Staff profile

Professor Diane Kirkby

Program Coordinator

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Historical and European Studies

DMB E123, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BA (UNSW), PhD (Univ of California).

Area of study

Art History
Australian Studies
History

Brief Profile

Professor Kirkby currently teaches USA Art and political cultural history; Australian history centuries; history of Food and Drink; film in history. Her research interests include: Labour history and gender; Women's work and popular culture; law and history; feminism. Professor Kirkby won the WK Hancock Prize for her book Alice Henry: The Power of Pen and Voice.  

Research interests

Art History

- Histories of art

Australian History

- Australian women's history

- Feminism and the labour movement in America and Australia

North American History

- New Left in US history

Teaching Units

  • HIS1MLH - Myth, Legend, and History.
  • HIS2/3MEU - Medieval Europe 600-1200 (online subject).
  • HIS2/3AWV - America's War in Vietnam: Culture and Politics.
  • HIS2/3AWA - Andy Warhol's America: Pop Art, Politics and Popular Culture.
  • HIS2/3FDA - Food, Drink and World History.
  • HIS2/3MAM - Making America: From Pocahontas to Prohibition.

Recent Publications

  • Kirkby, D 2008, Voices From the Ships: Australia's Seafearers and Their Union. Sydney: UNSW Press.
  • Kirkby, D and Luckins, T (eds), 2008, Dining on Turtles; Food Feasts and Drinking in History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Kirkby, D 2008, ‘From Wharfie Haunt to Foodie Haven: Modernity and Law in Changes to the Australian Working Class Pub’. Food Culture and Society. 11(1): 30-48.
  • Kirkby, D 1995, Alice Henry: The Power of Pen and Voice: The Life of an Australian-American Labor Reformer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kirkby, D 1997, Barmaids: A History of Women's Work in Pubs (1790-1990s). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kirkby, D (ed), 1995, Sex, Power and Justice: Historical Perspectives on Law in Australia. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
  • Kirkby, D and Coleborne, C (eds), 2001, Law History Colonialism: The Reach of Empire. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
  • Kirkby, D 1997, Dealing With Difference: Essays in Gender, History and Culture. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

Research projects

  • Marriage women and property in 19th century Australia;
  • Australian seafarers and their union;
  • A study of the Fulbright Program in Australia 1949-2009.