Jane Bennett has disciplinary backgrounds in literature, linguistics, sociology and feminist theory, and has worked at the State University of New York, Barnard College, and since 1999, at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her research interests are in feminist theory, sexualities, pedagogies and violence, and she has published many articles and book chapters in these areas. She is also interested in research, which is allied to political activism, in different areas, in and beyond university spaces within the African continent. She writes both fiction and nonfiction. She is the former director of the African Gender Institute at UCT.