Company Store

As I mentioned before, I'm going to be writing about my own research and writing process right along with you folks in class. Chapter 3 of my dissertation is going to be looking more in depth into the communities of Clifton-Morenci, AZ and Kimberley, SA. Many of the same questions and issues that we are tackling in our class are similar to the ones I'm trying to figure out in my own research.

Company Store in Clifton, AZ:
Photo courtsey of Arizona Historical Society Archives

Kimberley, 1871
Photo courtesy of Kimberley Africana Library

When I sent my committee members my dissertation proposal, one of my professors told me that I needed to define "community" in my paper. I hope that I can learn as much from all of you as you do from me this semester! I have my own work that also can benefit from a class of new history scholars!

Last week I began by jotting down some book titles I need to get from the library. Although I've already completed a good portion of my archival research, I'm constantly going to the library to help find more information. I found several books in the library's Cesar Chavez collection that provide community descriptions of Clifton-Morenci along with a couple of books that look at company towns in general.

I also made a list of some of the topics I'd like to cover in this chapter:
*the frontier
*gender/family roles
*vigilantism
*disease/health
*the compound system (used to house workers in South Africa)
*celebrations/holidays
*vice (use of liquor, gambling, criminal arrests, prostitution)

You may find yourself using some of these topics as well, but remember that you also need to look at outside factors (technological developments, market demands, Federal policies, etc.).