Stephanie Savell
stephanie_savell@brown.edu
+1 401 585 0126
Senior Researcher
Co-Director of the Costs of War
Stephanie Savell is a public anthropologist who researches militarism, security, and civic engagement in relation to the United States post-9/11 wars and policing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As Co-Director of Costs of War, she serves as editor of the project's research papers and executive director of operations. Savell's global map of U.S. counterterrorism operations has been featured by USA Today, BBC World News, and Smithsonian magazine, among others. She has published in a number of academic journals, including American Ethnologist, media outlets such as The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and Axios, and is co-author of The Civic Imagination: Making a Difference in American Political Life (Routledge, 2014). Her interviews have appeared on NPR's 1A, Vox's podcast Today, Explained, The Problem with Jon Stewart, C-SPAN Washington Journal, and elsewhere. She earned her Ph.D. from Brown University.
“The Right to Public Security: Policing and Activism in a Rio de Janeiro Favela.” American Ethnologist. November 7, 2021.
“Policing Rio de Janeiro and Complexo da Maré,” in Maré from the Inside: Art, Culture, and Politics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, edited by Nicholas Barnes, Desirée Poets, and Max O. Stephenson, Jr. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing. (Co-authored with Nicholas Barnes.) 2021.
“The Costs of United States Security Assistance: How Counterterrorism Intensified Conflict in Burkina Faso and Around the World.” Costs of War, Watson Institute, Brown University. March 2021.
“United States Counterterrorism Operations 2018-2020.” Costs of War, Watson Institute, Brown University. February 2021.
“Numbers and Per Capita Distribution of Troops Serving in the U.S. Post-9/11 Wars in 2019, By State.” Costs of War, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University. (Co-authored with Rachel McMahon. Map designed by Maria Ji). 2020.
Television panelist, “The Problem with War: Digital Exclusive Panel.” The Problem with Jon Stewart, October 4.
Podcast interview. “After 20 Years, Measuring the True Costs of War.” Trending Globally (Watson Institute podcast), September 8.
Podcast interview. “The Cost of 9/11.” Today, Explained, Vox, September 8, 2021.
“Taking Stock: US Counterterrorism Interventions in Africa Today.” Invited speaker, Quincy Institute. Virtual Presentation, July 15.
Radio interview. “The Cost of US Counterterrorism Efforts.” WBUR (NPR Boston) Here and Now, March 2, 2021.
Research featured in “Exclusive: US Counterterrorism Operations Touched 85 Countries in the Last 3 Years Alone.” USA Today, Feb. 25, 2021.
May 21, 2023 The Guardian
Costs of War Co-director Stephanie Savell comments for The Guardian “Indirect deaths are devastating, not least because so many of them could be prevented, were it not for war."
May 19, 2023 Al Jazeera
Costs of War Co-director Stephanie Savell discusses her latest report in an interview with Al Jazeera.
May 19, 2023 The Inside Story Podcast
In an interview with The Inside Story podcast, Stephanie Savell discusses how the US launched its so-called 'war on terror' in the wake of 9/11.
May 16, 2023 The Washington Post
Stephanie Savell comments for the Wasington Post, “There are reverberating costs, the human cost of war, that people for the most part in the United States don’t really know enough about or think about."
May 16, 2023
A new report released by the Costs of War project sheds light on the devastating indirect toll of war on human health in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia, countries which have experienced the most violent wars in which the U.S. has been involved in the name of counterterrorism since 2001.
May 1, 2023 Al Jazeera
Stephanie Savell comments for Al Jazeera, “The footprint of the ‘war on terror,’ which began with the invasion of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq, continues. It isn’t over just because the Pentagon has shifted its focus to ‘great power competition.’”
March 30, 2023 The Intercept
Stephanie Savell comments for The Intercept “These stolen weapons will circulate and intensify political and illicit violence and make it more lethal, as we’ve seen happen in other wars and conflicts.”