A white writer's ethical uncertainties: writing African Australians, self and whiteness : a novella, 'Fragile skins', with accompanying exegesis

Submitted in (partial) fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts, Department of English, 2012."January 2012".Bibliography: pages 256-280.Exegesis: Introduction: writing other, writing self -- ch. 1: Phantoms in Australian literature -- ch. 2: White representations of African Australians -- ch. 3: Shift to self: interrogating whiteness -- Novella: Fragile skins."This creative writing thesis reflects the journey of a white Australian writer grappling with the ethical uncertainties of writing about African Australians and of placing the (white) self into the racial problem. The exegesis moves its way progressively from asking questions about the 'other' to interrogating the 'self' as this white writer tries to establish a writing position which paves the way towards writing an ethically nuanced and racially balanced novella concerning the intercultural relations between white Australian and black African Australian characters... The novella, 'Fragile skins', then follows, implicitly reflecting the ethical uncertainties explored in this exegesis as it teases out racial issues and intercultural relations at a visceral and affective level." -- abstract.Mode of access: World Wide Web.1 online resource (vi, 280 pages

Interrogating whiteness : a precarious cross-cultural/racial creative writing PhD journey

This article explores my coming-to-consciousness and dismantling of whiteness – of white privilege and power – in my self and in my writing during my Creative Writing PhD candidature. Throughout the course of my PhD, I embarked on a cross-cultural/racial project, which involved myself, as a white writer, grappling with the ethical uncertainties of writing about African Australians and of placing the (white) self into the racial problem. Initially, my enquiry began by exploring ways in which I might convey an accurate and dynamic picture of African Australians in my creative work; however, as I progressed in my candidature, and as I tried to find an ethical balance for representing the intercultural/racial encounters between my black African and white Australian characters, questions about the “other” turned to an interrogation of the “self”. Had I been reflecting, albeit unconsciously, my ingrained whiteness in my PhD novella? And how might I fracture whiteness in my writing (and in my self) in an attempt to establish a writing position that interrupts my unconscious acts of narrativising whiteness?20 page(s