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Dr Diana Young

Senior Lecturer in Museum Anth

School of Social Science
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
djbyoung@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 51210

Overview

I am a socio-cultural anthropologist and curator specialising in the materiality, visuality and digital aspects of cultures and societies.

My research interests include the anthropology of colours, anthropology of art - both contemporary and historical, cloth and clothing, cars, design anthropology, consumption, value creation, museum studies and museum management theory, digital data resources, architecture, landscape and ecology, public anthropology and research through exhibtion curation, and historical anthropology. I have expertise in researching Australian Indigenous and Pacific cultural production. Other published research is on re-inventing ethnographic museums for the 21st century, Indigenous Australian local art histories, culutral brokers, anthropology of the senses, place creation and images. I welcome students for higher degree research supervision in any of these subject areas.

My ARC Discovery (2013-2016) A desire for things concerns the relationship of money, art markets, consumption practices and art making among Indigenous artists working in central Australia.

I am expert at successfully profiling academic research for public engagement. I am currently the Director of the Museum Masters Program at UQ. Prior to this I was the Director of the UQ Anthropology Museum during two contracts between 2009-2017. I was trained as an architect and worked in the UK construction industry for a decade before my education in anthropology at University College London. I have worked with Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara since 1997 at Pukatja/ Ernabella and with other Aboriginal people in central Australia.

I was recruited to revive the museum’s fortunes following post-doctoral fellowships at University College London and the Australian National University. I am the first woman to direct the UQ Anthropology museum. From their launch in September 2012, until August 2017. more than 60,000 people visited the UQAM’s new teaching, research and engagement facilities of which I led the creation. I created a new era for the museum, with a new dedicated 240m square gallery and a new global best practice collection store. I led the creation of a new online digital catalogue for the museum with innovative object imaging. I promoted a successful acquisition policy of purchasing works by named women makers to assist in the rebalancing the gender equity of the collection, and raised more than AUS$1.1 million for the museum. I initiated an original and innovative gallery program to show the museum's collection that included collaborative exhibitions derived from research in the museum’s collection. These projects aim for inclusivity and an inter-cultural understanding that promote ever widening networks that assist in the on-going process of decolonising the museum.

Research Interests

  • Colour as Material, Digital and Visual Culture.
    I am influential in establishing the contemporary research of colour in anthropology. My work centres on the role of colour as a concept, and colours as substances, in social and cultural life. This research is centred on visual, digital and material culture using fieldwork and draws on linguistics, cognitive science, architecture, archaeology, ecological studies, contemporary art theory and museum collections.
  • Western Desert Art Histories
    My interest is in the development of the art histories of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands since the establishment of the mission at Ernabella (now Pukatja) in South Australia 1937. Overall this work is a contribution to reassessing Australia’s colonial history and the creativity of Aboriginal women artists who gained autonomy and an expansion of themselves through art practices. I have curated public exhibitions (1998 'Warka Iritii munu Kuwari Kutu/ Work from the past and the present 50 years of Ernabella Arts'; 2001 'Art on a string' ; 2009, 'Nyukana Baker. A Retrospective') and catalogues on this topic. This research includes fieldwork and archival study - both textual and photographic.
  • Consumption Practices in Central Australia.
    This project was funded by an ARC Discovery ( 2013-Dec 2016) which researched the neglected history of consumption after colonisation among Australian Indigenous peoples. The research based on long term fieldwork. Findings from this recently completed research are in press.
  • Public Anthropology through Curatorial practice and the future of the ethnographic museum
    This research examines the role of so-called ethnographic museums now. I have collaborated in the curation of 17 public exhibitions in many venues in Australia including at UQ. I have developed collaborative research in museums with the aim of generating innovative exhibitions, using little seen objects combined with contemporary academic theory, to engage wide audiences.

Research Impacts

As an influential curator of anthropology, I am at the forefront of object centred teaching and learning for university and school students. I directed the creation of a new research and teaching infrastructure for the UQ Anthropology Museum and transformed it into a public institution with loans to many state galleries and museums and to local projects. See the online catalogue at http://catalogue.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/ and exhibtions at http://anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/exhibitions/. These digital sites have been visited by people in 157 different countries globally (Google analytics June 2017).

