Or is this a bit inappropriate?

[Mycatishere]

I was listening to an audiobook today, and I’ve already read the book - wanted something easy to listen to while I got on with other stuff.

So in the book, one of the characters is called Maggie and is half sister to a character named Bonnie. Bonnie is white British and is narrated with a slightly cockney accent (she’s Scottish in the book but anyway …) and she and Maggie have different fathers. But there’s no mention in the book, no hint, of Maggie having grown up anywhere other than uk.

Yet Maggie is narrated with a Jamaican accent am I alone in thinking that’s a bit off, really?

I don’t want to sound humourless @dapsnotplimsolls but I really think 😂 and the like on a thread about racism - which I do think it is - are really not on. Sorry.

@Mycatishere A mixed race character would have to have a slightly different accent in an audio book, or there'd be no way of knowing they weren't white British, would there? Unless it was frequently mentioned in the story.

I find Black British people do tend to have a very slightly different accent to White British. But maybe not full on Jamaican.

You're not listening. The Claire from steps thing is from another thread. Someone posted about their friend suddenly putting on a french accent and calling Paris home but the woman has never even been to France. Apparently, she also spent time claiming to be Claire from steps.

So the joke is the fake accent person also pretending to be Claire from steps. Because we've got 2 threads about fake accents for no reason

I was responding to the pp's post because it literally made me laugh out loud. Stop being so precious.

We don't know who the narrator is, so it could actually be the other way round and they are putting on the Cockney accent.

What is a WB person? Sorry, but I haven't come across that acronym before and I've looked but Google isn't helping.

Do I feel uncomfortable with a white actor/voice over artist putting on a Jamaican accent (unless playing a white Jamaican)? - Yes.

Do I feel uncomfortable with a black or mixed character being given a random Jamaican accent? Also yes.

Will 100s people disagree with me? Probably, but I don't care, it doesn't sit well with me.

I have no desire to be precious at all, @dapsnotplimsolls or humourless or uptight. I suppose I just think not really the time or place. It’s a pretty serious subject and it’s an example of some insidious and most unpleasant racism. Not really the place for falling about laughing IMVHO.

@yesthatisdrizzle - white British.

Her general narration is fairly RP; I’d bet my house on her not having a Jamaican accent that only one, very minor character in the whole story is given who also just so happens to be a mixed race woman. Funny, that.

I'm possibly being naive, but when something is this important and could be perceived as blatantly racist, wouldn't the author, narrator and publisher be incredibly careful about something so sensitive as the accent of a mixed race character? It would be terrible publicity to get it so wrong. Is it such a stretch for Maggie to have this particular accent, that racism/ignorance is the go-to assumption?

I'm not being argumentative, just pondering.

On the other hand, if the book is self-published then it may not have been through quite such rigorous legal and ethical processes prior to release as your average best seller...

Then have a pop at the poster who posted the comment you object to. I was trying to explain the context.

What the hell?

Putting on a different voice for a character in an audio book isn't to identify someone as non white - it's to denote that they are a different person.

What a bizarre thing to say.

OP I'm sorry you have so many strange and obtuse responses to your query. YES, IT'S RACIST TO GIVE A MIXED RACE CHARACTER A JAMAICAN ACCENT. No, it's not just you thinking it's weird.

What a load of nonsense OP!

This is the takeaway I had. It's not that one or the other is wrong; they're both wrong.

It matters not that thousands of audiobooks have been read that way for years, it's icky at best. It might shock some of you to know that tonnes of "Black" cartoon characters were actually played by white people which is absolutely gross. It's pretty much cultural appropriation.

Sorry @GillyGumbo i do think that’s a bit naive, yes.

the book was published 2013 (not self published but not highbrow literature either, however pretty popular.) Look how many people here find it funny / say I am BU. Most people who listen to the audiobook won’t even notice I imagine. Minor character after all. But still on some level there it is. Mixed race = foreign.

Op, I meant no disrespect by making a joke about another thread.

I didnt comment on the perceived racism because I wasn't sure how to...Given that in the book the character is mixed race, maybe the voice actor was trying to honour the race of that character by choosing an accent which many people (rightly or wrongly) associate with people of colour. It could be a genuine attempt at representation. If the book contains only thr one reference to the characters race, then I can see how they might struggle to represent this audibly. And perhaps they chose a Jamaican accent because that's the only accent they can do. Who knows.

All forms of racism are wrong, as is lazy stereotyping. If you feel this strongly about the choice made, I think you'd be better served contacting the production team and asking about it, which would at least give them the chance to rectify it if it's a misguided attempt at representation in order to avoid accusations of white-washing.

It's not right and makes no sense for two women brought up together to have different accents. But anything has to be better than Stephen Briggs' Welsh, Welsh, RP, Welsh or Welsh character voices, such a range that man has 🙄

I also think if you're going to rightly call out an audio book for racism that I'd like to know what book it is.

better served again I have no wish to be argumentative or difficult here but I’m not comfortable with that.

Racism can be spoken about on MN. I shouldn’t have to keep quiet about it because of silly jokes people make at the expense of those who suffer racism.

In Hamilton they use a diverse group of actors from various ethnic backgrounds and that really demonstrated that the story can be told beautifully without matching the colour skin and accent of the original historic character. I just think you had voices in your head and it didn’t match those.

No, the voice in my head of a British woman wasn’t a Jamaican voice. Why would it be? Because she’s mixed race? And there is a word for that: that word is racist.

That's OK @Mycatishere I'll accept that! I'm a bit inclined to assume the safest and most sanitary explanation is the most likely one because I believe that the vast majority of people are inherently "good" and don't set out to be arseholes. Even racist, sexist, misogynist or anti-semetic arseholes.

Unfortunately my deeply innocent theory gets shafted every day. But I still try.

I'm not suggesting you do keep quiet about it or that it shouldn't be spoken about. Just that it's more effective to complain directly. Anything that is othering of a race is wrong, a point you've made well.

What is the book?

@GillyGumbo it is unconscious and that’s what makes it so dangerous. Probably the narrator and author are ‘good.’ But they still can’t fully accept a mixed race woman is British.

It’s a Cathy Glass book @Basilbrushgotfat . As I said, not high literature!

After reading the crazy responses I now wish I'd made a more serious reply. I'm mixed race, born here, parents born here, the only accent we talk in is a British one... This shouldn't be surprising anymore. It feels horrible when you meet someone after only speaking on the phone and you can tell, or they tell you, they are shocked you're not white. Why would people keep an accent over generations? How would people inherit an accent through DNA? Have a think.

YABU - author will have approved this. There's nothing in the book to suggest the character ISNT Jamaican heritage either is there?