From Battlefield to Neighborhood: How Militarization Shapes American Life
Join the Peace Economy Project for a timely conversation on the militarization of American culture, its consequences for our communities, and the possibilities for building a more peaceful society.
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Time: 4:00–5:15 PM Eastern Time
Location: Virtual Webinar
Hosted by: Peace Economy Project
Cost: Free and open to the public
Registration: Click here to register
When the Battlefield Comes Home
What happens when the language, technologies, and practices of warfare become embedded in everyday civilian life?
Militarization is not confined to distant battlefields. It influences how Americans understand public safety, how governments respond to social challenges, how violence is portrayed in popular culture, and how communities experience the institutions meant to protect them.
From military equipment deployed in American neighborhoods to the normalization of violence in entertainment and political rhetoric, the boundaries between military and civilian life have become increasingly blurred.
But militarization is more than a matter of equipment or government policy. It is also a cultural phenomenon that shapes our assumptions about security, authority, citizenship, and whose lives are considered worthy of protection.
On November 10, 2026, at 4:00 PM ET, the Peace Economy Project invites you to join From Battlefield to Neighborhood, a virtual discussion examining how militarized thinking moves from the battlefield into American institutions, cultural narratives, and communities.
Together, we will explore how militarization becomes normalized, its consequences for democracy and everyday life, and what alternatives might look like.
Meet Our Featured Panelists
Catherine Lutz
Anthropologist and Scholar of Militarization
Catherine Lutz is an anthropologist whose influential scholarship examines militarism, war, military institutions, and their social and cultural consequences. Her work explores how military power shapes everyday life, public institutions, and the political and economic structures of American society.
Through her research on military communities, military bases, and the human costs of warfare, Lutz has contributed significantly to public understanding of the relationships between militarization, democracy, and social inequality.
Casey Delehanty
Political Scientist and Researcher
Casey Delehanty is a political scientist whose research has examined militarization, political violence, state power, and the relationship between military institutions and civilian society. His scholarship offers insights into how militarized practices and narratives influence political behavior, public institutions, and popular culture.
His work provides an important perspective on how militarization is sustained not only through government policy but also through the cultural stories societies tell about violence and authority.
Moderated by Katerina Canyon
Executive Director, Peace Economy Project
Katerina Canyon leads the Peace Economy Project’s work to challenge militarism and advocate for the redirection of public resources toward human and environmental needs.
Under her leadership, the organization has expanded its research and public education initiatives, including Domestic Militarization Watch, a project examining the growing presence of military practices, technologies, and ideologies in American civilian life.
A Fulbright Specialist, published poet, and nonprofit leader, Canyon brings an interdisciplinary perspective to the relationship between state power, cultural narratives, and social change.
What We’ll Discuss
Our conversation will address several pressing questions:
- How does militarization move beyond military institutions and become embedded in American culture?
- What roles do popular entertainment, political rhetoric, and public institutions play in normalizing military solutions to civilian problems?
- How does militarized thinking shape policing, immigration enforcement, public safety, and democratic accountability?
- What are the human and economic costs of treating communities as potential battlefields?
- How can we imagine and build alternatives that prioritize human dignity, community investment, and genuine security?
The program will feature a moderated panel discussion followed by questions from the audience.
Why This Conversation Matters
The Peace Economy Project believes that security should be measured not by the accumulation of weapons or the expansion of military power, but by the well-being of the people and communities those institutions are meant to serve.
Through our Domestic Militarization Watch initiative, we examine the policies, expenditures, legal frameworks, and institutional practices that bring military power into domestic life.
From Battlefield to Neighborhood builds on that work by examining an equally important question: How do militarized values become so deeply embedded in American society that they begin to appear normal, inevitable, or even desirable?
Understanding these processes is essential to imagining alternatives.
A peace economy requires more than reducing military spending. It requires rethinking the meaning of safety and investing in the institutions, relationships, and resources that allow communities to thrive.
Register for the Webinar
Tuesday, November 10, 2026 | 4:00 PM Eastern Time | Online
This event is free and open to the public. We welcome community members, educators, researchers, students, veterans, advocates, and anyone interested in the relationship between militarization and American society.
Please join us for an important conversation about the world we have built, the values we have normalized, and the more peaceful future we can create together.
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