- Vox-Pol Next Gen Network, Swansea University (June 2024)
Promoting violence through metapolitical discourses of ‘churchianity’ in Christian nationalist blog posts - American Association for Applied Linguistics, Houston, Texas (March 2024)
The (re)framing of sexual violence against women in extremist online discourses (“Soft” hate speech colloquium) - European Society of Criminology Working Group on Radicalisation, Extremism, and Terrorism, University of Portsmouth Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime (February 2024)
“Rape seems to be a property crime now”: Examining representations of sexual violence against women in misogynistic discourses of the extreme right-wing - Bristol Centre for Linguistics Autumn Seminar Series 2023, University of the West of England (December 2023)
Analysing ideological stance through social actor representations in extremists' discourses of sexual violence - British Society of Criminology Victims Network & Women, Crime & Justice Network: Perpetrators of Violence Against Women Conference City, University of London (October 2022)
The "real" perpetrators of rape: How sexual violence against women is (re)framed in right-wing extremists' blog posts - Lexis (Podcast), (November 2022)
The language of misogyny in online communities (Episode 32)
Dr Kate Barber
Lecturer in Criminal Law
Areas of interest
Kate has research interests in:
- Legal, linguistic and sociocultural issues regarding sexual offences and violence against women
- Hate speech and digital abuse
- Forensic linguistics
- Radicalisation and extremism
Teaching
Kate teaches on the following modules:
- Criminal Law
- English Legal System and Skills
- Young People, Crime and Justice
- Women, Crime and Justice
Research centres and groups
Background
Kate joined the University of Reading in 2024 after completing her ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cardiff University. Her postdoctoral research project, Narrativised Hate: Investigating and mitigating the potential harm of online narratives of sexual violence at the intersection of white and male supremacy, examined the use of narratives of sexual violence posted online by extremist groups and the evidential strategies used for persuasion and manipulation. Her ESRC-funded PhD (Cardiff University) integrated criminological and linguistic analyses of online representations of rape and sexual assault and included research related to legal cynicism, hate speech, radicalisation and inoculation narratives. She has taught in both further and higher education institutions since 1999 on language and law courses including Criminal Law, Tort Law, Legal Foundations, Legal English and English for Academic Purposes.
Professional bodies/affiliations
- Fellow of AdvanceHE (FHEA)
- Member of the British Society of Criminology
- Member of the International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguistics
- Member of the British Association for Applied Linguistics
Selected publications
- Barber, K. & Powell, E. (forthcoming, 2025). Biblical Themes in Right-Wing Extremists’ Discourses. In: Greenough, C., Kebaneilwe, M.D., Jodamus, J. & Steibert, J. (Eds). The Bible and Violence. London: Bloomsbury
- Barber, K. (2022). (Re)framing rape: A sociocognitive discourse analysis of sexual violence at the intersection of white and male supremacy. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University
- Barber, K. (2021). From the Outside Looking in: The Risks and Challenges of Analysing Extremist Discourses on Far right and Manosphere Websites. In: Cunningham, C. & Hall, C.J. (Eds). Vulnerabilities, Challenges and Risks in Applied Linguistics. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. pp. 131-146