ABSTRACT
The field of Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement (DIDR) suggest the need to develop suitable methodologies grounded in sound social theory in order to understanding of why oustee communities resist displacement and the strategies they employ to achieve their political objectives. Using the literature of the Nubian minority in Egypt displaced by successive dam construction on the Nile at Aswan in 1902, 1912, 1933 and 1964 respectively. This chapter seeks to add value to the field of DIDR studies by examining how literature constitutes a crucial nexus for agency, activism and resistance in a situation of radical power imbalances between governments, development agencies and corporate interests, and marginalised. The chapter discusses that the intervention of writer-activists such as Muhammad Khalil Qasim in the public sphere through the publication and distribution of subversive literary texts such as The River Gauge can help generate momentum for reform and redress by speaking through the institutional silence to enhance the visibility of oustee voices.
