Nov 27, 2025
Nov 27, 2025
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2pm
2pm
Lecture
Lecture
Lecture
For Lack of a Dictionary
For Lack of a Dictionary
"For Lack of a Dictionary" (2025)
Thursday November 27th @ 2:30 PM
A poetry reading, book signing, and discussion with Rosalind Morris
Synopsis:
In this debut collection, renowned scholar Rosalind Morris spans the lyrical landscapes of personal experience and global political dilemmas. Organized into four distinct sections, each featuring seven poems that vary in style and content, For Lack of a Dictionary reflects the diverse facets of human complexity and the struggle to find a language capable of addressing them. Beginning with a mythopoetic exploration of the self and progressing through varied voices and forms—from the epistolary and the erotic to the elegiac—the collection navigates the absences and presences that shape our interpersonal connections. From Homer’s Iliad to Hobbes’s Leviathan, and from the intimate letters of the Rosenbergs to the television broadcasts of lunar landings, Morris revisits epic figures of classical literature with a contemporary voice, concluding with poignant reflections on personal loss and the seductive allure of magical thinking in times of grief.
In the tradition of Adrienne Rich and Muriel Rukeyser, Morris engages in a dialogue that challenges and enlightens, positioning For Lack of a Dictionary as a profound commentary on the intersections of personal and political realms.
Bio:
Rosalind Morris is an anthropologist, cultural theorist and documentarian who is Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. