Jean La Fontaine

La Fontaine in 1983Jean Sybil La Fontaine FRAI (born 1 November 1931) is a British anthropologist and emeritus professor of the London School of Economics. She has done research in Africa and the UK, on topics including ritual, gender, child abuse, witchcraft and Satanism. In 1994 she wrote a government report: The Extent and Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse. Early life La Fontaine was born in Nairobi, Kenya, on 1 November 1931 and educated at The Kenya High School, Nairobi. She then studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, gaining a B.A. in archaeology and anthropology in 1953 and a Ph.D. in 1957.

Career After teaching at King's College, Newcastle (1961, part-time), Lovanium University, Zaire (1962–1963) and Birkbeck College (1965–1968), La Fontaine was appointed Reader in Anthropology at the London School of Economics in 1968 and Professor of Anthropology there in 1978. She retired in 1983, being granted the title of professor emeritus.