Key Exhibitions

2016 Director of curation Solomon Islands; Re enchantment and the colonial shadow, UQ Anthropology Museum. http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/solomon-islands

2015 commissioned Wild Australia. Meston’s Wild Australia show 1892-1893 curated by Michael Aird and Mandana Mapar, research Paul Memmott UQ Anthropology Museum; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/wild-australia. Toured to Grafton Regional Gallery 2016.

2014 written on the body commissioned and co curated with Waanyi artist Judy Watson UQ Anthropology Museum; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/written-on-the-body

2013 Musical Landscapes of Lihir, commissioned, developed, director of curation with Kirsty Gillespie and the Lihir Development Project, New Ireland province Papua New Guinea, UQ Anthropology Museum; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/musical-landscapes-of-lihir

2012 In the red on the vibrancy of things director/curator UQ Anthropology Museum, commissioned work Fiona Foley, Miyarrka media; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/in-the-red-on-the-vibrancy-of-things

2012 What do objects want? director/curator UQ Anthropology Museum; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/what-do-objects-want and on line exhibtion; https://catalogue.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/search/?q=what+do+objects+want.

2009 Nyukana Baker; A retrospective, curator at the Jam Factory Adelaide for SALA (South Australia Living Artists festival). Australia Council funded.

2001-2005 co curated Art on a String. Threaded objects from the Western Desert and Arnhem Land, Object centre of Australian craft and design touring show (venues included Object Gallery Sydney, Museum of Victoria, Bathurst regional gallery, NSW, Araluen cultural centre, Alice Springs, Tandanya cultural centre, Adelaide). Australia Council funded.

1998 consultant curator for Ernabella Arts Inc., ‘Warka irititja munu kwari kutu. Work from the past and the present a celebration of 50 years of Ernabella Arts,’ Tandanya Cultural Centre Adelaide

Qualifications

  • PhD Socio Anthropology, University College London
  • MA Anthropology of Art, University College London

Publications

  • Book Chapter: Color

    Young, Diana (2018). Color. In Hilary Callan (Ed.), International encyclopedia of anthropology (pp. 330-360) New Jersey, United States: John Wiley and Sons. doi:10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea2210

  • Book Chapter: Colour as the edge of the body

    Young, Diana (2018). Colour as the edge of the body. In Diana Young (Ed.), Rematerializing colour: from concept to substance (pp. Unknown-Unknown) Wantage, United Kingdom: Sean Kingston Publishing.

  • Book Chapter: Colour palettes and beauty

    Young, Diana J. B. (2018). Colour palettes and beauty. In Stephanie Bunn (Ed.), Anthropology and Beauty: From Aesthetics to Creativity (pp. 148-166) Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

  • Chasing winter: an exploration of artistic expression within the snowboarding subculture

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Digital Practices in a South Korean County

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Threadbare: the Bhutanese textile industry. Contemporary innovation in Bhutanese weaving and its translation to market

    Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Color

    Young, Diana (2018). Color. In Hilary Callan (Ed.), International encyclopedia of anthropology (pp. 330-360) New Jersey, United States: John Wiley and Sons. doi:10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea2210

  • Colour as the edge of the body

    Young, Diana (2018). Colour as the edge of the body. In Diana Young (Ed.), Rematerializing colour: from concept to substance (pp. Unknown-Unknown) Wantage, United Kingdom: Sean Kingston Publishing.

  • Colour palettes and beauty

    Young, Diana J. B. (2018). Colour palettes and beauty. In Stephanie Bunn (Ed.), Anthropology and Beauty: From Aesthetics to Creativity (pp. 148-166) Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

  • Introduction

    Young, Diana (2018). Introduction. In Diana Young (Ed.), Rematerializing colour: from concept to substance (pp. 1-21) Wantage, United Kingdom: Sean Kingston Publishing.

  • The Anthropologist

    Young, Diana (2018). The Anthropologist. In Making Faces - A Jewellery Playbook (pp. 33-33) Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Manon van Kouswijk.

  • Coloring Cars: customising motor vehicles in the east of the Australian Western Desert

    Young, Diana (2017). Coloring Cars: customising motor vehicles in the east of the Australian Western Desert. In Alison Clarke (Ed.), Design anthropology: object cultures in transition (pp. 147-159) London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.

