Karin Barber

Professor Karin Barber is an Africanist anthropologist at the London School of Economics (LSE), specializing in Yoruba culture, popular culture, and print culture. She holds a PhD from Obafẹmi Awolọwọ University, Nigeria, and has conducted extensive fieldwork in West Africa. Her research bridges textual analysis, oral performance, and historical studies, emphasizing socio-historical contexts of cultural forms. She has taught at the University of Ibadan and the University of Birmingham for over 30 years.

Education: Undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at Cambridge University and UCL, PhD at the University of Ifẹ (Nigeria). Research focuses include Yoruba praise poetry, popular theatre, and early 20th-century Yoruba print culture. Her books include Print Culture and the First Yoruba Novel (2012) and A History of African Popular Culture (2018).

Key contributions: Editor of the journal Africa (2006–2014), founder of its 'local intellectuals' section to highlight non-academic African thinkers. Elected Fellow of the British Academy (2003), former Vice-President (2008–2010), and current member of the Publications Committee.

Advising & Grants: No specific advisees listed, but has shaped generations of anthropologists through teaching and mentorship. Research grants supported her archival work on Yoruba print culture and comparative African studies.

Labs/Teams: Active within LSE’s Department of Anthropology and collaborates with global networks in African Studies.