Deconstructing White Masculine Privilege: Racism, Cultural Diversity and Creative Writing

This paper explores a ‘reflective’ creative writing process that underpinned the writing of “Preston Girl”, a work of short fiction. “Preston Girl” tells the story of a young couple who struggle to overcome the challenges of racial and cultural difference in their relationship. These factors influence the decisions both characters make about their careers, the directions of their lives and the nature of their relationship as it progresses over time. The narrator of the story is a young, ex-Christian guy born in Melbourne who is a talented cartoonist working in a supermarket and studying part time. He meets and falls in love with a young Muslim woman from Pakistan. She is whip-smart, funny and completing a higher research degree while she struggles to find work and experiences overt forms of racism and discrimination in her day-to-day life. The story is not autobiographical, is narrated in the first person, and uses humour to prevent a sentimental and romanticized depiction of their relationship. In this paper I provide a critical reflection on the writing of this story and how theories relating to race and cultural diversity informed and inspired the creative work and were combined with the craft and techniques of fiction writing. Both the short story and the critical reflection on the writing process aim to explore and deconstruct the notion of white masculine privilege in relation to racism and cultural diversity. The short story is not included with this essay as it is in the final stages of drafting for submission to Australian creative writing journals. However, this paper provides the necessary summary information about the story relating to plot points, themes and character developments as part of its analysis of the reflective creative writing process. The purpose of this paper is to provide a research and writing model for students, researchers, teachers and writers interested in creating anti-racist stories and narratives in a range of media