Radically Speaking

Renate Klein was born in Zurich, Switzerland and has degrees from universities of Zurich, London and the University of California (Berkeley). She is known internationally for her work on reproductive technologies and information technologies. She has spoken to parliamentary committees and on TV, radio and print media about ethical issues in reproductive medicines. Her books include the international bestseller Test Tube Women (1984, co-editor; translated in German and Japanese). Her other books include: Theories of Women's Studies (1983, co-editor with Gloria Bowles), Man Made Women (1986, co-author), The Exploitation of a Desire (1989, Deakin University Press, author), Infertility (1989, author, translated into German), Radical Voices (1990, co-editor with Debbie Steinberg), Angels of Power (1991) RU 486: Misconceptions, Myth and Morals (1991, co-author); 1994 Australia for Women: Travel and Culture/ Australien der Frauen: Reise und Kultur (co-editor with Susan Hawthorne, translated into German). She is co-editor with Diane Bell of, Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed (1996), with Susan Hawthorne of CyberFeminism (1999), with Jan Fook, she co-edited A Girl's Best Friend: The Meaning of Dogs in Women's Lives (2002) and with Jan Fook and Susan Hawthorne of Cat Tales: The Meaning of Cats in Women's Lives (2003) and HorseDreams: The Meaning of Horses in Women's Lives (2004). She has a forthcoming book Radical Reckonings. She is Associate Professor of Women's Studies.

Diane Bell began her working life as a primary school teacher. After the birth of her two children, she returned to study, completed High School, a BA (Hons) at Monash University (1975) and a PhD at the ANU (1981). In 1986, after working for the Aboriginal Sacred Sites Protection Authority in the Northern Territory, running a private practice as a consulting anthropologist, and a period as a Research Fellow at ANU, she became the first woman to be appointed as a professor at Deakin University, where she was Professor of Australian Studies. From 1989-98, before joining the faculty of The George Washington University as Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Women's Studies Program, she was the Henry R. Luce Professor of Religion, Economic Development and Social Justice at Holy Cross College, Worcester, Massachusetts.

She has written extensively on the rights of Indigenous women (with a particular focus on the Aboriginal people of Australia), Indigenous land rights, human rights, Indigenous religions, violence against women, and feminist ethnography. She has published widely in journals of anthropology, art, history, law and Women's Studies. Her most recent book, Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin: A world that is, was, and will be (1998) won the NSW Premier's Literary Award and was short listed for the Age Book of the Year Award and the Queensland Premier's History Award. She is currently working on a manuscript about cultural appropriation of Indigenous practices by new age practitioners. Her other books include: Generations: Grandmothers, mothers, and daughters (1987); Law: The old and the new (1980); Religion in Aboriginal Australia (co-edited 1984); Gendered Fields: Women, Men and Ethnography (co-editor, 1993). Her classic work, Daughters of the Dreaming was re-released in 2002 and she is also the author of a novel, Evil (2004).