Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5424 USA
- M.F.A., Creative Writing, Western Michigan University, 2015
- Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1997
- M.A., Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1990
- B.A., summa cum laude, Lake Erie College, 1987
- Graduate Certificate, Women’s Studies, University of Michigan, 1997
- Environmental Writing, Multiple Genres
- Human Climate Adaptation and Resilience
- Human-Animal-Landscape Interaction
- Human Cooperation and Prosocial Emotion
- Cultural and Biological Adaptations to Climate Change
- Human Emotion and Morality in Contexts of Conflict and Disaster
- Poet and Fiction Writer
Dr. Bilinda Straight is a professor in the School of Environment, Geography, and Sustainability. She is a creative writer and a cultural and biological anthropologist working with pastoralist research partners in northern Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL). Her most recent National Science Foundation-sponsored research focuses on (1) cumulative drought stress and behavioral coping in the context of pastoralist cultural norms and a climate-vulnerable livelihood; and (2) molecular mechanisms of human adaptive and maladaptive responses to drought and heat. Her most recent publications report on this work and on her research on human emotion and morality in the context of conflict. Her creative writing has been published in Mid-American Review, Poetry East, and other journals.