The Cycle of Life in Male Ritual Practices as Expression of Subversion and Identity in Ra’faat Al Dewiri’s, Wiladah Mota’sira, (Obstructed Labour) (1985) | ||
| TANWĪR: A Journal of Arts & Humanities | ||
| Volume 2, Issue 3, November 2025, Pages 4-25 PDF (473.17 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/tanwir.2025.464392 | ||
| Author | ||
| Kholoud Mansour | ||
| Faculty of Languages, MSA University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Rituals often refer to a set of practices governing a social group. It is the manifestation of the culture, norms, and beliefs that people rely on to embark on life, navigate adversities, and assert identity. Though it is a universal concept, the embodiment of rituals is shaped by the local symbols, nature, and function of each ritualistic practice. This study highlights how the rituals of the cycle of life are used to deal with the process of creative writing, reflecting birth, maturation, death, and a possible rebirth. I argue that Dewiri’s subversion of rituals pertaining to the cycle of life reflects the writing process, the birth of an idea, its maturation and the possible death when it fails to materialize when the writer is suffering from writer’s block. The argument is that rituals are attributed to the expression of power and social position within a given social construct; therefore, they function as a statement of the writer’s ability to create. Applying rituals, the article employs Arnold Van Gennep’s The Rites of Passage (1960) to provide the framework in order to investigate the aforementioned argument as portrayed in Ra’faat Al Dewiri’s, Wiladah Mota’sira, (Obstructed Labour) (1985). The choice of Dewiri is significant as he is a contemporary Egyptian writer whose works reflect the changing political, social, and intellectual environment in the mid-sixties. The significance of approaching male ritual performances is to explore rituals beyond festivities and social interaction, examining the way they reflect on both the intrapersonal and the interpersonal realm. Rituals are deployed in the play as a weapon to criticize unquestioned principles and modes of thinking through the writing process. The rituals of life-to-death and the rite of passage are the preparatory stages, offering the knowledge needed to complete the cycle of creation. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Rituals; performance; Maturity; Creative Writing; Birth; Rites | ||
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