Getting to the Heart of Science: Rosalie Bertell’s Eco-Feminist Approach to Science and Anti-Nuclear Activism

This article focuses on Rosalie Bertell’s activist work with Indigenous communities in the Marshall Islands, Canada, and the United States. It examines how Bertell’s religious identity and her involvement in the eco-feminist, social justice, and anti-nuclear movements influenced her to develop a distinct approach to epidemiology. Bertell drew upon eco-feminist philosophy to challenge predominant ideas about scientific objectivity and detachment as they developed in modern epidemiology. She adopted a situated approach to epidemiology by relying on her expertise in biostatistics and incorporating a multi-disciplinary set of tools for perceiving radiation damage in the body to do small-scale community health studies. Bertell’s study model was shaped by the specific environmental health concerns of communities, designed to encourage community involvement, and intended for use as a political tool. Most significantly, with it she challenged the notion that scientists could achieve scientific objectivity only through detachment from the subjects of one’s analysis.