Dr. Catherine Barbour
Assistant Professor, Hispanic Studies
Biography
Dr Catherine Barbour is currently Head of the Department of Hispanic Studies and Director of Global Engagement for the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, having joined Trinity as Assistant Professor in Hispanic Studies in January 2022. She was previously Lecturer in Spanish at the University of Surrey and Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of London, and also held positions at Queen's University Belfast and the University of St Andrews, where she was awarded her PhD in 2016.
Catherine specialises in intersectional approaches to gender in contemporary Iberian literature and visual culture, with a focus in Galician studies. She also has keen interests in comparative cultural studies and multilingual education. Her publications include the monograph Contemporary Galician Women Writers (Legenda, 2020) and the edited volume Women's Historical Fiction Across the Globe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). Her article on Galician diaspora film forthcoming in the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies received an Honourable Mention in the I International Prize for Galician Studies, awarded by the International Association for Galician Studies (AIEG).
Catherine welcomes PhD proposals relating to any of her areas of interest, especially gender, migration, decoloniality and minority cultures.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Streaming Gender: Feminisms in Galician Noir in, editor(s)Andy Byford and Claudia Nitschke , Modern Languages and Cultures: A Handbook, De Gruyter, 2026, [Catherine Barbour]
New Directions in Contemporary Women's Historical Fiction in, editor(s)Catherine Barbour and Karunika Kardak , Women's Historical Fiction Across the Globe, Palgrave Macmillan, Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, pp1 - 18, [Catherine Barbour and Karunika Kardak]
Otros mundos: Translingüismo y feminismo en El expediente Albertina (2016) de Ioana Gruia in, editor(s)Alexandra Santos Pinheiro and Céire Broderick , Decolonialidade e interseccionalidade: Literatura em diálogos múltiplos, Campinas, Brazil, Mercado de Letras, 2025, pp77 - 90, [Catherine Barbour]
Catherine Barbour and Karunika Kardak, Women's Historical Fiction Across the Globe, 1, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, vii - 215pp
A Force for Change: Working Women's Resistance in Galician Historical Fiction in, editor(s)Catherine Barbour and Karunika Kardak , Women's Historical Fiction Across the Globe, Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, pp79 - 101, [Catherine Barbour]
Catherine Barbour, María Reimóndez. A Casa do Amo: Unha análise do discurso colonial e racista na literatura galega. Vigo: Xerais, 2024. 168 pages. ISBN: 978-8411104722, Review of A Casa do Amo: Unha análise do discurso colonial e racista na literatura galega, by María Reimóndez , Huellas: Spanish Journal on Slavery, Colonialism, Resistances and Legacies, 2, 2025, p139-141
Estraga-festas divertidas: O humor como ferramenta de resistencia no audiovisual galego feminista in, editor(s)Saleta de Salvador Agra, Laura Lesta García, Yolanda Martínez Suárez, Marta Pérez Pereiro & , I Congreso Internacional Feminismos e Humor: Humor-Sofías, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Edicións Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 2025, pp15 - 25, [Catherine Barbour]
Catherine Barbour, Poscrise?: Relacións femininas en dúas curtametraxes da `Nova Diáspora Galega', Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 2025
Catherine Barbour, Ainda invisíveis? Narradoras e margens na literatura galega contemporânea, Review of Ainda invisíveis? Narradoras e margens na literatura galega contemporânea, by Lorena López López , Galicia 21: Journal of Contemporary Galician Studies, M, 2024, p115-118
Catherine Barbour, Cocaine Cowboys: Visualizing Aging Masculinities in Galician Narco Noir, Romance Quarterly, 71, (1), 2024, p134 - 145
Luciana Romano Morilas, Marilene Proença Rebello de Souza, Violeta Sun, Luciana Dadico, Rosana Retsos Signorelli Vargas, Suzy Sayuri Sassamoto Kurokawa, Maria Paula Costa Bertran, Catherine Barbour, Unpaid Extra Work and Unfair Division of Home Tasks, Revista Querubim: Revista eletrônica de trabalhos científicos nas áreas de Letras, Ciências Humanas e Ciências Sociais, 12, 2024, p91 - 102
Las lenguas minoritarias atravesando fronteras in, editor(s)Luis García Jambrina , Construyendo nuevos mundos, derribando viejas fronteras. La recepción en Europa de las Letras españolas actuales, Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte; Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 2024, pp1 - 5, [Catherine Barbour]
Land, Art and Activism in Galician Writing by Women: Teresa Moure's A intervención (2010) in, editor(s)Kate Averis, Margaret Littler and Godela Weiss-Sussex , Contested Communities: Small, Minority and Minor Literatures in Europe, Cambridge, Legenda - Modern Humanities Research Association, 2023, pp39 - 50, [Catherine Barbour]
Catherine Barbour, Galician Women Writers: Language, Politics, Identity - Women Writers, Women's Books, 2023, -
Catherine Barbour, 'Gabriela Ybarra - Author Page', Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women's Writing, Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of London, 2023, -
Catherine Barbour, Of Monsters and Women: Feminist Response to Gender-based Violence in Galician Noir, International Journal of Iberian Studies, 35, (3), 2022, p271 - 291
Catherine Barbour, Translingual Empowerment: Exophonic Women's Writing in Catalan and Spanish, Parallax, 28, (1), 2022, p58 - 73
Catherine Barbour and Danny Barreto, Feminisms at Work: The (Re)Production of Gender and Culture in Contemporary Galicia, International Journal of Iberian Studies, 35, (3), 2022, p225 - 232
International Journal of Iberian Studies, 35, 3, (2022), 223 - 339p, Catherine Barbour and Danny Barreto, [eds.]
