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Bilal Butt
Professor
Senior Advisor, Center for Global Health Equity
Environmental Justice
Sustainability and Development
Climate + Energy
Food Systems
Conservation + Restoration
Office
3532 Dana
Lab website
Websites
About
Bilal Butt is a Professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability and a Senior Advisor at the Center for Global Health Equity at the University of Michigan. He is a Visiting Research Scientist at the Institute for Human Development at Aga Khan University in Nairobi, Kenya.
His research sits at the intersection of environmental justice, health equity, and environmental geopolitics. His work centers on three sub-areas: (1) the environmental politics of life and death; (2) livelihood and ecological change under regimes of uncertainty in East African drylands, and (3) environmental and public health dynamics in the tropics.
He is a faculty affiliate of the African Studies Center, the Department of Afro-American and African Studies, the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, the Michigan Institute for AI, Data Science and Society, and the Science, Technology, and Society Program.
Dr. Butt has received the National Science Foundation Career Award for his research and the Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang Distinguished Scholar Award from the Association of American Geographers. He has received funding from other NSF programs, the Center for Global Health Equity, NCID/Phillip J. Bowman Center for Scholarship to Practice, the University of Michigan, and various foundations. He is the recipient of the University of Michigan's Superior Teaching Award.
He has published in diverse journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Remote Sensing of Environment, Journal of Applied Ecology, and Humanity. He teaches courses on Conservation Justice, Data Justice, Political Ecology, Environmental Governance, and Preparing for International Fieldwork. He directs the critical environmental politics research group, which brings together visiting scholars, community leaders, and undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scholars from around the world to advance critical and applied research that contributes to environmental justice across contexts.
Publications
* Indicates Student/Postdoc Co-Author
Butt, B., de Jong, M., Carroll, S. & Xu, W. (2026). Spatial Analysis of Pastoral Mobility. In Routledge Handbook of Pastoralism (M. Moritz, I. Samuels, N. Schareika, E. Schlecht, Editors). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003487852
*de Jong, M., Butt, B., and O. Adunbi. (2026). Spaces of Private Conservation: State Effects and Hierarchical Autonomy in Private Wildlife Conservation. Political Geography. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2026.103536
Butt, B. and Xu, W.* (2025) Reply to Ogutu et al: Cattle-Wild Herbivore Interaction Studies Warrant New Lenses from Community Ecology and Environmental Justice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2505717122
de Jong, M.* and Butt, B. (2025) “We Women Are Suffering”: Fragile Water Infrastructure and Gendered Embodied Labor. Annals of the Association of American Geographers doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2024.2446559
Butt, B. (2025). Buying the Dead, Burying the Poor: Climate Change and Pastoral Drought Coping Strategies in East Africa. In, Climate Coloniality (F. Sultana, Editor). Routledge Press doi.org/10.4324/9781003465973-8
de Jong, M*., McCoy, E*. and Butt, B. (2025) From Coercive to Carceral Conservation: Reframing Conservation as Abolition Ecologies. Antipode doi.org/10.1111/anti.13092
Xu, W*. and Butt, B. Rethinking wildlife-livestock relationships at a protected area boundary. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences doi.org/ 10.1073/pnas.2403655121
Pas Schriver, A. Watson, K., and Butt, B. (2023). Land Tenure Transformation: The Case of Community Conservancies in Northern Kenya. Political Geography doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102950
Kalsky, E.* and Butt, B. (2024) “Milking Welfare: Bovis Sacer and the Inclusive Thanatopolitics of the Dairy Farm” Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography doi.org/10.1111/anti.12976 (Open Access)
