Asst. Prof. Dr. Maya Halatcheva-Trapp

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4782-0116

ResearchGate profile

• Arts-Based Research
• Art, health and participation
• Intuition and aesthetic experiences in research
• Family, parenthood, couple relationships and gender relations

since 09/2025 Assistant Professor for Research in the Arts Therapies, Research Institute for Arts Therapies (RIArT), Department of Arts Therapies and Therapy Sciences, Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Alfter/Bonn

04/2023 – 06/2025 Research Associate, VW project “Wealth as a social relationship. Intergenerational perspectives on the familial (re)production of wealth”, TU Dortmund, Faculty 17 Social Sciences, Sociology unit with a focus on social inequalities

04/2017 – 03/2023 Research Associate, TU Dortmund, Faculty 17 Social Sciences, Chair of General Sociology

09/2015 – 03/2017 Research Associate, ForGenderCare research network, subproject 6 “Care from the household perspective. The example of caring for older people in the city”, Munich University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Applied Social Sciences & Women’s Academy Munich e.V.

2016 Doctorate in Sociology (Dr. phil.), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

04/2014 – 03/2016 Doctoral scholarship for women with qualified professional experience, State Conference of Women’s and Equal Opportunity Officers at Bavarian Universities of Applied Sciences (LaKoF)

04/2012 – 03/2014 Research Associate, DFG project “Sociological knowledge cultures. The development of qualitative social research in German and French sociology since the 1960s”, Department of Social and Cultural Sciences, Fulda University of Applied Sciences

08/2011 – 01/2012 Scholarship for visiting researchers, German Youth Institute e.V., Department of Family and Family Policy, Munich

04/2011 – 07/2011 Research Associate, Institute of Sociology, LMU Munich, Sociology and Gender Studies unit

11/2010 – 03/2011 Research Associate, Institute of Sociology, LMU Munich, Qualitative Methods of Empirical Social Research unit

2009 – 2014   Associated member, Schumpeter Research Group “Multilocality of Family. Shaping family life after spatial separation”, funded by the VW Foundation, German Youth Institute e.V. Munich

2008 – 2023 Lecturer at Munich University of Applied Sciences, Catholic University of Applied Sciences Munich, Fulda University of Applied Sciences and Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences
Subject areas: Qualitative research methods, family sociology, psychosocial counseling, social inequalities

09/2007 – 02/2010 Research Officer, BMFSFJ project “Child protection in high-conflict parenthood”, German Youth Institute e.V., Department of Family and Family Policy, Munich

2007 Graduate Sociologist (minor subjects: Work and Organizational Psychology, Intercultural Communication), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

03/2002 – 12/2005 Student Assistant, Collaborative Research Center 536 “Reflexive Modernization”, subproject B2 “Reflexive Individualization and Post-Traditional Ligatures”, LMU Munich/Institute for Practical Research and Project Consulting, Munich

2003 Magistra Artium in Psychology, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, Bulgaria

Monographs

2026 Family Sociology. UTB series Sociology in the 21st Century. Munich: Wilhelm Fink. (with Tino Schlinzig, forthcoming)

2018 Parenthood in the Interplay of Patterns of Interpretation and Discourse. A Sociology-of-Knowledge Perspective on Separation and Divorce Counseling. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, Theory and Practice of Discourse Research series, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-22575-9

2010 Working with High-Conflict Separation and Divorce Families. A Practical Guide. Munich: German Youth Institute e.V., https://www.dji.de/fileadmin/user_upload/bibs/458_12244_scheidungsfamilien.pdf (with Peter S. Dietrich, Jörg Fichtner and Eva Sandner)

2008 Conflicts of Binational Married Couples. An Analysis of the Expert Knowledge of Marriage Counselors and Family Mediators. Saarbrücken: VDM.