Catherine Barbour, 'Teresa Moure - Author Page', Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women's Writing, Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of London, 2022, -
Catherine Barbour, Rebecca Ruth Gould and Kayvan Tahmasebian The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism, Review of The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism, by Rebecca Ruth Gould and Kayvan Tahmasebian (eds.) , Journal of Specialised Translation, 36, 2021, p351-355
Catherine Barbour, Contemporary Galician Women Writers, Cambridge, Legenda - Modern Humanities Research Association, 2020, 1 - 146pp
Catherine Barbour and Karina Lickorish Quinn, Los pájaros are feliz and are dreaming about gwiazdy: Facilitating Translingual Creative Writing in the Primary Classroom, English in Education, 54, (1), 2020, p6 - 26
Journal of Romance Studies, 20, 3, (2020), 395 - 549p, María Alonso Alonso, Catherine Barbour and Gustavo San Román, [eds.]
María Alonso Alonso and Catherine Barbour, Galicia on the Move, Journal of Romance Studies, 20, (3), 2020, p395-407
Catherine Barbour and Karina Lickorish Quinn, Making Space for Multilingual Creativity, 2019, -
Catherine Barbour, Staking a Claim: Dispute, Displacement and Galician Identity in Marta Rivera de la Cruz's Hotel Almirante (2002), Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 96, (6), 2019, p993 - 1014
Catherine Barbour, Review of Canon y subversión. La obra narrativa de Rosalía de Castro, by Helena González Fernández and María do Cebreiro Rábade Villar (eds.) , Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 92, (4), 2015, p624-625
Catherine Barbour, Review of Contemporary Galician Cultural Studies: Between the Local and the Global, by Kirsty Hooper and Manuel Puga Moruxa (eds.) , Forum for Modern Language Studies, 49, (3), 2013, p347-348
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Catherine Barbour, Feminismo posthumanista no noir galego: unha ollada crítica ás novelas de Arantza Portabales, XIV Congreso Internacional da Asociación Internacional de Estudos Galegos, Universidade do Minho, Portugal, 17-20 April, 2024
Catherine Barbour, Multidisciplinary Approaches to Galician Migration, Modern Language Association Convention, Philadelphia, USA, 4-7 January, 2024
Catherine Barbour, Masculinidades posthumanas na novela negra galega, Interseccións Poshumanas: Simposio Internacional, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 11 July, 2024
Catherine Barbour, 'Killjoys' divertidas: Humor e vinganza no audiovisual galego feminista, I Congreso Feminismos y Humor: Humor-sofías, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 7-8 May, 2024, Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigacións Feministas e Estudos de Xénero (CIFEX), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Catherine Barbour, Construyendo nuevos mundos, derribando viejas fronteras. La recepción de las letras españolas actuales en Europa, Casona de Verines (Pendueles, Asturias), 13-15 September, 2023, Dirección General del Libro y Fomento de la Lectura, Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte, y la Universidad de Salamanca
Catherine Barbour, 'Post' Crisis? Relationships Between Women in Two Short Fictional Films of the New Galician Diaspora, ECR Keynote Address, Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland, University College Dublin, 17-18 April, 2023
Eire García Cid, 'Manifesto', CRU Producións (Principal Investigator: Catherine Barbour), 2022, -
Catherine Barbour and Amy Louise Morgan, Visualising Women's (Im)mobility: Medieval and Contemporary Representations, Gender and Medieval Studies, 5-7 January, 2022
Catherine Barbour, A (in)mobilidade feminina na cultura audiovisual diaspórica, Narrativas da Nova Diáspora Galega, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, October, 2022, Concello da Cultura Galega
Catherine Barbour, Monsters and Killjoys: Feminist Activism in Galician Audiovisual Culture, Modern Languages Core Disciplinary Research Group Seminar Series, Queen's University Belfast, 2022
Catherine Barbour, Translingual Feminisms in Contemporary Iberian Narrative, Let's Consider Borderlands, Faberllull Olot, 2022
Catherine Barbour, Exophonic Women's Writing in Catalan and Spanish, European Society of Comparative Literature 9th Congress Congre, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy, 5-9 September, 2022
Catherine Barbour, Translingual Emancipation in Contemporary Iberian Narrative by Women, Modern Language Association Convention, Washington DC, USA, 6-9 January, 2021
Catherine Barbour, The Stepmother Tongue: Multilingual Im/Mobilities in Contemporary Iberian Narrative by Women, Entangled Im/Mobilities Conference, University of Vienna, 18-21 March, 2021
Catherine Barbour, Translingual Emancipation and Reconciliation: Women Writing Dislocation in Spanish-Romanian migrant narrative, Locations and Dislocations: Places and Spaces in Contemporary Women"s Writing, International Contemporary Women"s Writing Association Conference, Algoma University, Ontario, Canada, 3-5 July, 2019
Catherine Barbour, Nina Rolland, Silenced and Subjected? Masculine Identities and Ideological Manipulation in Contemporary European Narratives, Corps masculins: représentations littéraires et iconographiques de la nation, Université de Nantes, France, 2018
Research Expertise
Projects
- Title
