# Elizabeth Colson
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Elizabeth_Colson
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Elizabeth_Colson.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Colson
> Source revision: 1276952904
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{short description|US social anthropologist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elizabeth Colson
| birth_date = {{birth date|1917|6|15}}
| birth_place = [Hewitt, Minnesota](/source/Hewitt%2C_Minnesota), U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|8|3|1917|6|15}}
| death_place = [Monze](/source/Monze), [Zambia](/source/Zambia)
| residence =
| fields = [Social anthropology](/source/Social_anthropology)
| alma_mater = [University of Minnesota](/source/University_of_Minnesota)
[Radcliffe College](/source/Radcliffe_College)
| doctoral_advisor = [Clyde Kluckhohn](/source/Clyde_Kluckhohn)
| known_for = Study of the Gwembe [Tonga](/source/Tonga_people_of_Zambia_and_Zimbabwe)
| prizes = [American Association of University Women](/source/American_Association_of_University_Women) fellowship, (1942-1943)
Lewis Henry Morgan Lecturer, [University of Rochester](/source/University_of_Rochester) (1973)
AAA Distinguished Lecture (1975)
[Honorary Degrees](/source/Honorary_Degrees), [Brown University](/source/Brown_University), University of Rochester
[National Academy of Sciences](/source/National_Academy_of_Sciences) (1977)
}}
'''Elizabeth Florence Colson''' (June 15, 1917 – August 3, 2016) was an American [social anthropologist](/source/social_anthropologist) and [professor emerita](/source/professor_emerita) of [anthropology](/source/anthropology) at the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley).[{{cite web|title=The Gwembe Tonga Research Project|year=2008|author=Lisa Cliggett|url=http://www.uky.edu/~cligget/gwembe.htm|publisher=[University of Kentucky](/source/University_of_Kentucky)|accessdate=8 November 2013}}] which she began in 1956 with [Thayer Scudder](/source/Thayer_Scudder), 11 years after she obtained her doctorate and while Scudder was a second-year graduate student.[{{cite book|author= Elizabeth Colson|title=Social Organization of the Gwembe Tonga|publisher=Berg Pub Ltd|year=1995|isbn=978-0854962860}}] the effects of economic pressure on familial relationships, rituals, religious life, and even drinking patterns.[{{cite journal|title=Overview|year=1989|author=Elizabeth Colson|journal=Annual Review of Anthropology|volume=18|pages=1–17|publisher=Annual Reviews|doi=10.1146/annurev.an.18.100189.000245|doi-access=free}}]
==Biography==
Colson was born in Hewitt, Minnesota on June 15, 1917.[{{cite web|title=BIOGRAPHIES: Elizabeth Florence Colson|date=May 1998|author=Jennifer Cash|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/theory_pages/Colson.htm|publisher=[Indiana University](/source/Indiana_University)|accessdate=8 November 2013}}] She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in [anthropology](/source/anthropology) from the [University of Minnesota](/source/University_of_Minnesota) and her Ph.D. in [Social Anthropology](/source/Social_Anthropology) in 1945 from [Radcliffe College](/source/Radcliffe_College). Her first experience with field work was at a field laboratory established by Burt and [Ethel Aginsky](/source/Ethel_Aginsky).[{{cite web|title=Elizabeth F. Colson|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/56793.html|website=National Academy of Sciences|accessdate=July 26, 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808062318/http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/56793.html|archivedate=August 8, 2014}}] and a Fellow of the [American Academy of Arts and Sciences](/source/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences) in 1978.[{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter C|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterC.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|accessdate=July 25, 2014}}]
While at Radcliffe College, she experienced [sex-discrimination in academia](/source/Sexism) and would later work to eradicate this discrimination at the [University of California](/source/University_of_California).[[http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2016/08/19/elizabeth-florence-colson/ In Memoriam: Elizabeth Florence Colson] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826104230/http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2016/08/19/elizabeth-florence-colson/ |date=2016-08-26 }}]
==Research==
===Gwembe Tonga Project===
In 1956, Colson was sent by the [Rhodes-Livingstone Institute](/source/Rhodes-Livingstone_Institute) to study the potential effects that the construction of a dam and hydro-electric power plant would have on the [Gwembe Tonga](/source/Tonga_people_(Zambia_and_Zimbabwe)) of [Northern Rhodesia](/source/Northern_Rhodesia) (now [Zambia](/source/Zambia)). She partnered with [Thayer Scudder](/source/Thayer_Scudder) in order to collect data on the residents of [Gwembe](/source/Gwembe). Colson then outlined the social reactions observed during the resettlement of the Gwembe Tonga in her project report titled "The Social Consequences of Resettlement, the Impact of Kariba Resettlement Upon the Gwembe Tonga".[Jennifer Cash, [http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/theory_pages/Colson.htm#Gwembe Elizabeth Colson's Indiana.edu Biography], "Indiana University", May 1998] The reactions from the Gwembe expressed in Colson's report include: social upheaval, hostility towards the government, loss of legitimacy of local leaders who supported the resettlement of the Gwembe, increase of force on the part of the aforementioned leaders, and general instability in the Gwembe social structure.[{{cite book
| last1 = Colson | first1 = Elizabeth
| title = [The Social Consequences of Resettlement: The Impact of the Kariba Resettlement Upon the Gwembe Tonga](/source/The_Social_Consequences_of_Resettlement%3A_The_Impact_of_the_Kariba_Resettlement_Upon_the_Gwembe_Tonga)
| location = Manchester, England
| publisher = [University of Manchester](/source/University_of_Manchester)
| pages = 1–3
| date = 1971
| isbn = 0-7190-1032-2 }}]
This research directly contributed to the academic discussions of resettlement, migration, and refugee communities in applied and development anthropology. Colson's research with Scudder on the Gwembe and the social and political aspects of their resettlement is ongoing.