Catherine Lutz facts for kids

Catherine A. Lutz (born 1952) is an American anthropologist. An anthropologist studies human societies and cultures. She is a professor at Brown University.

She also works at the Watson Institute. There, she helps lead the Costs of War Project. This project looks at how much the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have cost. This includes money spent and the impact on people.

Her Education

Catherine Lutz went to Swarthmore College. She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and anthropology in 1974. Later, she studied at Harvard University. She received her Ph.D. in social anthropology in 1980.

Her Career

Early in her career, Lutz taught at Harvard University. She also taught at Binghamton University. From 1992 to 2003, she worked at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2003, she joined Brown University. She was the head of the anthropology department there from 2009 to 2012.

Lutz was also the president of the American Ethnological Society. This group studies different cultures. She also helped start the Network of Concerned Anthropologists. This group brings together anthropologists who care about social issues.

In 2013, Lutz received a special award called a Guggenheim Fellowship. This award helped her write a book about how Americans view war. She interviewed people across the country. She wanted to understand their thoughts on the wars after 9/11.

Awards She Has Won

• 2013: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
• 2010: Distinguished Career Award, Society for the Anthropology of North America
• 2008: Delmos Jones and Jagna Sharff Memorial Prize for Local Democracy Under Siege
• 2007-08: Matina S. Horner Distinguished Visiting Professor, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
• 2002: Anthony Leeds Prize for Homefront
• 2002: Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, Honorable Mention for Homefront
• 1993: American Association of University Publishers, Honorable Mention for Best Book in Sociology and Anthropology for Reading National Geographic
• 1980: Stirling Award in Culture and Personality Studies, American Anthropological Association
• 1980: C. S. Ford Cross-Cultural Research Award, Society for Cross Cultural Research

What She Studies

Military, War, and Society

Catherine Lutz is very interested in how the military, war, and society connect. She has shared her ideas on this topic many times.

In 2008, she talked about US military bases around the world. She noted that the United States has over 700 official military bases. These bases are often set up after wars, like in Germany or Japan. It costs a lot of money to keep these bases running, about $140 billion each year.

Lutz also pointed out that these bases can sometimes make people in other countries feel angry towards the US. She said that sometimes, the US might ignore problems in a country to keep a base there. She also mentioned that many US companies make money from building and maintaining these bases.

She questioned the purpose of these permanent bases. Are they for stability or for protecting resources like oil? Lutz believes that these bases do not always bring stability. Instead, they can be seen as a show of power by the US. She thinks they are more about the ability to "wage war" and control events globally.

In 2011, Lutz discussed her research on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Her team estimated that about 6,000 US troops died directly from violence. They also estimated that 260,000 people in total died directly from the fighting. Many more people died indirectly due to things like lack of medicine or food.

Her study also looked at the financial cost of these wars. They estimated that the total cost, including future expenses for veterans and interest, could be around $5 trillion. This is a huge amount of money. For comparison, the 9/11 attacks cost about $500,000 to plan. This means the US spent millions of times more on these wars.

Lutz also highlighted that this money could have been used differently. It could have been invested in things like education or improving roads and bridges. These areas suffered because money went to the wars instead. She suggested that spending this money on healthcare or education could have created many jobs.

She also wondered why the US government doesn't openly share this kind of data. She noted that many companies made a lot of money from the wars. There was also a lot of waste and corruption. Lutz also believes that the US did not make many friends through the invasion of Iraq.

Lutz's research makes us think about why we believe force works. She calls it "magical thinking" when people assume they are safe because of military actions. She says the evidence does not support the idea that these wars kept the US safe. She also questioned if public opinion about the war would have been different if there was a draft or a war tax.

Lutz believes it's important for the US to learn from these wars. She feels that there isn't enough time given to truly think about what happened. She stresses the need to understand how these wars happened. This way, we can try to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

Other Interests

Lutz also studies other topics. These include race and gender, and how democracy works. She looks at cars from a global view. She also studies photography and cultural history. Her work includes critical theory and anthropological methods. She also studies the history of the US in the 20th century.

Videos to Watch

• "Costs of War at home", Catherine Lutz speaking at IVAW conference
• "U.S. Wars in Projected to Cost Nearly $4 Trillion With Hundreds of Thousands Dead", Democracy Now!, June 30, 2011.

See also

In Spanish: Catherine Lutz para niños