Małgorzata Rajtar, PhD

Associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Head of the RDSRC ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3807-1547

Publications

Edited Volumes & Journal Special Issues

  • Knoll, E-M. & Rajtar (eds.). Accepted. Rare Diseases, Social Sciences, and Global Health: Counterbalancing Biomedical Reductionism. SI for Social Science & Medicine.
  • Diasio, N. & Rajtar (eds.). Accepted. Living with Rare Diseases in Europe: Uncertainty, Negotiations, and Temporality. SI for Medical Anthropology.
  • Rajtar, M. & K. E. Król (eds.). (2023). Entanglements of Rare Diseases in the Baltic Sea Region. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/ Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Penkala-Gawęcka, D. & Rajtar (eds). (2016). Special Issue „Medical Pluralism and Beyond”, Anthropology & Medicine23(2): 129-134.
  • Radkowska-Walkowicz, M. & Rajtar (eds.). (2014). Kultura i medycyna [Culture & Medicine]. Special Issue of Etnografia Polska [Polish Ethnography] 58(1-2).
  • Rajtar, M. & J. Straczuk (eds.). (2012). Emocje w kulturze [Emotions in Culture]. Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press & National Center for Culture.
  • Peperkamp, E. & Rajtar (eds.) (2010). Religion and the Secular in Eastern Germany, 1945 to the Present. Leiden-Boston: Brill.
 

 Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

  • Rajtar, M. (2023). ‘Small’ Data, Isolated Populations, and New Categories of Rare Diseases in Finland and Poland.Anthropology & Medicine 30(1):1-16.
  • Rajtar, M. (2023). Antycypując przyszłość – diagnoza a doświadczenie w rzadkiej chorobie w Polsce [Anticipating the Future: Diagnosis and Experiences of a Rare Disease in Poland]. LUD [The People] 107: 10-41.
  • Rajtar, M. (2020). The Concept of Vulnerability in Research Ethics and Health Policies on Rare Diseases. Przegląd Socjologiczny/ Sociological Review 69(3): 107-127.
  • Rajtar, M. (2019). Normalised Eating and Dietary Guidelines in LCHAD Deficiency. Ethnologia Polona 40:91-108.
  • Rajtar, M. (2018). Relational autonomy, care, and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany. Bioethics 32(3):184-192.
  • Rajtar, M. (2017). O (nie)naturalności jedzenia. Pokarmy i technologie biomedyczne w chorobach metabolicznych. [On the (Un)Naturalness of Eating: Foods and Biomedical Technologies in Metabolic Disorders] Lud [The People]101: 383-400.
  • Rajtar, M. (2016). 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.
  • Rajtar, M. (2016). Jehovah’s Witness patients within the German medical landscape. Anthropology & Medicine 23(2): 172-187.
  • Rajtar, M. (2014). Krew jako ciało „obce” i „indywidualne”. Krew i biotożsamość na przykładzie Świadków Jehowy w Niemczech. [Blood as an “Alien” and “Individual” Body: Blood and Bioidentity and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany].Etnografia Polska [Polish Ethnography] 58(1-2): 101-116.
  • Rajtar, M. (2014). Zwrot etyczny i nowa antropologia moralności. [An Ethical Turn and the New Anthropology of Morality] Lud [ The People] 98: 137-156.
  • Rajtar, M. (2013). Bioethics and religious bodies. Refusal of blood transfusions in Germany. Social Science & Medicine 98: 271-277.
  • Rajtar, M. (2011). Gender in the Discursive Practices of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the Former East Germany. Social Compass 58(2): 260-270.
  • Rajtar, M. (2010). Jehovah’s Witnesses in East Germany: ‘Reconfigurations’ of Identity. Religion, State and Society 38(4): 401-416.
  • Peperkamp, E., Rajtar, M., Becci, I & B. Huber. (2009) Eastern Germany 20 years after: past, present, and future. Transatlantic Journal for European Studies 5(2): 1-10.
 