Edited volumes

2026 Family, Care and Law. Theoretical and Empirical Determinations of a Relationship. Bielefeld: transcript, Care – Research and Practice series https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-7369-2/familie-sorge-und-recht/ (with Felix Gaillinger, Julia Böcker, Manuel Bolz and Lisa Yashodhara Haller)

2025 Flood. How Art Creates Health. Research Institute for Arts Therapies (RIArT). Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17685607 (with Mei-Ling Tan, Karin Diede-Becker, Dorothee Neu, Katharina Forstreuter, Susann Kobus, Sabine C. Koch)

2020 Sociological Experimentalism. Interactions between Discipline and Object. Weinheim/Basel: Beltz Juventa, Knowledge Cultures series. (2nd edition 2023) https://www.beltz.de/fachmedien/soziologie/produkte/details/43623-soziologische-experimentalitaet.html (with Gregor Betz and Reiner Keller)

2019 Family and Space. Rethinking Family Theory and Empirical Approaches. London: Routledge, Routledge Studies in Family Sociology series. (with Giulia Montanari and Tino Schlinzig)

Journal articles

2025 Inclusion and the Hope for Community. In: Punkt und Kreis. Journal for Anthroposophical Curative Education, Individual Development and Social Art (81), pp. 38-39.

2024 Jane Addams and the Hull-House Maps & Papers. A Knowledge-Culture Approach.  In: Kiel Social Science Review. International Tönnies Forum 2 (1), pp. 7-18 (with Angelika Poferl), https://doi.org/10.3224/ksr.v2i1.02

2024 Book review Family Ethnography Jagoda Motowidlo, Arguing at a Distance!? Transnational Family Practice in Sociotechnical Constellations. Bielefeld: transcript, 2023. In: Soziologische Revue 47 (1), pp. 86-88, https://doi.org/10.1515/srsr-2024-2006

2023 Jane Addams (1860-1935). A Committed Social Researcher from the Very Beginning and Politically Active Reformer. In: Holzhauser, N. (ed.): The Invisible Half. Women in the History of Sociology. Soziopolis (with Angelika Poferl), https://www.soziopolis.de/jane-addams-1860-1935.html

2022 The Aesthetics of Codes in Grounded Theory Research. A Scientific-Literary Essay. In: On_Culture. The Open Journal for the Study of Culture 14, https://doi.org/10.22029/oc.2022.1344

2022 Custody and Gender. A Historical Sketch. In: Time with (Grand)Fathers. Parenthood after the Boom. Academic blog, https://grossvater.hypotheses.org/578

2021 Teaching Grounded Theory. Analysis of an Epistemic Practice. In: International Journal of Qualitative Methods, Volume 20, 1-10 (with Ursula Unterkofler), https://doi.org/10.1177%2F16094069211054937 

2021 Counseling and the Formation of Nomos in Post-Separation Families. In: Brauchli, S./Kilic, S. (eds.): Contexts of Socialization in the Focus of Child and Youth Welfare: Professional Endeavors and Challenges. Society – Individual – Socialization (GISo). Online Journal for Socialization Research, issue 2/2021, https://doi.org/10.26043/GISo.2021.2.4

2019 Mindfulness, Intuition and Scientific Knowledge. An Aestheticizing Perspective Using the Example of Qualitative Social Research. In: Niebel, V./Straub, J. (eds.): Discourses of Mindfulness. Journal Psychosozial 42: 158, issue 4/2019. Gießen: Psychosozial-Verlag, pp. 76-87. Abstract: https://psychosozial-verlag.de/programm/4000/4100/26487-detail

2018 Rationality and Relations. On the Relationship between Femininity and Motherhood from a Sociology-of-Knowledge and Discourse-Analytical Perspective. In: Langer, A./Mahs, C./Rendtorff, B. (eds.): Femininity – Approaches to Theorization. Yearbook of Women’s and Gender Research in Educational Science 14. Opladen: Barbara Budrich, pp. 125-135, https://doi.org/10.3224/jfgfe.v14i1.09

