Moving to a new place is always a challenge…but what about a place that is new to everybody?
During World War II, an interesting—an unintended—sociological experiment took place when a few communities were built from scratch during the top-secret development of the nuclear bomb. People relocated to these restricted areas from all around the country, turning what once were desolate or sparsely populated areas into thriving mini-cities. Scientists, secretaries, technicians, and other workers came, along with their children, wives, and husbands to work on “The Project,” and in the process, create a new, if short-lived community.
How do people create communities where none exists? And why do communities matter?
Journalist Denise Kiernan has written about one such community, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in her book, The Girls of Atomic City. The town took shape in 1943 in the midst of World War II, and required special clearance for anyone to enter—all those within its borders worked on The Project (or were their children or spouses). Virtually no one knew exactly what The Project was, or much of anything beyond their assigned tasks. Secrecy was demanded of everyone for national security purposes.
Three shifts meant work constantly took place, and there was always regular activity in the community. People lived in government owned dorms, hut encampments, apartments, or homes and ate in government cafeterias. Getting to know other people could be easy in this context.
Their work, homes, and meals were shaped by the one prevailing social institution: the government, which set up the structure of daily life for workers on this important project. But no other institutions shaped social life until people created them. Residents longed for social interactions outside of the context of The Project—they sought out religious worship and created clubs for dancing, bowling, and scouting. Schools were created for the children of the workers as well.
But the people living there could not invent this town from scratch; larger social forces shaped their new community. Since this was the 1940s and the new community was south of the Mason-Dixon Line, it was segregated. African American families could not bring their children since there was no school designated for them. Workers lived in segregated housing, married black couples could not live together (although white married couples could), and they were given mostly custodial jobs.
And because this was a community created for a top-secret project, social interactions were nearly always impeded by secrecy. The simple question “What do you do?” became off-limits; spouses often had little idea what the other did or why they needed to work late. In a place dominated by work, no one was allowed to talk about work. Anyone who said too much, asked too many questions, or posed their theories of what The Project was really about could be removed immediately with no explanation to those remaining. There were psychiatrists on site that dealt with people who seemed to break down and wouldn’t stop talking about what they did.
The television series Manhattan has dramatized the secrecy that took place in the Los Alamos, New Mexico site of The Project, detailing the effect that secrecy has on relationships. Author Denise Kiernan found that women with young children who stayed at home and did not work on The Project often felt the most isolated, since they could not talk to their husbands about work, nor could they talk to other women too much without arousing suspicion.
Creating a new community has its plusses too. Kiernan points out that it gave many young people the chance to meet others from around the country, and that people who don’t know anyone else in a closed environment might have an easier time meeting new people.
This part of new communities reminded me a bit of freshman orientation. When students come to campus before classes start to learn their new environment, they are surrounded by others in the same situation, often from all over the country, if not the world. Some may already have friends or acquaintances there—much like the workers at The Project sometimes did—but often people start out having to make whole groups of friends.
While The Project was cloaked in secrecy, freshmen mixers rarely are, which may make getting to know people easier. They may discuss their class schedules, majors, and extracurricular interests in ways that workers in Oak Ridge or Los Alamos could not. Part of the purpose of orientation is to integrate new members into the academic community. On residential campuses, becoming part of a community takes more than simply learning how to register or where one’s classes are located. Building a community includes meetings its members’ social needs too.
The Project structured community life in the communities that it created. How do universities do the same on college campuses?