Thayer Scudder dead at age 96,Anthropologist

Thayer Scudder, an American anthropologist and leading scholar of dams and resettlement, died October 22, 2026, aged 96.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he earned an undergraduate degree in 1952 and a doctorate in 1960 from Harvard University, then pursued postdoctoral work in African studies, anthropology and ecology at the London School of Economics. His early appointments included the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute for Social Research in Northern Rhodesia and the American University in Cairo; he joined the California Institute of Technology faculty in 1962 and became professor emeritus.

Scudder’s research examined the social and economic effects of river-basin development, especially the displacement and resettlement of low-income communities. His work on sustainable resource use and development took him to countries across Africa and Asia, as well as the United States, and he served on independent review panels for dam projects on both continents. He was also a commissioner on the World Commission on Dams. In his 2005 book, “The Future of Large Dams,” he considered the economic, political and environmental questions surrounding dam development, alongside its effects on energy, agriculture and communities required to relocate. His research included long-term studies of human communities and the consequences of large-scale infrastructure projects.