Papers by Melissa Razuki
This bricolage of writings is the result of a middle-class, middle-aged white privileged woman wh... more This bricolage of writings is the result of a middle-class, middle-aged white privileged woman who jettisoned (most of) her motherly and housewifely duties to explore her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. I call it my passion PhD as I mea
The use of social media by young women users has attracted much discussion and debate, especially... more The use of social media by young women users has attracted much discussion and debate, especially around notions of empowerment and exploitation (boyd (2014); Clark (2013)). And yet, in this conflation, some gaps remain: young
women with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). Characterised as
a male condition, much of the work around Asperger’s has perpetuated stereotypes around socialisation and gender. This thesis explores the intersection between young women with Asperger’s and their use of social media, and argues that the online provides a more comfortable mode for communication and being social. Grounded in the emerging online ‘Aspie’ culture, with particular focus on blogs and vlogs on YouTube, this thesis strives to regconise the issues that matter to young Asperger’s women. Through discourse analysis of online content generated by some key Aspie females, Socialising Media not only seeks to investigate what types community, performativity (and empowerment if at all) social media provides for young AS women. This thesis asks: how does the online facilitate representations, debates and discourse for the often invisible group of young women with Asperger’s Syndrome?
Thesis Chapters by Melissa Razuki
A White Woman Stories to Decolonise (Herself), 2019
ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her socia... more ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'The White Woman' is 1 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
A White Woman Stories to Decolonise (Herself), 2019
ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her socia... more ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'Seeping Oozing Blooming' is 5 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
A White Woman Stories to Decolonise (Herself), 2019
ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her socia... more ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'Im Not Racist, But...' is 4 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
A White Woman Stories to Decolonise (Herself), 2019
ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her socia... more ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'My Conscience is a Many Feathered Thing' is 3 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
A White Woman Stories to Decolonise (Herself), 2019
ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her socia... more ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'Skin in the Game' is 2 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
A White Woman Stories to Decolonise (Herself)', 2019
ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her socia... more ABSTRACT
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'The White Woman' is 1 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
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Papers by Melissa Razuki
women with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). Characterised as
a male condition, much of the work around Asperger’s has perpetuated stereotypes around socialisation and gender. This thesis explores the intersection between young women with Asperger’s and their use of social media, and argues that the online provides a more comfortable mode for communication and being social. Grounded in the emerging online ‘Aspie’ culture, with particular focus on blogs and vlogs on YouTube, this thesis strives to regconise the issues that matter to young Asperger’s women. Through discourse analysis of online content generated by some key Aspie females, Socialising Media not only seeks to investigate what types community, performativity (and empowerment if at all) social media provides for young AS women. This thesis asks: how does the online facilitate representations, debates and discourse for the often invisible group of young women with Asperger’s Syndrome?
Thesis Chapters by Melissa Razuki
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'The White Woman' is 1 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'Seeping Oozing Blooming' is 5 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'Im Not Racist, But...' is 4 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'My Conscience is a Many Feathered Thing' is 3 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'Skin in the Game' is 2 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'The White Woman' is 1 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
women with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). Characterised as
a male condition, much of the work around Asperger’s has perpetuated stereotypes around socialisation and gender. This thesis explores the intersection between young women with Asperger’s and their use of social media, and argues that the online provides a more comfortable mode for communication and being social. Grounded in the emerging online ‘Aspie’ culture, with particular focus on blogs and vlogs on YouTube, this thesis strives to regconise the issues that matter to young Asperger’s women. Through discourse analysis of online content generated by some key Aspie females, Socialising Media not only seeks to investigate what types community, performativity (and empowerment if at all) social media provides for young AS women. This thesis asks: how does the online facilitate representations, debates and discourse for the often invisible group of young women with Asperger’s Syndrome?
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'The White Woman' is 1 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'Seeping Oozing Blooming' is 5 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'Im Not Racist, But...' is 4 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'My Conscience is a Many Feathered Thing' is 3 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'Skin in the Game' is 2 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.
This bricolage of writings is the result of a white privileged woman exploring her social conscience in a scholarly but creative way. It is a meander through the cultural abyss between black and white Australia, trying to see what I had never been shown, and unsee what I had been shown. I wonder how can I be complicit and complacent in a society that privileges me over others because of the colour of my skin?
I combine a creative practice of storytelling to question the status quo that is the dominant culture, the mercurial methodology of poetics, and the autoethnographic eye that guides a reflexive process of personal decolonisation. I bring to the research a burgeoning awareness of colonised minds, bodies, spirits and lenses and am confident my fresh eyes, curiosity and commitment to unlearn, unsee and unsettle can be deftly deployed to challenge and disrupt the prejudices and perceptions of my fellow white Australians.
This is not a problem-solving piece of research, although I am exploring the nature of a problem. The problem – which is often erroneously cast as the ‘Aboriginal Problem’ when it is a Whiteness Problem – is the core of my research. But I am not focusing just on First Nations peoples and their legacy of colonisation; rather, I examine our shared legacy, turning the gaze back on white Australia, holding up a mirror, to ask with all sincerity: Who is the problem? Where is the problem? What have we done? Why weren’t we told? Did you really just say that?
'The White Woman' is 1 of 6 chapbooks that comprise my creative practice creative writing PhD.