De Jong, M*, and Butt, B. (2023) Conservation Violence: Paradoxes of “Making Live” and “Letting Die” in Anti-Poaching Practices. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space doi.org/10.1177/25148486231151805
Butt, B. (2022). Doing Environmental Justice: Prospects For Sustainable Engagement. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space doi.org/10.1177/25148486221137246
Mirjam de Bruijn, Q. Zhang, H. Abu-Kishk, B. Butt, N. Hashimshony-Yaffe, T. Sternberg, A. Pas. (2022) “Drylands connected: Mobile communication and changing power positions in (nomadic) pastoral societies”. In Drylands Facing Change: Interventions, Investments and Identities. A. K. Garcia, T. Haller, H. V. Dijk, C. Samimi and J. Warner (eds). London, Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003174486
Krishnan, R.*, & Butt, B. (2022). “The gasoline of the future:” points of continuity, energy materiality, and corporate marketing of electric vehicles among automakers and utilities. Energy Research & Social Science, 83, 102349.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102349
Hedman, H*. D., Zhang, L., Butt, B., Papias, P.*, Trostle, J. A., & Eisenberg, J. N. (2021). “Chicken dumping”: Motivations and perceptions in shifting poultry production practices. One Health, 13, 100296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100296
H. D. Hedman*, L. Zhang, G. Trueba, D. L. Vinueza Rivera, R. A. Zurita, Herrera, J. Villacis Barrazueta, G. I. Gavilanes Rodriguez, B. Butt, J. Foufopoulos, V. J. Berrocal, and J. N. Eisenberg (2020) Spatial exposure of agricultural antimicrobial resistance in relation to free-range domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) movement patterns among agricultural communities in Ecuador. American Journal of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0076
Butt, B. (2020) Digital Data and Knowledge Making in the Field The Geographical Review 110(1-2): 183-194 doi: 10.1111/gere.12363
Adunbi, A. and Butt, B. (2019) (co-editors of a special issue) “Afro-Chinese Engagements: infrastructure, land, labour, and finance” Africa 89(4): 633-637 doi.org/10.1017/S0001972019000822
Duvall, C., Butt, B., and A. Neely. (2018) “The trouble with savanna and other environmental categories, especially in Africa”. In, Handbook of Critical Physical Geography, R. Lave, C. Biermann, and S. Lane, (Eds.) Pages 107-127. Palgrave publishing doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71461-5_6
Butt, B. (2018) “Environmental Indicators and Governance” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 32: 84-89 doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.05.006
*Steger, C.S. Butt, B, and Hooten, M. (2017) “Safari Science: Assessing the reliability of citizen science data for wildlife surveys” Journal of Applied Ecology 54(6): 2053-2062 doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12921 (Open Access)
Butt, B. “Ecology, Mobility and Labor: Dynamic Pastoral Herd Management in an Uncertain World”. (2016) Rev. Sci. Tech. Off. Int. Epiz (Scientific and Technical Review of the Office International des Epizooties) 35(2): 461-471 doi: 10.20506/rst.35.2.2530 (Invited Submission to the World Organization for Animal Health on ‘The Future of Pastoralism’)
Butt, B. (2016) “Neoliberalism, Conservation and Dispossession in Kenya’s Arid Lands”. Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development 7(1): 91-110 doi: 10.1353/hum.2016.0009
Turner, M., Butt, B., Singh, A.*, Brottem, L.*, Ayantunde, A., and B. Gerard. (2016) “Variation in vegetation cover and livestock mobility needs in Sahelian West Africa” Journal of Land Use Science 11(1): 76-95 doi:10.1080/1747423X.2014.965280
O’Connor, D.* Butt, B. and Foufopoulos, J. (2016) “Mapping the ecological footprint of large livestock overlapping with wildlife in Kenyan pastoralist landscapes” African Journal of Ecology 54(1): 114-117 doi: 10.1111/aje.12241
Steger, C.* and Butt, B. (2015) “Integrating Citizen Science into East African Protected Areas: Problems and Prospects” African Journal of Ecology 53(4): 592-594 doi: 10.1111/aje.12199