2015 The Discursive Construction of Reality II. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Sociology-of-Knowledge Discourse Research. Conference report. Soziopolis (with Wolf J. Schünemann), https://www.soziopolis.de/die-diskursive-konstruktion-von-wirklichkeit-ii.html

Contributions to handbooks

2022 Separation, Divorce and Custody. In: Haller, L.Y./Schlender, A. (eds.): Handbook of Feminist Perspectives on Parenthood. Living with Children. Opladen: Barbara Budrich, pp. 141-147, https://feministische-eltern.de/einblicke/maya-halatcheva-trapp-sorgerecht/

2016 Grounded Theory Methodology and Analysis of Patterns of Interpretation – Using the Example of Researching Discourses of Parenthood in Family Counseling. In: Equit, C./Hohage, C. (eds.): Handbook Grounded Theory – from Methodology to Research Practice. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, pp. 361-378.

Contributions to edited volumes

2026 Un/Doing Family in the Archive. A Reading Note on »Family Conflicts. The ›Lettres de cachet‹« by Arlette Farge and Michel Foucault. In: Gaillinger, F./Böcker, J./Bolz, M./Halatcheva-Trapp, M./Haller, L. Y. (eds.): Family, Care and Law. Theoretical and Empirical Determinations of a Relationship. Bielefeld: transcript, Care – Research and Practice series, pp. 193-199, DOI: 10.14361/9783839473696-193

2026 Introduction: Family, Care and Law. On the Stubbornness of a Complex Relationship. In: Gaillinger, F./Böcker, J./Bolz, M./Halatcheva-Trapp, M./Haller, L. Y. (eds.): Family, Care and Law. Theoretical and Empirical Determinations of a Relationship. Bielefeld: transcript, Care – Research and Practice series, pp. 9-24. (with Julia Böcker, Manuel Bolz, Felix Gaillinger and Lisa Yashodhara Haller), DOI: 10.14361/9783839473696-009

2025 Jane Addams, Hull-House and the Hull-House Maps & Papers. A Knowledge-Cultural Perspective. In: Dimbath, O./Hoffmann, N. (eds.): Crossing lines … – Interdisciplinary and Cross-Field Border Crossings Using the Example of Jane Addams. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, pp. 24-38. (with Angelika Poferl)

2025 Wealth and Family: An Intersectional View of Familial Relationships in Film. In: Neuhaus, S./Dimbath, O. (eds.): Wealth. Film-Analytical Explorations of a Cultural Phenomenon. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, Film – Medium – Discourse series, pp. 77-97. (with Benjamin Neumann and Marliese Weißmann)

2023 Researching, Dancing, Whirling, Trembling. Affective and Corporeal-Sensory Experiences from Participant Observation in an Online Interpretation Group. In: Poferl, A./Schröer, N./Hitzler, R./Kreher, S. (eds.): Body-Lived Body Ethnography. Explorations of Being a Lived Body and Having a Body. Essen: Oldib, pp. 345-353.

2021 Parenthood and the Persistence of the Couple in the Context of Separation and Divorce. In: Wutzler, M./Klesse, J. (eds.): Couple Relationships Today. Continuity and Change. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, pp. 235-249.

2020 Sociological Experimentalism. An Introduction to the Volume. In: ibid. (eds.): Sociological Experimentalism. Interactions between Discipline and Object. Weinheim/Basel: Beltz Juventa, Knowledge Cultures series, pp. 9-23. (with Gregor Betz and Reiner Keller. 2nd edition 2023)

2020 The Situation of Teaching. On the Negotiation of Situational Events in Grounded Theory Seminars. In: Hitzler, R./Klemm, M./Kreher, S./Poferl, A./Schröer, N. (eds.): Ethnography of the Situation. Explorations of Meaningfully Delimitable Field Conditions. Essen: Oldib, pp. 199-209. (with Ursula Unterkofler)

2019 Parenthood as a Symbolic Order. The Perspective of the Sociology of Knowledge and Discourse Theory. In: Halatcheva-Trapp, M./Montanari, G./Schlinzig, T. (Eds.): Family and Space. Rethinking Family Theory and Empirical Approaches. London: Routledge, Routledge Studies in Family Sociology, pp. 23-34.

