The study is centered in Fayetteville. UNC anthropology professor, Catherine Lutz, talked about her ethnographic and historical research conducted in Fayetteville since 1994. With so many military towns, it is possible to connect Fayette- ville's story with the nation. Lutz said Fayetteville's past has a checkered relationship to racial issues that she could not ignore in her research. In her book, Lutz will discuss a 1941 shooting on a segregated bus and the 1995 murders of two black people by three Fort Bragg soldiers in Fayetteville as part of a racist skinhead initiation.
Some people think it's just another military town, when it' s more complex than that.
Lutz said one of Fayetteville's assets is that it is ethnically diverse. You never meet the same person twice. Lutz said she interviewed hundreds of people and read national and local archives for her research. The tour was designed to teach new faculty about North Carolina's people, geography, economy, culture, history, schools, health and social issues, said Mike Smith, UNC institute of government director. The bus tour will stop off in Rockingham and Charlotte this week.