Avoiding Vocal Blackface: Combating Identity-Ignorant Practices of Stereotyping Voices for Entertainment

ABSTRACT

This article examines how to combat identity-ignorant practices of stereotyping voices for entertainment and functions as a manifesto for practical change in voice training and practice. Accent and dialect coaches are tasked with the unique challenge of helping actors of one cultural identity speak with the vocal patterns of a character from another cultural identity. Without appropriate research, this task can quickly become one of cultural appropriation rather than one of cultural appreciation. Worse, dialect coaches may run the risk of committing vocal blackface: the stereotyping of cultural voices for entertainment. By investigating the roots of identity-ignorant approaches to voice and speech work, coaches may uncover deeply rooted white supremacy at the core in aspects of the voice field. After exploring these ideas, the author offers strategies for developing cultural competence in accent and dialect coaching.

KEYWORDS:

• stereotype
• inclusive practices
• vocal blackface
• identity
• voice
• acting
• entertainment

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. See the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

2. For a literature review on “standard” accents and a discussion on this history of accent training, see (Tonning-Kollwitz and Hetterly 2018; Tonning-Kollwitz, Hetterly, and Kress 2021; Sansom 2016).

3. For a discussion of implicit biases, see “Project Implicit” sponsored by Harvard University. See https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

4. For more information on the negative effects of colorblindness, see “Colorblind in Control” by Katherine Tarca (2005), “When the World is Colorblind, American Indians are invisible” by Fryberg and Stephens (2010), and “You Deplete Me: The Cognitive Costs of Colorblindness on Ethnic Minorities” by Son Holoien and Shelton (2012).

5. For a discussion and overview of Knight-Thompson Speechwork, see (Thompson, Caban, and Singer 2017).

6. To find some of the qualified dialect coaches of the global majority currently working in the field, see: https://www.globalmajoritydialectcoaches.com/the-coaches

7. A version of this article was originally presented as a concept at the 2013 VASTA Annual Conference in Minneapolis, MN. This article reinvestigates the concept of vocal blackface while providing strategies for combating it in the future.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adriano Cabral

Adriano Cabral is a voice and dialect coach, actor, director, and intimacy director/coordinator. They are the coauthor of Here’s How to Teach Voice and Communication Skills to Transgender Women, a manualized approach to providing gender-affirming speech services. Adi is a certified teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork and Fitzmaurice Voicework, a certified Master Reiki Healer and Teacher, a cohort member of Intimacy Coordinators of Color, and a 200hr Yoga Teacher in training. They currently serve as Assistant Professor of Theatre (Voice and Movement) at the University of Nevada, Reno where their research focuses on training methods for the LGBTQIA+ Identified actor.