2019 Introduction. Rethinking Family and Space in Mobile Times. In: Halatcheva-Trapp, M./Montanari, G./Schlinzig, T. (Eds.): Family and Space. Rethinking Family Theory and Empirical Approaches, London: Routledge, Routledge Studies in Family Sociology, pp. 1-8. (with Giulia Montanari and Tino Schlinzig)

2019 Conclusion: Opening Space for Family Studies. In: Halatcheva-Trapp, M./Montanari, G./Schlinzig, T. (Eds.): Family and Space. Rethinking Family Theory and Empirical Approaches. London: Routledge, Routledge Studies in Family Sociology, pp. 215-223. (with Giulia Montanari and Tino Schlinzig)

2019 Patterns of Interpretation in a Specialized Discourse on Parenthood. Reconstruction in the Style of Grounded Theory Methodology. In: Bögelein, N./Vetter, N. (eds.): The Patterns of Interpretation Approach. Introduction – Insights – Perspectives. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, Basic Texts Methods series, pp. 247-262.

2018 “You Never Really Get Out of the Mother-Daughter Relationship.” How Caregiving Daughters Experience Caring for Their Mothers. In: Onnen, C./Rode-Breymann, S. (eds.): Restore – Interrupt – Change? Politics of (Re-)Production. Opladen: Barbara Budrich, L’AGENda series, Volume 3, pp. 177-190. (with Sabrina Schmitt)

2017 Everyday Closeness and Autonomy. Motherhood as a Figure of Interpretation in the Discourse of Separation and Divorce Counseling. In: Tolasch, E./Seehaus, R. (eds.): Making Motherhoods Visible. Contributions from the Social and Cultural Sciences. Opladen: Barbara Budrich, Gender Research for Practice series, pp. 289-302.

2016 Parenthood in the Discourse of Separation and Divorce Counseling. An Analysis of Patterns of Interpretation. In: Bosančić, S./Keller, R. (eds.): Perspectives of Sociology-of-Knowledge Discourse Research. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, Theory and Practice of Discourse Research series, pp. 191-202.

2013 Diagnosing High-Conflict Parents: Identifying and Assessing Escalated Separation Conflicts. In: Walper, S./Fichtner, J./ Normann, K. (eds.): High-Conflict Separation Families. Research Findings, Practical Experience and Support for Divorcing Parents and Their Children. Weinheim/Munich: Beltz Juventa, pp. 39-54 (2nd edition). (with Jörg Fichtner and Eva Sandner)

Selected lectures

Led the workshop “Arts-Based Research,” Fulda Methods Academy 2026 “Perspectives in Empirical Social Research,” Fulda University of Applied Sciences, 25-26 June 2026

Participation through aesthetic education. A participatory research project in the field of inclusive extracurricular dance offerings, lecture in the RIArT research colloquium, Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Alfter/Bonn, 21.11.2025 (with Sandra Eck)

Epistemically entangled. On the relationship between intuition and intersubjectivity in research, lecture at the conference “Entangled: Subjects beyond autonomy and dissolution,” International Psychoanalytic University Berlin, 25-27.09.2025.

Is arts-based research a research method to be taken seriously? Pros and cons, invited lecture at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Alfter/Bonn, 12.02.2025.

Peer-to-peer counseling between self-help and professionalism, invited lecture at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg Campus, 06.12.2024.

Corporeality, feelings and intuition. Methodological reflections on qualitative-interpretive research, lecture at the workshop “Current research in the sociology of the body and emotions,” ÖGS Section Sociology of the Body and Emotions, University of Graz, 24-25.10.2024.

