Bilal Butt is an assistant professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment and a faculty affiliate of the African Studies Center. Bilal is a people-environment geographer with regional specialization in sub-Saharan Africa and technical expertise in geospatial technologies (GPS, GIS & Remote Sensing), ecological monitoring and social-scientific appraisals.

His general research interests lie at the intersection of the natural and social sciences to answer questions of how people and wildlife are coping with, and adapting to changing climates, livelihoods and ecologies in arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa.  His current projects investigate: (1) the spatiality of livelihood strategies (resource access and utilization) among pastoral peoples under regimes of increasing climatic variability and uncertainty; (2) the nature of the relationships between wildlife and livestock in dry land pastoral ecosystems of East Africa; (3) violent and non-violent conflicts over natural resources, and; (4) how mobile information technologies such as cell phones influence natural resource management strategies among pastoral peoples in dry lands.

Publications

Butt, B. and Turner, M. (2012) "Clarifying Competition: The Case of Wildlife and Pastoral Livestock in East Africa." Pastoralism: Research, Policy, Practice 2(9) doi:10.1186/2041-7136-2-9 (Open Access Article)

Butt, B. (2012) "Commoditizing the Safari and Making Space for Conflict: Place, Identity and Parks in East Africa." Political Geography 31(2:) 104-113 doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2011.11.002

Butt, B. Turner, M. Singh, A. & L. Brottem. (2011) “Use of MODIS NDVI to Evaluate Changing Latitudinal Gradients of Rangeland Phenology in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa”. Remote Sensing of Environment 115(12): 3367-3376 doi:10.1016/j.rse.2011.08.001

Butt, B. (2011) “Coping with uncertainty and variability: The influence of protected areas on pastoral herding strategies.” Human Ecology 39(3): 289-307 doi:10.1007/s10745-011-9399-6

Butt, B. (2010) “Pastoral resource access and utilization: quantifying the spatial and temporal relationships between livestock mobility, density and biomass availability in southern Kenya.” Land Degradation and Development 21(6): 520-539 doi:10.1002/ldr.989

Butt, B. (2010) “Seasonal space-time dynamics of cattle behavior and mobility among Maasai pastoralists in semi-arid Kenya.” Journal of Arid Environments 74(3): 403-413 doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.09.025

Butt, B. Shortridge, A. and A. WinklerPrins. (2009) “Pastoral herd management, drought coping strategies, and cattle mobility in Southern Kenya.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 99(2): 309-334 doi:10.1080/00045600802685895

Selected grants, awards and honors

2012: NSF Starter Grant, Division of Biological Infrastructure
2008: Gill Chin Lim Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Global Studies, International Studies and Programs at Michigan State University
2007: NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Division of Biological Infrastructure
2006: Residential College Fellowship, Michigan State University
2006: Graduate Office Fellowship, Michigan State University
2005: NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement, Geography and Regional Science
2005: Compton Foundation Fellowship for Peace and Security Studies

Teaching

NRE 501.123: Political Ecology, Environmental Security and Conflict (Fall 2011, Fall 2012)
ENVIRO 300.089: Conservation and Development in Cultural Landscapes: Fieldwork in Kenya (Winter 2012, Fieldwork in Summer 2012)
NRE 510A: Environmental Governance and Decision Making - Nature, Culture, Power (Fall 2012)

Professional Affiliations

Association of American Geographers
African Studies Association