Professor Francoise Dussart is a social and cultural anthropologist in the Anthropology and Women's Studies Program, and an associate director of the Humanities Institute, at the University of Connecticut, USA. Broadly educated at the Sorbonne, Professor Dussart earned her Ph.D. at the Australian National University. She began by studying ethnolinguistic nuances of West African naming systems; and has field-studied the culture of Paris street performers and the slate factories of southern France. Francoise's work is extensive and far-reaching among Australian Aborigines, their society and culture, including those dwelling in the Tanami desert and elsewhere. Some of her wide-ranging interests and specialties include urban theater culture, gendered expressions, and ethnicity and nationalism. Francoise has published extensively; devoted herself to curating Aborigines' paintings; and consulted for numerous museums worldwide.