Nancy Um
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nancyum.bsky.social
Nancy Um
@nancyum.bsky.social
Art History - Indian Ocean Studies - Digital Humanities
Here it is - still there, just covered up - for the solstice in 2023
October 31, 2025 at 4:45 AM
For anyone in Los Angeles who is interested in the politics of cultural heritage, put this event on your calendar!

Renowned scholar and anthropologist Lynn Meskell will speak at the Getty on Saturday November 22, 2025 at 3 pm.

Register here: www.getty.edu/calendar/rui...
October 29, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Two open positions in the Division of Research and Knowledge Creation at the Getty Research Institute.

Both opportunities are ideal for early career professionals who wish to advance the study of art history and cultural heritage! Please circulate to potential candidates! 1/3
July 18, 2025 at 12:00 AM
I had forgotten how amazingly beautiful the grounds of the Huntington are! Finally got to see the Shoya house, transported and reconstructed from Japan.
May 23, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Read this terrific post about the conclave, communicated through historic prints!

Including a print of the 17th C procession of Pope Innocent X, from @gettymuseum.bsky.social

hdl.handle.net/10020/p85000...
May 7, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Very lucky to have escaped the madness for just a few days - beautiful sunset off the Big Island of Hawaii.
March 27, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Getty offers this course each year in conjunction with our scholar theme: "Extinction" for 2024-25. The instructor is always a local Southern California scholar in residence. This year, Professor Heather Badamo from UCSB is teaching "Global Contact, Art, and Catastrophe in the Premodern Era"
January 27, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Last week I had the great pleasure of lecturing on the topic of shipwrecks to the Getty Consortium Seminar, a grad class taught @gettymuseum.bsky.social that enrolls students from surrounding universities.
January 27, 2025 at 1:05 AM
My new article: "Linking Seventeenth-Century Yemen to Colonial New England: A Closer Look at Silver Coins across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans" in Am Journal of Numismatics (2024).

Tracing the journey of silver coins from Yemen to Madagascar to colonial America, many found by metal detectorists.
January 22, 2025 at 2:35 AM
I have never been so depressed about a sunny forecast. Even a drop of rain would be welcome.
January 14, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I ended up coming back to work later in the evening and witnessed this view at midnight - a frightening picture of smoldering destruction. Sending all fellow Angelenos hope and unity amidst so much loss and heartbreak.
January 9, 2025 at 2:09 AM
When I left work at the end of the day the smoke was grey and ballooned toward the sky - flames were visible across the mountain ridge
January 9, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Yesterday at midday the view from my office revealed plumes of smoke in the west against white fluffy clouds
January 9, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Another amazing sunset @gettymuseum.bsky.social - it takes my breath away every time!
December 12, 2024 at 1:07 PM
Recently, in Yemen, there is a great deal of interest in Mocha's early history. A novel by Samir Muhammad fictionalized the international encounters that took place in the city. Yemenis are active on the other site. Haven't seen them here yet. But I'd like to boost his title: "Moka City"
December 8, 2024 at 3:35 PM
The term Mocha was then adopted as a blanket term to refer to Yemeni coffee beans, but also other coffee related products like the Italian stovetop coffeepot, called a "moka."

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mo...
December 8, 2024 at 3:35 PM
It might seem trivial in this weighty & vexed time, but I do feel the need to comment on the Pantone 2025 Color of the Year: Mocha Mousse. www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2025

Mocha is a port city on Yemen's Red Sea coast that sat at the center of maritime trade networks in the 17th & 18th C.
December 8, 2024 at 3:35 PM
Good for contemplation on a very tough day - James Turrell at Crystal Bridges
November 7, 2024 at 5:04 AM
Getty Scholar Theme 2025-26: REPAIR

*Open to pre-docs, post-docs, and established scholars and professionals *Dedicated grants via the African American art history initiative *Applications open in July

More information: getty.edu/projects/get...

Please circulate widely!
May 14, 2024 at 2:56 AM
Finally got to visit the Computer History Museum in Mountainview today, which was so interesting and does a decent job at condensing technically challenging information for the wider public.

But I suspect that their gallery on AI will not hold up very well these days!
February 24, 2024 at 3:08 AM
This is happening! @periodeye.bsky.social is delivering the Gaehtgens Lecture at the Getty Research Institute on Dec 2, 4 pm.

Register here: www.getty.edu/visit/cal/ev...
November 15, 2023 at 3:58 AM
Today I got to see so many paintings that I have taught so many times to thousands of students over the years. The best was Parmagianino's Madonna with the Long Neck. I love the foot with the very perky big toe, right at eye level!
September 19, 2023 at 7:29 PM