160 RüdigerKunow
andbiotechnologiesarefastproducingnewepistemologiesoflifeandin
their wake also new norms, the frontiers of normative human life have
been once again pushed forward by scrutinizing hitherto unknown or
inaccessiblepocketsofhumanlifeforpossible(non-)normativities.
The validity of medical normativities cannot be adjudicated by the
methods of cultural critique.^5 What such critique can, however,
determine with reasonable accuracy is their presence in the social and
cultural manifold: the norms that are right now circulating in U.S.-
American culture (but also elsewhere) range from popular benchmark
standards like the body mass index (BMI)^6 all the way to large-scale
eugenic projects to eliminate less-than-perfect bodies and beings by
prenatal testing.^7 Together, these idea(l)s have been setting up patterns
of "normalization" (of which Foucault is speaking inDiscipline and
Punish)^8 or what I call here clusters of biological normativity. I have
chosen the term "clusters" less for its referential accuracy than for its
connotative suggestions: clusters almost intuitively invoke notions of
swarms or bundles forming an aggregate in which objects or people
might get entangled or entangle themselves (like in a fisherman's net or
a cobweb). How individuals or collectivities are inserted into such an
interlaced structure determines in no small degree how they experience
their own lives and those of others. In this sense, norms—and this
emphatically includes biology-related normativities—have become the
(^5) Revisionist work such as Joseph Dumit's on "Prescription Maximization" and
Stephen Epstein's onInclusionsuggest that the link between norms and healing
inmedicineismoretenuousthanmostpeoplewouldexpect.
(^6) AsEricCazdynandJosephDumithaveshown,guidelinesforwhatconstitutes
a health risk (e.g., blood pressure or cholesterol levels) are inherently flexible
and their definition is often guided more by the health industry's profit interests
than by a genuine interest in improving the health of people (Cazdyn 20-22;
Dumit47-49).
(^7) For an assessment of the dynamics of the current situation in this field cf.
Matcher, Emily. "The Rise of DIY Genetic Testing." Smithsonian.com.
SmithsonianInstitution,13Oct.2015.Web.20Oct.2016.
(^8) Foucault says: "In a sense, the power of normalization imposes homogeneity;
butitindividualizesbymakingitpossibleto measuregaps,to determinelevels,
to fix specialties and to render the differences useful by fitting them one to
another"(DisciplineandPunish184).