Ruth Goldstein

Ruth Goldstein is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender & Women's Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research bridges environmental anthropology, feminist theory, and critical race studies, focusing on the gendered and racialized impacts of transnational infrastructure projects and toxic pollution in Latin America.

• Current book project: Life in Traffic: Women, Plants, and Gold Along the Interoceanic Highway (University of California Press, 2026)
• Key research areas: Mercury contamination, maternal health, Indigenous sovereignty, and climate justice
• Teaches courses on environmental impacts on maternal health, race/gender/botany intersections, and ecofeminism

Her work traces how mercury pollution from gold mining disproportionately affects marginalized communities, particularly cis and trans women, while examining multispecies resistance and environmental racism through ethnographic fieldwork in Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia.

• 2023 Cultural Horizon Prize for outstanding research
• Contributions to mercury regulation policy dialogues at pre-COP events