  • Introduction

    Young, Diana (2017). Introduction. In Solomon Islands: re-enchantment and the colonial shadow (pp. 1-7) Brisbane, Australia: Anthropology Museum, The University of Queensland.

  • On revealing and concealing

    Young, Diana (2017). On revealing and concealing. In Margo Neale (Ed.), Songlines: tracking the seven sisters (pp. 72-75) Canberra, ACT, Australia: National Museum of Australia Press.

  • Introduction

    Young, Diana (2015). Introduction. In Michael Aird, Mandana Mapar and Paul Memmott (Ed.), Wild Australia. Meston's Wild Australia 1892-93 (pp. 2-3) Brisbane, Australia: Anthropology Museum, The University of Queensland.

  • How did we get here?

    Young, Diana (2014). How did we get here?. In Diana Young (Ed.), Strong Women Strong Painting Strong Culture (pp. 7-12) St. Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

  • The domestication of things

    Young, Diana (2014). The domestication of things. In Diana Young (Ed.), Written on the body (pp. 1-3) St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

  • Hector Burton Tjupuru. My Country

    Young, Diana (2013). Hector Burton Tjupuru. My Country. In Ian Were (Ed.), NEWv: selected recent acquisitions 2011-2013 (pp. 34-35) Brisbane, Australia: UQ Art Museum.

  • Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri; rock holes and country near the Olgas’

    Young, Diana (2012). Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri; rock holes and country near the Olgas’. In Ian Were (Ed.), New, v. 2: selected recent acquisitions, 2009-2011 (pp. 86-86) St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Art Museum.

  • Colouring cars: Customising motor vehicles in the East of the Australian Western Desert

    Young, Diana (2011). Colouring cars: Customising motor vehicles in the East of the Australian Western Desert. In Alison J. Clark (Ed.), Design anthropology: Object culture in the 21st century (pp. 117-129) Wien, Austria ; New York, U.S.A.: Springer.

  • Dingo scalping and the frontier economy in the north west of South Australia

    Young, Diana (2010). Dingo scalping and the frontier economy in the north west of South Australia. In Ian Keen (Ed.), Indigenous participation in Australian economies (pp. 91-107) Australia: ANU E-Press.

  • Dressing the body in the Western Desert, Australia

    Young, Diana (2010). Dressing the body in the Western Desert, Australia. In Joanne Eicher (Ed.), Berg encyclopedia of world dress and fashion (pp. 37-41) Oxford, United Kingdom: Berg. doi:10.2752/BEWDF/EDch7007

  • The colours of things

    Young, Diana (2006). The colours of things. In Christopher Tilley, Webb Keane, Susanne Kuechler, Mike Rowlands and Patricia Spyer (Ed.), The handbook of material culture (pp. 173-185) London: Sage Publications.

  • The life and death of cars. Private cars on the Pitjantjatjara Lands, South Australia

    Young, Diana (2001). The life and death of cars. Private cars on the Pitjantjatjara Lands, South Australia. In Daniel Miller (Ed.), Car cultures (pp. 35-59) London: Berg Publishers.

  • Punu metaphors and markets- wood carving in the Ernabella area

    Young, Diana (1998). Punu metaphors and markets- wood carving in the Ernabella area. In Warka iritita munu Kuwari kutu. Work from the past and the present: a celebration of Fifty years of Ernabella Arts (pp. 38-43) Ernabella, SA, Australia: Ernabella Arts .

Journal Article

Other Outputs

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Chasing winter: an exploration of artistic expression within the snowboarding subculture

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Digital Practices in a South Korean County

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Threadbare: the Bhutanese textile industry. Contemporary innovation in Bhutanese weaving and its translation to market

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Exploring the collection of Stradbroke Island bags from Quandamooka Country c 1890s in the UQ Anthropology Museum and how to revive our traditional weaving practices which have struggled to continue

    Master Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

This staff member is a UQ Expert for media in the following fields:

Material and visual culture, Anthropology of design, Collecting cultural material in SE Queensland, Art History - Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjara, Indigenous Australian art history, museums, inter cultural colour concepts

They are happy to lend their expertise to your articles or broadcasts and share their research discoveries and insights with the community via media channels.

For additional assistance with story ideas, general advice and information or help with seeking further experts, please email the UQ Media Team or telephone (07) 3365 1120.

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ORCID: 0000-0002-5443-3712

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