Family interviews. Methodological challenges in researching wealthy families, lecture at the DGS conference “Classes, Classifications, Classifying,” Osnabrück University, 23-25.09.2024 (with Benjamin Neumann and Marliese Weißmann).

Wealthy families – methodological approaches to a sensitive field of research, lecture at the workshop “Challenges and potentials in ‘sensitive’ fields of research – multidisciplinary perspectives,” Georg August University of Göttingen, 05-06.09.2024 (with Benjamin Neumann and Marliese Weißmann).

Dis/Trust in Families and towards Researchers: Empirical Insights and Methodological Reflections in Researching Wealthy Families, lecture at the 16th conference of the European Sociological Association (ESA) 2024 “Tension, Trust and Transformation,” Porto (Portugal), 27-30.08.2024(with Benjamin Neumann and Marliese Weißmann).

Participated as an expert in the workshop within the DFG project “Psychotherapeutic treatment of work-related suffering in Germany,” Institute for Social Research, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, 06-07.06.2024.

Wealth as a social relationship. Potentials and challenges of qualitative wealth research, invited lecture, Section on Social Inequality, Austrian Sociological Association, FH Wien der WKW, Vienna, 21.03.2024 (with Nicole Burzan).

Wealth and family. An intersectional view of familial relationships in film, lecture at the conference “Wealth. Film-analytical explorations of a cultural phenomenon,” University of Koblenz, 15-16.02.2024 (with Benjamin Neumann and Marliese Weißmann).

Wealth as a social relationship. Intergenerational aspects of the familial (re)production of wealth, lecture and poster at the international symposium “Perspectives on social inequality and wealth,” Volkswagen Foundation, Hanover, 05.10.2023 (with Benjamin Neumann and Marliese Weißmann).

Gender and Queer Studies and their significance for the practice of social work, invited lecture at Landshut University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work, 09.05.2023.

Jane Addams and the Hull-House Maps & Papers. A Knowledge-Culture Approach, lecture at the conference “Women in the History of Sociology,” Technical University of Braunschweig, 09-11.11.2022 (with Angelika Poferl).

Parental care after separation and divorce, invited lecture as part of the event “Who owns the child? Feminist perspectives on parenthood,” Center Gender & Diversity, University of Hamburg, 06.10.2022.

Researching, dancing, whirling, trembling. Corporeal-sensory experiences from participant observation in an online interpretation group, lecture at the 8th Fulda Fieldwork Days “Body-Lived Body Ethnography,” Fulda University of Applied Sciences, 08-09.07.2022.

Intersectionality and health, invited lecture at Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Department of Health Sciences, 04.07.2022.

Separation, divorce and custody, invited lecture as part of the event “Legal requirements for social parenthood – examining the coalition agreement,” Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, 16.05.2022.

Researching intuition. Methodological challenges of an elusive subject, lecture at the online workshop “From research interest to data – development, adaptation and reflection of qualitative research designs,” Technical University of Dortmund, 19.03.2021.

Family, parenthood and gender from a sociology-of-knowledge and discourse-analytical perspective, lecture at the digital workshop “Family, gender and society – social-theoretical and gender-theoretical perspectives in dialogue,” Chair of Sociology, Social Inequality and Gender, Ruhr University Bochum, 07-09.07.2020.

The contribution of empirical social research to the development of social work, invited lecture at Munich University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, 04.06.2020.

The situation of teaching. On the negotiation of situational events in seminars on Grounded Theory, lecture at the 7th Fulda Fieldwork Days “Ethnography of the Situation,” Fulda University of Applied Sciences, 05-06.07.2019 (with Ursula Unterkofler).

Parenthood and the persistence of the couple. On a discursive dilemma in the context of separation and divorce, lecture at the workshop “Couple relationships today: continuity and change,” University of Siegen, 26-27.04.2019.

Science as art? Perception and intuition in the process of knowledge, lecture at the annual conference of the DGS Working Group Sociology of the Arts “Perception as social practice. Arts and senses in interaction,” Düsseldorf Art Academy, 04-05.04.2019 (with Angelika Poferl).

