As a white male, am I able to tell a story from the perspective of an Asian female?

My debut novel, "The Glorious Face of Sorrow" is set in late-1990’s Sydney at a time when the Australian community was struggling with its level of Asian immigration. Dog-whistle politics was on the rise. So were racial attacks. The movie, "Romper Stomper" – which featured gang wars between neo-Nazis and Vietnamese immigrants – had been popular in Australian cinemas only five or so years earlier and was, now, available on VHS.

The central story of "Glorious Face" is about an inter-racial romance between an Asian girl and a white boy. Jing Zhao and Hugh Macauley. The young couple is missing and we don’t find out whether they are okay until the final pages.

The characters and the events in the story are strictly fictitious. I worked hard to make it thus by carefully separating my own direct experience from that of the characters.

The fact remains, however, that I was dating my future wife in the 1990’s, a remarkable woman of Chinese descent.

Again, the story is a work of fiction, but its themes are inspired by our lived experience.

One of those themes is the racism I observed, both casual and overt. I was careful to ensure that my novel was not overwhelmed by page upon page of racially motivated words and actions. For most of the story, I simply inserted periodic reminders of the racially-charged environment in which Jing and Hugh moved as their burgeoning romance blossomed. But race, it cannot be denied, plays an important part in the narrative.

Which brings me to the point of this blog post.

There are three main characters in my story. I’ve already mentioned Jing Zhao and Hugh Macauley. The other is Jack Spalding, a jaded lawyer who hates his life but is saddled with the task of solving the mystery of what happened to the young couple.

Jack, Hugh and Jing take turns in narrating their part of the story in the first person.

When I started writing "The Glorious Face of Sorrow" in the late 1990’s, I was a young white man, so I doubt any reader would object to me writing his part of the story.

By the time my novel was finally published in 2022, I had become a middle-aged white man, much like Jack Spalding. So, again, no problem in me putting words in Jack’s mouth and anticipating how he would act or feel in any given set of circumstances.

But what about Jing?

As a (now) middle-aged white man, am I allowed to step into the shoes of a young Asian woman to tell her part of this story in the first person?

Is that cultural misappropriation?

Look, I strongly believe in diversity and inclusion. Even if I was not married to an Asian woman, I’d hope I would hold that value simply because it’s wrong not to.

I also agree that only some people get to tell certain stories. If there is a compelling story to be told about an Islamic woman growing up in the UK, it’s better that an Islamic woman living in the UK tells that story.

So, I am nervous about writing part of my novel, in the first person, from Jing’s perspective.

I make three points, however, in my own defence.

Firstly, if we are to confront racism in Australia, it takes white men, like me, to call it out when they see it. That was part of my motivation for writing this story. I saw how my wife was treated, so I wrote a fictional story which held a mirror up to my community’s prejudices.

Secondly, we are often urged to see things from somebody else’s perspective. That is, literally, what I have done. For part of this story – approximately one-third of it – I stepped into Jing’s shoes and did my best to tell the story from her viewpoint.

Finally, it’s all about authenticity, isn’t it? Has the storyteller drawn on their own experience to tell an authentic story?

Ultimately, "The Glorious Face of Sorrow" explores what it was like to be in a mixed-race relationship in 1990’s Sydney. I know what that was like from my own experience and, for what it’s worth, from viewing that experience through my wife’s eyes.

I hope I have done the story justice.

Archie

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