Rayna Rapp

Rayna Rapp (pen name Rayna R. Reiter[1]) is a professor and associate chair of anthropology at New York University, specializing in gender and health; the politics of reproduction; science, technology, and genetics; and disability in the United States and Europe.[2][3] 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[3][4] 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".[5] She co-authored many articles with Faye Ginsburg, including Enabling Disability: Rewriting Kinship, Reimagining Citizenship, a topic the pair has continued to research.[6]

Rayna Rapp
Born1946
Other namesRayna R. Reiter (pen name)
OccupationAnthropologist professor
Academic background
EducationPh.D., University of Michigan, anthropology, 1969-73 M.A., University of Michigan, anthropology, 1968-69 B.S., University of Michigan, anthropology (with honors), 1964-68
Academic work
DisciplineMedical anthropology
InstitutionsNew School for Social Research (1973-1998) New York University (2001-present)

Education and career

Rapp received her PhD from the University of Michigan in 1973 after completing her bachelor's (with honors) and master's degrees from 1964–1969, each in anthropology.[4][7][3] After obtaining her PhD, Rapp continued her academic career at the New School For Social Research from 1973–1998, where she chaired the anthropology department and founded and chaired the graduate program in gender studies and feminist theory.[8] She published Testing Women, Testing the Women in 1999 after fifteen years of field work during her time there.[8] In 2001, Rapp became a professor of anthropology at New York University, acquiring the role of associate chair of the department in 2010.[3] She served on the executive board of the American Anthropological Association from 2012–2015.[9]

Rapp has spoken at multiple universities and conferences around the United States and Europe,[3] including the University of Texas at Austin, University of Kentucky,[10] and the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.[7]

Rapp has also acted as mentor and advisor to feminist anthropologists Khiara Bridges[11] and Elise Andaya.[12]

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".[10] Her work in both genetics and reproduction has resulted in extensive research into multiple reproductive technologies, including amniocentesis and non-invasive prenatal diagnosis tests.[8] Rapp stresses the "highly stratified and gendered benefits and burdens" these types of technologies carry and the audience they are marketed to.[10] 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".[13] Her current project is projected to concern the relationships between neuroscience, disability, neurodiversity, familial structures, and activism.[13]

Work with Faye Ginsburg

Rapp's work with long-time coauthor Faye Ginsburg 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.[14] The pair have also explored "disability consciousness and cultural innovation in special education".[10] 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.[15] 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."[16] 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.[17] Carolyn Sargent has praised the collection for "effectively [tracing] the intersections between global dynamics and local cultural logic and social relations."[15] 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.[18] The work has also been identified as highlighting the intersections between reproduction, kinship, the body, and sexuality.[17]

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.[19] Nash views the collection as simultaneously promoting the study and understanding of both women and anthropology.[19]

In 1999, Rapp published Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: the Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America, which Adele Clark describes as "[making] significant and enduring contributions to...sociology and science and technology, medical sociology and anthropology, research methods, women's studies, feminist theory, clinical genetics, medicine, [and] nursing."[20] The book examines the effects of the routinization of fetal diagnosis and analyzes its cultural and social significance in a U.S. context,[21] positing that pregnant women's experience with amniocentesis is deeply influenced by gender, race, and class.[22] 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.[8][20] Rapp also suggests ideological links between abortion rights and disability rights activists, and argues that society should cultivate better communication between the two "realms".[23][21]

Honors and awards
  • 2014–15 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship[13]
  • 2012 "Engendering the Field: a Story of Contingency" Distinguished Lecture/ plaque (AAA)[24]
  • 2002 GAD Centennial Distinguished Lecture, American Anthropological Association[25]
  • 1999 Diana Forsythe Prize, Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology & Computing[4][26]
  • 1999 Basker Book Prize, Society for Medical Anthropology[4]
  • 1999 Senior Book Prize, American Ethnological Society[4]
  • 2003 Staley Prize, School of American Research[5]