Grounded Theory in counseling research, invited lecture and design of a teaching unit as part of the seminar “Qualitative methods of social research,” Master’s degree program in Diagnostics, Counseling and Intervention, Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, Munich University of Applied Sciences, 19.01.2019.

Science and intuition – using the example of qualitative social research, lecture at the workshop “Reconstruction of sensory aspects of stocks of knowledge,” Institute of Sociology, Technical University of Dortmund, 07-08.12.2018.

Shaking up familiarity with the field – and regaining it anew. On the re-analysis of interview data in the context of sociology-of-knowledge discourse research, lecture at the conference “The discursive construction of reality III – interdisciplinary perspectives on sociology-of-knowledge discourse research,” University of Augsburg, 23-24.03.2017.

Mother, father, child, divorced – on the discursive production of parenthood in counseling, invited lecture at the Department of Education and Psychology, University of Siegen, 16.01.2017.

Parenthood and the (re-)production of gendered characters of care in the discourse of separation and divorce counseling, invited lecture before the working group “Family, Socialization, Gender Relations,” Institute for Social Research, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, 15.11.2016.

Parenthood in the interplay of patterns of interpretation and discourse. A sociology-of-knowledge perspective on separation and divorce counseling, lecture at the workshop of the DGS Working Group Discourse Research “Patterns of interpretation in discourse,” Freiburg, 10-11.11.2016.

On connecting WDA, analysis of patterns of interpretation and GTM using the example of a specialized discourse on parenthood, lecture at the 1st Congress of the Sociology of Knowledge, session “Sociology of Knowledge and Discourse Research,” University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau Campus, 8-10.10.2015.

Instructions for relationship capability. On counseling-therapeutic culture in the context of separation and divorce, lecture at the conference “Therapy cultures” of the DGS Section Sociology of Professions, Bielefeld University, 23-24.01.2015.

Family counseling as a discursive field and expert interviews as documents of a specialized discourse, lecture at the 10th network meeting on sociology-of-knowledge discourse analysis, University of Augsburg, 25-26.09.2014.

The Discursive Construction of Parenthood in Post-Separation Family Counseling. A Qualitative Study in Germany. Invited Speaker for Lecture Series “Internalisation@Home – Health and Demography Research”, Department of Sociology, Ghent University Belgium 13.12.2013.

Constructions of ‘intact’ parenthood in separation and divorce counseling. A sociology-of-knowledge discourse analysis, lecture at the spring conference of the DGS Section Sociology of Knowledge “The discursive construction of reality. Interdisciplinary perspectives on sociology-of-knowledge discourse research,” University of Augsburg, 21-22.03.2013.

“Partnership” and “care” as patterns of interpretation in separation and divorce counseling, invited lecture at the workshop “Negotiation and interpretation of and within private life forms,” SFB 804, subproject O “Transcendence and common good in private life forms,” Technical University of Dresden, 21.02.2013.

Discourses of parenthood in separation and divorce counseling between legal requirements and cultural norms, lecture at the conference “The evidence of the family between science, everyday life and politics in the 20th century. Empirical and epistemological findings in comparative perspective,” University of Münster, 31.01-02.02.2013.

Constructions of ‘intact’ parenthood in separation and divorce counseling. A sociology-of-knowledge discourse analysis, poster presentation at the research workshop “Evaluation strategies and interpretation of qualitative data in gender and sociology of work research”, Leipzig University, 20-21.07.2012.

High-conflict parenthood, invited lecture, Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, Munich University of Applied Sciences, 20.04.2009.

German Sociological Association, sections

• Qualitative Methods of Empirical Social Research

• Sociology of Knowledge

• Women’s and Gender Studies

• Family Sociology

Board member of Women’s Academy Munich e.V. https://frauenakademie.de/

Board member of Anthropoi Selbsthilfe https://anthropoi-selbsthilfe.de/

Reviewer for national and international academic journals