since 2009 she has been at the university of cape town, south africa, where she is a professor as well as the director of the school of african and gender studies, anthropology and linguistics. bennett was also director of the african gender institute at university of cape town. the school of african and gender studies, anthropology and linguistics, created in 2012, merged four previously distinct departments: the african gender unit, the centre for african studies, the department of social anthropology, and department of linguistics. she headed the english department at the univeristy of cape town between 2016 and 2018, on secondment, and is now the director of postgraduate studies at the university of cape town.