Karin Barber

Dame Karin Barber
Born
Karin Judith Barber

(1949-07-02) 2 July 1949 (age 75)
NationalityBritish
SpousePaulo Fernando de Moraes Farias (partner)
Academic background
EducationLawnswood High School
Alma materGirton College, Cambridge
University College London
University of Ife
Academic work
DisciplineCultural anthropology
Sub-discipline
Institutions

Dame Karin Judith Barber, DBE, FBA (born 2 July 1949) is a British cultural anthropologist and academic, who specialises in the Yoruba-speaking area of Nigeria. From 1999 to 2017, she was Professor of African Cultural Anthropology at the University of Birmingham. Before joining the Centre of West African Studies of the University of Birmingham, she was a lecturer at the University of Ife in Nigeria. Since 2018, she has been Centennial Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics.

Barber has written two introductory textbooks for the Yoruba language, and a number of books concerning Yoruba culture, and oral literature and written literature in Africa. She has been awarded a number of prizes for her publications, and has been recognised by her peers and the British government for her contributions to scholarship.