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Emma Makepeace

Abstract

While some African women have access to education and avenues for writing and publishing their creative work, there remains a gap in accessibility for young African women from aid-supported communities to write and share stories of importance to them. In contrast to their own silencing, these young women are often written about by the aid organizations supporting their communities for fund or awareness raising purposes. The way in which young women from aid-supported communities are written about can present issues of representation, as often the author is from another culture and a position of privilege. Co-producing consciousness-raising fiction with young women from aid-supported communities offers another approach to representing their stories and has the benefit of sharing knowledge, skills and networks. Through this activity, young women from aid-supported communities can gain access to further education, develop networks for submitting and publishing their creative work, and find their own voice. Furthermore, writing with rather than writing about these young women allows authors working with aid-supported communities to co-produce stories of both cultural and global relevance.

Author Biography

Emma Makepeace is a Brisbane-based writer who is completing a PhD in creative writing at Queensland University of Technology. Her PhD investigates a creative method for co-producing consciousness-raising fiction with young women from aid supported communities, specifically within the Malawian context.

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