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 standards of the large majority improved because of the initial political will of the government, combined with Nubian initiatives. Thirdly, given the complexity of the resettlement process, weaknesses in government planning, implementation, and in the weakening of government political provide valuable lessons for future dam-induced resettlement efforts.

This study examines a people who had to be relocated when the Aswan High Dam was constructed along the Nile River. The author, an Egyptian anthropologist, traces various stages of response and adjustment and draws conclusions about the nature of forced resettlement, its impact, and government policy. The book is written in four parts. Part I, Technical Development and Forced Change, introduces elements of the Egyptian Nubian culture prior to the building of the Aswan High Dam and the resultant flooding of the Nubian homeland. Studies and surveys by the Egyptian Government and the resettlement policies are analyzed, including the concerns and hopes of the Nubians upon leaving their homeland for new villages away from the lake region. Part II, Culture Change and Coping Strategies, examines the problems faced by the Nubians in adapting to their new location and the means by which the displaced Nubians coped with the various changes. Part III, Recent Developments and Future Trends, reveals the strength of the attachment Nubians felt for their homeland in their moving back to the shores of the lake as close to former home sites as possible. Nubians abroad and the London case are included to show how those outside the region had the objective of saving enough money to invest back home. Part IV, Research Theory and Policy, evaluates the plans and procedures associated with the uprooting and resettlement of people, using the experience of the Egyptian Nubians as a case study.

Dams, People and Development: The Aswan High Dam Case covers the issues concerning Aswan High Dam. Comprised of nine chapters, the book encompasses topics such as engineering, environmental implications, and hazards. Chapter 1 talks about the second dam at Aswan, while Chapter 2 deals with the controversies regarding the dam. The third chapter covers the human perspective on the dam. Chapter 4 discusses land inundation and population displacement, while Chapter 5 talks about the inhabitants of the lake. Chapter 6 deals with urban growth and water problems. The seventh chapter tackles the devel.

In the 1960s the construction of the Aswan High Dam occasioned the forced displacement of a large part of the Nubian population. Including maps and photos, this book chronicles the research carried out by an international team.

Generally, construction of dams is regarded as means of economic progress in many countries. Major consequences of such projects are the inundation of upstream areas and the resettlement of entire communities in newly-built environments where they experience dramatic transformation in their lifestyles. The present study takes the Nubian resettlement experience after the creation of Lake Nasser that submerged their old settlements, along the river Nile. Following their resettlement, the design of the newly-built environment disrupted the Nubian traditional lifestyles and patterns of privacy mechanisms, territoriality and social interaction. The inadequacy of the newly-built environment was mainly attributed to the Nubians' transfer from spacious homes in the old villages to compact contiguous houses in the new settlements. The arrangement of these resettlement state built houses, distributed on the basis of household size, has further resulted in the fragmentation and the dispersion of traditional kinship-based neighborhoods. Within an interdisciplinary approach, the study is based on theoretical, historical and conceptual themes and on empirical research. It sets out to examine the households' responses towards, and adaptation mechanisms with, the newly-built environment, looking critically at the achievements of imposed top-down planning in meeting the socio-cultural and economic needs of those resettled.