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GENDER AS RITUAL AND ‘POETIC RITUALITY’ IN CONTEMPORARY ‘BIOSCIENCE DRAMA’ ——~<~o»—___ BIRTE GIESLER The following article explores the relationship between social and aesthetic drama in regard to the interaction of gendered bodies, rituals, and “poetic rituality” in contemporary plays addressing topical issues of human biotechnology development such as fertility medicine and human cloning. After an introduction to the newly coined term “bioscience drama” and a selection of relevant dramas, Saskia Fischer’s concept of “poetic rituality” will be applied to a sample German-language “bioscience drama.” In doing so, not only will the strong connection between ritual, drama, and social norms become apparent, but also this new dramatic subgenre will turn out to be an aesthetic vehicle of a multi-layered critique of ritualized gender norms. GENDER AS RITUALIZED SOCIAL DRAMA From the perspective of a praxeological theory of culture, both sex and gender identity are hardly a manifestation of biologically determined essence but rather embodied cultural knowledge materialized in the body. As Andreas Reckwitz points out in his theory of social practices, it is in the bodily techniques of “gender management” that gender identity is produced.’ However, according to the influential gender theorist Judith Butler: “the materiality of sex is constructed through a ritualized repetition of norms.”* Gender identity can not only be perceived as a physical embodiment of cultural routines and everyday practices but also as a product of constant and ritualized performance. Gender identity can thus also be considered a prime example of our ongoing “doing culture” and both the theatricality as well as the rituality of everyday culture. However, although hitherto there has been no coherent theory of ritual and rituality, current research in studies on drama, ritual, and performance agree Andreas Reckwitz: Kreativität und soziale Praxis. Studien zur Sozial- und Gesellschaftstheorie, Bielefeld, transcript Verlag, 2016, 70. ? Judith Butler: Bodies That Matter. On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”, London, Routledge, 1993, X. + 177 +
