“An Embodiment of Experience”: Steven Nelson on African Art and Writing History

In this episode of In the Foreground, Caro Fowler speaks with Steven Nelson, who in March 2020 was named Dean of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA). Prior to that appointment, Steven served as Professor of African and African American Art History at UCLA. Steven’s broad interests in design, travel, and histories of the African diaspora are reflected in his path toward a career in academia. Steven and Caro discuss how graduate education shaped Steven’s specialization in African and African American art, his writing practices, and his latest book project, which focuses on the Underground Railroad and American myth-making. Steven also shares his hopes for his new position at CASVA and the future of the field of art history.