Book Chapters

  • Rajtar, M. & E-M. Knoll. (2024). Anthropology, Rare Diseases, and Global Health. In: The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Global Health, T.B. Masvawure & E. Foley (eds.), 353-365. London & New York: Routledge.
  • Rajtar, M. (2023). Between the “Standard” and “Experimental”: Knowledge Production and Practices in Tube Feeding in Finland and Poland. In: Entanglements of Rare Diseases in the Baltic Sea Region, Rajtar & K. E. Król (eds.), 89-111. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/ Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Rajtar, M. & K. E. Król. (2023). Introduction. In: Entanglements of Rare Diseases in the Baltic Sea Region, Rajtar & K. E. Król (eds.), 1-20. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/ Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Król, K. E. & Rajtar. (2022). Practicing Resilience While Negotiating the Pandemic: The Experiences of People with Rare Diseases in Poland. In: Negotiating the Pandemic: Cultural, National and Individual Constructions of COVID-19. I. Ali & R. Davies-Floyd (eds.). 125-138. New York: Routledge.
  • Rajtar, M. (2021). Competing Religious and Biomedical Notions of Treatment: The Case of Blood Transfusion Refusals. In: The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Medicine, and Health. D. Lüddeckens, P. Klassen, J. Stein and P. Hetmanczyk (eds.), 406-420. Routledge.
  • Rajtar, M. (2019). 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. 213-231. Canon Pyon: Sean Kingston Publishing.
  • Rajtar, M. (2019). Bioetyka i technologie wzmacniania ludzkiego ciała w kontekście doświadczeń kobiet z Zespołem Turnera. [Bioethics and enhancement technologies in the experiences of women with Turner syndrome]. In: Zespół Turnera. Głosy i doświadczenia [Turner syndrome. Voices and Experiences. Maciejewska-Mroczek, M. Radkowska-Walkowicz, M. Reimann, eds. 171-197. Warsaw: Oficyna Wydawnicza.
  • 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.
  • Rajtar, M. (2014). Serce i krew. Rodziny świadków Jehowy wobec zespołu Downa [Blood and the Heart. Jehovah’s Witness Families and Down Syndrome]. In: Etnografie biomedycyny [Ethnographies of Biomedicine]. Radkowska-Walkowicz & H. Wierciński, eds. 259-275. Warsaw: Warsaw University Press.
  • Rajtar, M. & J. Straczuk. (2012). Wprowadzenie [Introduction]. In: Emocje w kulturze [Emotions in Culture], M. Rajtar & J. Straczuk, eds. 7-25. Warsaw: Warsaw University Press & National Center for Culture.
  • Peperkamp, E. & Rajtar. (2010). Introduction. In: Religion and the Secular in Eastern Germany, 1945 to the Present, red. E. Peperkamp & M. Rajtar, 1-18. Leiden-Boston: Brill.
  • Rajtar, M. (2010). Religious socialization in a secular environment: Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eastern Germany. In: Religion and the Secular in Eastern Germany, 1945 to the Present, red. E. Peperkamp & M. Rajtar, 125-145. Leiden-Boston: Brill.

Projects

  • 2024-2026 Transition in Rare Diseases
    Funding: Joint Polish-Austrian project under the agreement on scientific cooperation between the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Austrian Academy of Sciences
    Role: Co-PI (with Dr Eva-Maria Knoll, Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
  • 2022 Rare Diseases, Global Health, and Social Sciences: Counterbalancing Biomedical Reductionism. Workshop grant (May 9-11, 2023)
    Funding: Brocher Foundation, Hermance, Switzerland.
    Role: Co-PI (with Dr Eva-Maria Knoll, Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
  • 2018-2023 An Anthropology of Rare Diseases. A Study of the Baltic Sea Region (Grant No: 2017/26/E/HS3/00291)
    Funding: National Science Center (Sonata Bis 7)
    Role: PI
  • 2018-2019 EURIAS Senior Fellowship. The EURIAS Fellowship Programme and the European Commission (MSCA COFUND Programme - FP7). Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki,
  • 2016-2019 Socio-cultural dimensions of rare diseases: The case of LCHAD deficiency. A comparative study of Poland and Finland (Grant No: 2015/17/B/HS3/00107)
    Funding: National Science Center (OPUS 9)
    Role: PI
  • 2016-2019 Turner Syndrome: Socialization patterns and the management of embodiment in chronic disease. An interdisciplinary approach (Grant No: 0137/NPRH4/H2b/83/2016)
    Funding: Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education/ National Program for the Development of Humanities
    PI: dr hab. Magdalena Radkowska-Walkowicz (University of Warsaw)Role: Main Investigator
  • 2011-2013 Refusal of Blood Transfusions: Religious Identity and Modern Medical Authority
    Funding: Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung
    Role: PI (Postdoctoral project)
    Host: prof. Hansjörg Dilger (FU Berlin, Germany)
  • 2006-2009 “Heaven on Earth”: Conversion and Morality in Eastern Germany
    Funding: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
    Role: PI (Postdoctoral project)
    Supervisor: prof. Chris Hann (MPI for Social Anthropology, Germany)