- Interseccións Poshumanas nas literaturas irlandesa e galega / Posthuman Intersections in Irish and Galician Literatures
- Summary
- The PHIRGAL project is a transnational consortium consists of 15 researchers based in Spain, Ireland and Poland which explores the numerous posthuman configurations and intersections in Irish and Galician literary production since the year 2000 from both transversal and multilingual perspectives. Through comparative analysis of Irish and Galician literary texts, PHIRGAL investigates the synergies between different posthuman typologies, such as those found between humans and non-human animals, the environment and the latest technological discoveries, with the aim of fostering the protection of subaltern subjectivities and equal rights. https://irgal.es/
- Funding Agency
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Government of Spain and European Regional Development Fund
- Date From
- 2023
- Date To
- 2026
- Title
- Creating Community: The Role of Creative Practice in Empowering Donegal Women
- Summary
- This partnership between Trinity College Dublin and Women"s Collective Donegal breaks new ground in its investigation of the role of creative writing and artwork as a means of empowerment in times of 'crisis' for women in Co. Donegal. Workshops were held across the county in June 2023 in locations representing the north, south and west (Buncrana, Donegal Town and Downings respectively), using creative methodologies through which different groups of local women explored the theme of 'crisis'. The sessions concluded with focus groups in which participants evaluated the role of community arts practice in confronting local issues as well as their own creative process. The research examines the participants' creative outputs and evaluations, demonstrating the value of creative writing for rural and border communities from an intersectional feminist perspective. Topical issues explored include the Mica scandal, excess fish-farming, lack of public transport, difficulties with access to healthcare and failures of political representation in the north west. The outputs consist of a public engagement docu-film documenting the workshops and embedded with interviews with participants, practitioners and researchers; a community engagement showcase of the creative work and findings; a film screening and a digital compilation of the women's work. Findings will be published in a white paper recommending best practice in facilitating creative writing for rural women's empowerment, as well as a peer-reviewed journal article.
- Funding Agency
- Irish Research Council New Foundations Award
- Date From
- 2022
- Date To
- 2023
- Title
- Women's (Im)Mobility in Times of Crisis
- Summary
- This transnational collaboration takes a multidisciplinary, intersectional feminist approach to examining the gendered impact of global environmental, health, political and economic crises on women's geographical and social (im)mobility. The project investigates how the dramatic societal shifts caused by moments of crisis provoke, inform or prevent the local, national and transnational movement of women. How are women's experiences of (im)mobility during crises underscored by race, class, nation, sexuality, disability, language and health? How do these issues play out in distinct cultural, geopolitical, judicial and behavioural contexts? Informed by a range of expertise across the Humanities and Social Sciences, the research draws on digital, judicial and ethnographic case studies, cultural texts and quantitative data, bringing into dialogue the 'Global South' (Brazil, Mexico) and the 'Global North' (UK, Ireland, Spain).
- Funding Agency
- University Global Partnership Network
- Date From
- 2021
- Date To
- 2022
Recognition
Representations
Invited member of judging panel of International Ethnographic Film Festival, Santiago de Compostela, Spain: Xurado Seccións Oficiais, 19a Mostra Internacional de Cinema Etnográfico, Museo do Pobo Galego
Elected member of the executive committee of the Modern Language Association Galician Forum (2020-2024)
Founding Steering Committee Member and Strand Convenor 'Writing in Society', Trinity Centre for the Book, Trinity College Dublin
Awards and Honours
School-based Trinity Research Doctoral Award (primary supervisor of Mariana Villegas Triay)
GenAI for Teaching and Learning Digital Badge - National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
Honourable Mention, I International Prize for Galician Studies, International Association of Galician Studies (AIEG)
Aurora Women's Leadership Programme
Irish Research Council New Foundations Award
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Let's Talk About Race in the Higher Education Sector - Trinity College Dublin and Marshall E-Learning Consultancy
Universal Design in Teaching and Learning Digital Badge - National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
Vice Chancellor's Award for Early Career Teacher of the Year, University of Surrey
Memberships
Modern Language Association
Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland
Asociación Internacional de Estudos Galegos
European Network for Cinema and Media Studies
Associate Member, Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women's Writing, Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of London
Associación Internacional de Literatura y Cine Españoles del Siglo XXI