Catherine A. Lutz (; born 1952) is an American anthropologist and Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Family Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at Brown University. She is also a Research Professor at the Watson Institute where she serves as a director of the Costs of War Project, which attempts to calculate the financial costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Education
Lutz received a B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Swarthmore College in 1974. She then received a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University in 1980.
Career
Early in her career, Lutz served as assistant professor at Harvard University and associate professor at Binghamton University. Between 1992 and 2003, she worked at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She joined Brown University in 2003, serving as chair of the department of anthropology between 2009 and 2012.
Lutz served as president of the American Ethnological Society from 2001 to 2005. She is a founder of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists.
In April 2013, Lutz was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to “write a book on the contemporary moralities of American war" that will include a nationwide sample of interviews in order to “understand what popular histories and evaluations of the post-9/11 wars are emerging in a diverse range of communities.”
Awards
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 the Critical Study of North America 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
Areas of interest
Military, war, and society
Lutz's primary interest is military, war, and society. Following are two summaries in which she explicates her views. One from April 11, 2008, on Antiwar Radio:
This interview discussed the United States’ presence in Iraq and other countries throughout the world. Lutz states that there are over seven hundred official US military bases throughout the world. These permanent bases are usually established after wars: Germany, Japan, Italy, and Korea to name a few. The estimated cost to maintain these bases is 140 billion dollars. Not only are these bases extremely expensive, but they also create anti-American feelings from the host population of the countries. According to Lutz, some of these bases, like in the Philippines, “dance with dictators” in the fact that the US turns a blind eye in order to have a base in the country. Sometimes the bases supported arms deals within these countries that had antidemocratic effects. Lutz also points out the fact that many U.S. companies benefit in the construction and maintenance of these oversea bases.
Another important issue Lutz brings to light is, what exactly is the purpose of permanent US bases throughout the world. In the case of Iraq, would it be to promote stability or would it be an oil protection plan? Lutz argues that maintaining permanent bases throughout the world does not promote stability, and in fact, are actually seen as aggression from the US, which threatens other countries in the world, like China. Lutz presents that permanent bases are more about “power protection” and the ability to “wage war." She says the U.S. maintains permanent bases throughout the world to establish a “global military stance” and to create the ability to control events in all areas of the world.
The second took place on September 10, 2011, on Open Source Radio Arts, Ideas and Politics:
The interview was about research Lutz, and a team of other academics conducted about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The study estimates a body count of 6,000 US troops and a total of 260,000 people who died directly from violence. Lutz also notes that many more people die indirectly from things like the loss of medical supplies and food supplies.