Elizabeth Florence Colson (June 15, 1917 – August 3, 2016) was an American social anthropologist and professor emerita of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.
[1] Colson focused her research on the consequences of forced resettlement on culture and social organization,[3] the effects of economic pressure on familial relationships, rituals, religious life, and even drinking patterns.
[6] While at Radcliffe College, she experienced sex-discrimination in academia and would later work to eradicate this discrimination at the University of California.
[8] In 1956, Colson was sent by the 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 of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).
[9] This research directly contributed to the academic discussions of resettlement, migration, and refugee communities in applied and development anthropology.