References
  1. Rayna R. Reiter (1975-01-01). Toward An Anthropology of Women. ISBN 9780853453994.
  2. "Rayna Rapp". conferences.la.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  3. "Rayna Rapp, Faculty, Anthropology | New York University". anthropology.as.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  4. "Rapp, Rayna 1946(?)- - Dictionary definition of Rapp, Rayna 1946(?)- | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  5. "SAR—2003 J. I. Staley Prize—Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America". sarweb.org. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
  6. Rayna Rapp; Faye Ginsburg. "Enabling Disability : Rewriting Kinship, Reimagining Citizenship" (PDF). Anthropology.as.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  7. ""Banking on DNA: Globalizing Selective Reproductive Technology" - Rayna Rapp - Reproductive Ethics Lecture Series". Eventbrite. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  8. Rapp, Rayna (1999). Testing Women, Testing the Fetus. London: Routledge Press. ISBN 978-0415916455.
  9. American Anthropological Association (2013). "Future Publics, Current Engagements" (PDF). 2013 Annual Report.
  10. Hairston, Gail (2016-10-16). "'Banking on DNA' With Rayna Rapp". UKNow. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  11. Bridges, Khiara (2011). Reproducing Race: An Ehtnography. Los Angeles: University of California Press. pp. ix, 9. ISBN 978-0520268951.
  12. "Andaya, Elise | The Wenner-Gren foundation". www.wennergren.org. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  13. "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Rayna Rapp". www.gf.org. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  14. Das, Veena (2015-11-17). Living and Dying in the Contemporary World: A Compendium. Univ of California Press. pp. 525–541. ISBN 9780520961067.
  15. Sargent, Carolyn (1996). "Conceiving the New World Order: The Global Politics of Reproduction . Faye D. Ginsburg, Rayna Rapp". American Anthropologist. 98 (2): 444–446. doi:10.1525/aa.1996.98.2.02a00440.
  16. Rapp, Rayna; Ginsburg, Faye, eds. (1995). Conceiving the New Word Order:The Global Politics of Reproduction. University of California Press. p. 3.
  17. Taussig, Karen-Sue (1996-01-01). "Review of Conceiving the New World Order: The Global Politics of Reproduction". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 7 (2): 305–307. JSTOR 3704153.
  18. Davis-Floyd, Robbie (1997-01-01). "Review of Conceiving the New World Order: The Global Politics of Reproduction". Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 11 (3): 398–401. doi:10.1525/maq.1997.11.3.398. JSTOR 649576.
  19. Nash, June (1977-01-01). "Review of Toward an Anthropology of Women". Dialectical Anthropology. 2 (1–4): 168–173. doi:10.1007/BF00249482. JSTOR 29789897. S2CID 140966446.
  20. Clarke, Adele E. (2001-01-01). "Review of Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America, Rayna Rapp". American Journal of Sociology. 106 (4): 1201–1202. doi:10.1086/320320. JSTOR 10.1086/320320.
  21. Browner, C. H; Shapira, Jill (2001-07-01). "Testing women, testing the fetus: the social impact of amniocentesis in America, Rayna Rapp; Routledge, New York, 1999, 361 pp., price $30.00 (cloth)". Social Science & Medicine. 53 (1): 148–149. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00326-9.
  22. Sidney, Dana (Summer 2002). "Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America. By Rayna Rapp. New York: Routledge, 2000. 361 pages. $19.95, softcover". Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health. 47 (4): 294–295. doi:10.1016/S1526-9523(02)00254-4.
  23. Morgan, Lynn M. (2000-01-01). "Review of Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America". Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 14 (2): 272–274. doi:10.1525/maq.2000.14.2.272. JSTOR 649706.
  24. "Distinguished Lecturer - Connect with AAA". www.americananthro.org. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  25. "History of GAD". General Anthropology Division. 2015-08-07. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  26. "Diana Forsythe Prize Winners". General Anthropology Division. 2016-05-26. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
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