Rayna Rapp (
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
Rayna R. Reiter) is a professor and associate chair of
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, specializing in gender and health; the politics of reproduction; science, technology, and genetics; and disability in the United States and Europe.
She has contributed over 80 published works to the field of anthropology, independently, as a co-author, editor, and foreword-writing, including
Robbie Davis-Floyd and
Carolyn Sargent's ''
Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge.'' Her 1999 book, ''Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: the Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America,'' received multiple awards upon release
and has been praised for providing "invaluable insights into the first generation of women who had to decide whether or not to terminate their pregnancies on the basis of amniocentesis result".
She co-authored many articles with
Faye Ginsburg
Faye Ginsburg (born October 28, 1952) is an American anthropologist who has devoted her life to the exploration of different cultures and individuals’ styles of life. Ginsburg has published ethnographies about her fieldwork experiences in the U.S ...
, including ''Enabling Disability: Rewriting Kinship, Reimagining Citizenship,'' a topic the pair has continued to research.
Education and career
Rapp received her PhD from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in 1973 after completing her Bachelor's (with honors) and master's degrees from 1964-1969, each in Anthropology.
After obtaining her PhD, Rapp continued her academic career at the
New School For Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...
from 1973-1998, where she chaired the Anthropology department and founded and chaired the Graduate Program in Gender Studies and Feminist Theory.
She published ''Testing Women, Testing the Women'' in 1999 after fifteen years of field work during her time there.
In 2001, Rapp became a professor of Anthropology at New York University, acquiring the role of Associate Chair of the Department in 2010.
She served on the Executive Board of the
American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, ...
from 2012-2015.
Rapp has spoken at multiple universities and conferences around the United States and Europe,
including the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
,
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...
,
and the
MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics
The MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, founded in 1981, is a non-profit clinical medical ethics research institute based in the United States. Founded by its director, Mark Siegler, the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics aims to ...
.
Rapp has also acted as mentor and advisor to feminist anthropologists
Khiara Bridges
Khiara M. Bridges (born 1978/1979)[Style Across Americ ...](_blank)
and
Elise Andaya.
Rapp believes "there is 'a widening chasm' between the medical-scientific utopian dreams of human perfectibility and the public's understanding of human diversity and impairment".
Her work in both genetics and reproduction has resulted in extensive research into multiple reproductive technologies, including amniocentesis and
non-invasive prenatal diagnosis tests.
Rapp stresses the "highly stratified and gendered benefits and burdens" these types of technologies carry and the audience they are marketed to.
Rapp has extended this work to examine how human disability intersects with prejudice, diversity, and "discrimination based on racial-ethnic, class, national, religious, and gendered backgrounds".
Her current project is projected to concern the relationships between
neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...
,
disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, dev ...
,
neurodiversity
Neurodiversity refers to diversity in the human brain and cognition, for instance in sociability, learning, attention, mood and other mental functions.
It was coined in 1998 by sociologist Judy Singer, who helped popularize the concept alo ...
, familial structures, and activism.
Work with Faye Ginsburg
Rapp's work with long-time coauthor
Faye Ginsburg
Faye Ginsburg (born October 28, 1952) is an American anthropologist who has devoted her life to the exploration of different cultures and individuals’ styles of life. Ginsburg has published ethnographies about her fieldwork experiences in the U.S ...
focuses on disability, reproduction, science, and social structures. Their most recent work, "'Not Dead Yet': Changing Disability Imaginaries in the 21st Century" examines the continuation of eugenic thinking and how it intersects with disability and public consciousness. The pair have also explored "disability consciousness and cultural innovation in special education".
Rapp and Ginsburg's previous work, ''Conceiving the New World Order: The Global Politics of Reproduction'' brought together multiple articles with the purpose of placing reproduction at the center of social theory.
In that collection, Ginsburg and Rapp recall Shellee Colen's idea of "stratified reproduction", which they define as: "The power relations by which some categories of people are empowered to nurture and reproduce, while others are disempowered." Karen-Sue Taussig identifies the importance of reproduction in anthropology and points out the highly gendered nature of this discipline: in the collection, 28 of the pieces are by females with 2 male co-authors.
Carolyn Sargent has praised the collection for "effectively
racing
In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...
the intersections between global dynamics and local cultural logic and social relations."
Similarly, anthropologist
Robbie Davis-Floyd claimed that the work "marks the maturation of the anthropology of reproduction" and identified it as one of the most important works in the field of reproductive anthropology at the time. The work has also been identified as highlighting the intersections between reproduction, kinship, the body, and sexuality.
Influence and critical reception
''Towards an Anthropology of Women'' (1975)'','' which Rapp edited under the name Rayna Reiter, brings together articles that examine the historical structures that influence gender and inequity across cultures, but does so without trying to prove the universality of womanhood, according to
June Nash
June C. Nash (May 30, 1927 – December 9, 2019) was a social and feminist anthropologist and Distinguished Professor Emerita at the City University of New York (CUNY). She conducted extensive field work throughout the United States and Lati ...
.
Nash views the collection as simultaneously promoting the study and understanding of both women and anthropology.
In 1999, Rapp published ''
Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: the Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America'', which Adele Clark describes as "
akingsignificant and enduring contributions to...sociology and science and technology, medical sociology and anthropology, research methods, women's studies, feminist theory, clinical genetics, medicine,
ndnursing."
The book examines the effects of the routinization of fetal diagnosis and analyzes its cultural and social significance in a U.S. context,
positing that pregnant women's experience with amniocentesis is deeply influenced by gender, race, and class. Rapp drew on her own experience with amniocentesis in her approach towards the book, participating in fifteen years of fieldwork and engaging with laboratory technicians, geneticists, support groups (of women who terminated pregnancies and families with disabled children), families of children with Down syndrome, genetic counselors, women who underwent amniocentesis or who refused the test, and some male partners.
Rapp also suggests ideological links between abortion rights and disability rights activists, and argues that society should cultivate better communication between the two "realms".
Honors and awards
* 2014-15 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
* 2012 "Engendering the Field: a Story of Contingency" Distinguished Lecture/ plaque (AAA)
* 2002 GAD Centennial Distinguished Lecture, American Anthropological Association
* 1999
Diana Forsythe Prize, Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology & Computing
* 1999 Basker Book Prize, Society for Medical Anthropology
* 1999 Senior Book Prize, American Ethnological Society
* 2003 Staley Prize, School of American Research
References
External links
New York University profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rapp, Rayna
Living people
American anthropologists
American women anthropologists
New York University faculty
University of Michigan alumni
1946 births
The New School faculty
American women academics
21st-century American women