This book highlights the first comparative long-term analysis of the negative impacts of large dams on riverine communities and on free-flowing rivers in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Following the Foreword by Professor Asit K. Biswas, the first section covers the 1956–1973 period, when the author believed that large dams provided an exceptional opportunity for integrated river basin development. In turn, the second section (1976–1997) reflects the author’s increasing concerns about th...

This book highlights the long-term resettlement process of the Egyptian Nubian people along the Aswan High Dam. Assessing the resettlement of 48,000 Egyptian Nubians in connection with the High Dam is especially important for three main reasons: firstly, this resettlement process is one of the rare cases in which research begun before the dam was built has continued for over forty years. Secondly, the resettlement of the Egyptian Nubian people is one of the few cases in which the living st...

Some field sites have hosted anthropologists for as long as half a century. Chronicling Cultures collects articles from principals of many of the longest and best-known anthropology projects from four continents-the Kung, Harvard Chiapas Project, Gwembe Valley, Tzintzuntzan, and Navajo among others. These projects have brought a new understanding of change and persistence in communities over time. They have forced researchers to develop methods of involving local communities in research, o...

Viewed by some as symbols of progress and by others as inherently flawed, large dams remain one of the most contentious development issues on Earth. Building on the work of the now defunct World Commission on Dams, Thayer Scudder wades into the debate with unprecedented authority.Employing the Commission's Seven Strategic priorities, Scudder charts the 'middle way' forward by examining the impacts of large dams on ecosystems, societies and political economies. He also analyses the ...