Jean
La
Fontaine
studied
social
anthropology
at
Cambridge
and has
done field research
in
Uganda,
Zaire
and
London.
She
completed
her PhD in
1958
and
taught anthropology
in
London
University,
at
Birkbeck College
and the
London School
of
Economics.
Her
published work
includes:
City
Politics:
a
study
of
Leopoldville1962-64
(1971);
Initiation
(1985),
and
Child
Sexual
Abuse
(1990).
She was made
Professor
of Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics in
1978
and
Professor
Emeritus there in
1984.
She has done freelance research and consultancysince
1984
and has recently been commissioned by the Department of Health to undertake a study
of
the organised and ritual abuse of children.