O’Connor, D.* Butt, B., and J. Foufopoulos. (2015) “Foraging ecologies of giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) and camels (Camelus dromedarius Linnaeus) in northern Kenya: Effects of habitat structure and possibilities for competition?” African Journal of Ecology 53(2): 183-193 doi: 10.1111/aje.12204
Butt, B. (2015) “Herding by Mobile Phone: Technology, Social Networks and the “Transformation” of Pastoral Herding in East Africa” Human Ecology 43(1): 1-14 doi: 10.1007/s10745-014-9710-4
Butt, B. (2014) “The Political Ecology of Livestock Incursions into Protected Areas: Technology, Place and Socio-Ecological Dynamics in the Mara Region of Kenya” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 84(4): 614-637 doi:10.1017/S0001972014000515
DuPuy, W.*, Benka, V.*, Massey, A.*, Deem, S., Kinnaird, M., O’Brien, T., Wanyoike, S., Njoka, J., Butt, B., Foufopoulos, J., Eisenberg, J., and R. Hardin (2014) “Q Fever Risk across a Dynamic Heterogeneous Landscape in Central Kenya” EcoHealth 11(3):429-433 doi:10.1007/s10393-014-0924-0
Brottem, L.*, Turner, M. Butt, B. and A. Singh*. (2014) “Biophysical Variability and Pastoral Rights to Resources: West African Transhumance Revisited” Human Ecology 42(3): 351-365 doi:10.1007/s10745-014-9640-1
Butt, B. and Turner, M. D. (2012) “Clarifying competition: The case of wildlife and pastoral livestock in East Africa.” Pastoralism: Research, Policy, and Practice 2(9): 1-15 doi:10.1186/2041-7136-2-9 Open Access & Most Accessed Article in the Journal’s History
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
Research
- 2024: Vice President for Research, Provost’s Anti-Racism Initiative, and the National Center for Institutional Diversity’s Anti-Racism Collaborative Research Catalyst and Innovation (RCI) Program Anti-Racism Grants
- 2023: African Studies Center Pastoral Health Change In Drylands
- 2023: Center for Global Health Equity, Pastoral Health Change in Drylands
- 2018: African Heritage and Humanities Initiative: A People's History of the Maasai Mara
- 2016: NSF CAREER Grant: Situated Resilience and the New Geographies of Wildlife-Livestock Relationships.
- 2013: African Studies Center Research Grant: Technologies of Conversation Governance and State Surveillance in Kenya's Protected Areas.
- 2012: NSF Starter Grant, Division of Biological Infrastructure: Understanding savanna vegetation dynamics in East Africa under different off-take methods and precipitation regimes.
- 2011: SNRE SEED Grant: Science, Practice, and Public Participation: Natural Resource Monitoring in African Protected Areas.
Accolades
2026 University of Michigan
Recipient of the SEAS Superior Teaching Award
2025 Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang Distinguished Scholar Award
African Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers
2023 & 2024 Fulbright Global Scholar
Semi-Finalist
2022 National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)
US-Africa Frontiers Fellowship Recipient
2020 University of Michigan
Recipient of the SEAS Superior Teaching Award (Nominated in 2016, 2017, 2018)
2016 National Science Foundation (NSF)
Recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (NSF’s most prestigious award for faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and integration of education). Geography and Spatial Sciences
2012-2013 National Science Foundation (NSF)
NSF Biological Infrastructure Award
2007 Michigan State University
Gill-Chin Lim Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Global Studies
2004-2006 National Science Foundation (NSF)
NSF Dissertation Grant, Geography and Regional Studies
Education
PhD, Michigan State University (Geography)
MA, Michigan State University (Geography)
Affiliations
Faculty Affiliate, Michigan Institute for Data Science, AI and Society (2024 - Present)
Faculty Affiliate, Science, Technology, and Society (2024 - Present)
Faculty Affiliate, Department of Afro-American and African Studies (2023 - Present)
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Global Health Equity (2022 - Present)
Faculty Affiliate, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program (2015 – Present)
Faculty Affiliate, African Studies Center (2011 – Present)
In the News
In the Media