Since 2016 I have conducted anthropological research on rare (metabolic) diseases in Finland and Poland as the Principal Investigator of two projects: “Socio-cultural dimensions of rare diseases: The case of LCHAD deficiency. A comparative study of Poland and Finland” (2016-2019), and “An Anthropology of Rare Diseases. A Study of the Baltic Sea Region” (2018-2022). I studied in the College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in the Humanities (MISH) at the University of Warsaw (MA in Ethnology) as well as in the Graduate School for Social Research at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences (PhD in Sociology) in Warsaw, Poland. I held assistant professorships in the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (2014-2018) and in the Institute of Archeology & Ethnology at the University of Gdańsk (2010-2013). Additionally, I was an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at the Freie University in Berlin and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Germany. My research interests include medical anthropology (specifically biomedicine, the relationship between medicine and religion, biotechnologies, bioidentity, and rare diseases); bioethics; an anthropology of ethics and morality, and anthropology of religion (especially Christianity). I have conducted research in Finland, Germany, and Poland.

Publications

Books and direction of special issues of journals:

2016 Penkala-Gawęcka, D., M. Rajtar (eds.). Special Issue „Medical Pluralism and Beyond”, Anthropology & Medicine 23(2): 129-134. >>> 2014 Radkowska-Walkowicz, M., M. Rajtar (eds.). Blok tematyczny „Kultura i medycyna”, Etnografia Polska 58(1-2). 2012 Rajtar, M., J. Straczuk (eds.). Emocje w kulturze. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego i Narodowe Centrum Kultury. 2010 Peperkamp, E., M. Rajtar (eds.) Religion and the Secular in Eastern Germany, 1945 to the Present. Leiden-Boston: Brill.

Peer-reviewed articles in peer-reviewed journals:

2019 Rajtar, M. Normalised Eating and Dietary Guidelines in LCHAD Deficiency. Ethnologia Polona 40: 91-108. >>> 2018 Rajtar, M. Relational autonomy, care, and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany. Bioethics 32(3):184-192. >>> 2017 Rajtar, M. O (nie)naturalności jedzenia. Pokarmy i technologie biomedyczne w chorobach metabolicznych. Lud 101: 383-400. >>> 2016 Rajtar, M. Health care reform and Diagnosis Related Groups in Germany: The mediating role of Hospital Liaison Committees for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Social Science & Medicine 166: 57-65. >>> 2016 Rajtar, M. Jehovah’s Witness patients within the German medical landscape. Anthropology & Medicine 23(2): 172-187. >>> 2014 Rajtar, M. Krew jako ciało „obce” i „indywidualne”. Krew i biotożsamość na przykładzie Świadków Jehowy w Niemczech. Etnografia Polska 58(1-2): 101-116. 2014 Rajtar, M. Zwrot etyczny i nowa antropologia moralności. Lud 98: 137-156. 2013 Rajtar, M. Bioethics and religious bodies. Refusal of blood transfusions in Germany. Social Science & Medicine 98: 271-277. >>> 2011 Rajtar, M. Gender in the Discursive Practices of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the Former East Germany. Social Compass 58(2): 260-270. >>> 2010 Rajtar, M. Jehovah’s Witnesses in East Germany: ‘Reconfigurations’ of Identity. Religion, State and Society 38(4): 401-416. >>>

Chapters in books and other texts:

In press Rajtar, M. Christians in the Biomedical Embrace: A Case of “No Blood Transfusion” Policy in Germany. In: Twilight Zone Anthropology. A Voice from Poland. M. Buchowski, ed. Canon Pyon: Sean Kingston Publishing. 2017 Rajtar, M. Refusing Blood, Establishing Relational Biocitizenship: Collectivizing Moments among Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany. In: Medizinethnologie. Körper, Gesundheit und Heilung in einer globalisierten Welt. H. Dilger, D. Mattes, M. Knipper, eds. 4.04.2017. Berlin: Work Group Medical Anthropology in the German Anthropological Association. ISSN: 2509-6931, s. 1-9. >>> 2017 Rajtar, M. 2017. Religion und Geschlecht bei den Zeugen Jehovas in (Ost-) Deutschland. In: Religionen und Geschlechterordnungen. K. Sammet, F. Benthaus-Apel, Ch. Gärtner, eds. 179-195. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. 2014 Rajtar, M. (with M. Radkowska-Walkowicz). Wprowadzenie do bloku tematycznego „Kultura i medycyna”, Etnografia Polska 58(1-2): 95-99. 2014 Rajtar, M. Serce i krew. Rodziny świadków Jehowy wobec zespołu Downa. In: Etnografie biomedycyny, eds. M. Radkowska-Walkowicz, H. Wierciński, 259-275. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. 2012 Rajtar, M. (with J. Straczuk). Wprowadzenie. In: Emocje w kulturze, eds. M. Rajtar, J. Straczuk. 7-25. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego i Narodowe Centrum Kultury. 2010 Rajtar, M. (with E. Peperkamp). Introduction. In: Religion and the Secular in Eastern Germany, 1945 to the Present, eds. E. Peperkamp, M. Rajtar, 1-18. Leiden-Boston: Brill. 2010 Rajtar, M. Religious socialization in a secular environment: Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eastern Germany. In: Religion and the Secular in Eastern Germany, 1945 to the Present, eds. E. Peperkamp, M. Rajtar, 125-145. Leiden-Boston: Brill. 2009 Rajtar, M. (with E. Peperkamp, I. Becci, B. Huber) Eastern Germany 20 years after: past, present, and future. Eurostudia. Transatlantic Journal for European Studies 5(2): 1-10 ((ISSN: 1718-8946). >>> 2009 Rajtar, M. Searching for a purpose of life: Conversion to Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eastern Germany. Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Working Papers Series, No. 114, Halle/S. >>>

Projects

2018-2022 An Anthropology of Rare Diseases. A Study of the Baltic Sea Region (grant nr: 2017/26/E/HS3/00291) Funding: National Science Center, Poland (Sonata Bis 7) Function: principal investigator 2016-2019 Socio-cultural Dimensions of Rare Diseases: The Case of LCHAD Deficiency. A Comparative Study of Poland and Finland (grant nr: 2015/17/B/HS3/00107) Funding: National Science Center, Poland (OPUS 9) Function: principal investigator 2016-2019 Zespół Turnera- wzory socjalizacji i zarządzanie cielesnością w sytuacji choroby przewlekłej. Ujęcie interdyscyplinarne (grant nr: 0137/NPRH4/H2b/83/2016) Finansowanie: Narodowy Program Rozwoju Humanistyki (Rozwój 2b) Function: researcher Principal investigator: Magdalena Radkowska-Walkowicz, PhD (UW) 2011-2013 Refusal of Blood Transfusions: Religious Identity and Modern Medical Authority Funding: Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Function: principal investigator Supervisor: Prof. Hansjörg Dilger (FU Berlin) 2006-2009 “Heaven on Earth”: Conversion and Morality in Eastern Germany Funding: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Function: principal investigator Supervisor: Prof. Chris Hann (MPI for Social Anthropology)