Voices: Yes, I’m an academic with an Essex accent. Stop mugging me off
It wasn’t much of a surprise to learn that research by Nottingham Trent and De Montford University has concluded that accent bias is still very much alive and well at the Bar.
Regional accent bias is a type of prejudice that is inflected by class, gender, and ethnicity. Jimmy Carr once joked that when talking to someone from the “regions” that he didn’t have a regional accent on account of his RP accent. Even though this was a joke, it reminds us how the presumed neutrality of RP casts “other” accents as culturally, intellectually and ethnically inferior.
An excellent example of a regional character in recent years is Gemma Collins, whose accent and appearance have marked her out as the archetypical “Essex Girl”; a slur that she successfully campaigned for the Oxford Dictionary to remove in 2020.
Similarly, Dagenham-born singer Stacey Solomon has spoken openly about feeling “dumb and stupid” as a result of her Estuary accent; a feeling that is coupled with anxiety and mental health issues.
Although I am aware of my privilege as an upwardly mobile white male from the east of England, I am rarely received in such culturally neutral tones suggestive of Jimmy Carr. In 2000, I went to a regional research-led University to study Sociology as a mature student. While I was welcomed wholeheartedly by staff due to my overly keen academic interest, I still encountered a reaction against my accent that cast suspicion on my integrity.
You see, I don’t sound anything like you’d imagine from the way I write. I have a loud, often nasal Essex accent; think Russell Brand meets David Beckham in Lakeside, and you’re in the right car park. It’s not the type of accent that you’d expect to hear discussing Michel Foucault amongst eminent sociologists.
It was likely due to this that I was regularly investigated for plagiarism and collusion, because my voice in writing is very much different to how I sound in real life – a discrepancy which seemed oxymoronic (bordering on impossible) to academics.
At the time I thought it was quite funny, as it was coupled with a reaction to me shaving my head as part of my PhD field research, which suggested that I was a thug; there was even a rumour going around the university that my former partner wrote my assignments for me. It took an MSc and a PhD to not just convince others, but also myself, that I belonged in such a stable middle-class institutional environment.
I have had a successful career in academia so far, I am currently the head of department for business, entrepreneurship, and finance at the Royal Docks School of Business & Law, University of East London. Despite being qualified to PhD level and having other professional qualifications and accreditations, I still feel the imposter syndrome sensation when I’m around traditional RP accents – almost as if I’m an ITV4 celebrity appearing on Newsnight.
Regardless of knowing my stuff, my accent – dropping Ts and missing Hs – is hardwired into my character, and often becomes an obstacle for others in a professional context. As I’m self-conscious of my accent, its reception, and the rigmarole I have to go through when I’m explaining something else to others, I am sensitive to deeper forms of prejudice that lead to discrimination such as race, age and orientation. It is through my self-awareness that I see myself as an ally to a variety of “non-traditional” English cultures and identities, despite being a white man.
As a white man, there isn’t really much you can do in the way of activism around your language – I think the world probably does have bigger fish to fry! However, I have made it my professional aim to create an academic environment at UEL wherein everyone can belong, feel included, and be valued as individuals without having to explain their presence in a “middle-class” educational institution.
It is personally rewarding to see our students – many of whom are described by potential employers as “urban” (I’ll let you read between the lines) – succeed in gaining high-status professional employment. Ironically, I have been able to turn my presumed inferiority to provide opportunities for people with non-RP accents through leading one of the largest accounting and business management provisions in the region.
With changes in the educational landscape, we are seeing more non-traditional students succeed at Universities like ours at UEL. Our hope is that when these graduates from Newham, Thurrock, Basildon and Romford graduate, they will help change the world by showing that professionalism and talent live inside everyone.
Our accents are how we engage with the world; they don’t signify our contribution to society, or our inferiority.
Dr Richard A Courtney SFHEA, is head of department for Business, Entrepreneurship, and Finance at the Royal Docks School of Business & Law, University of East London
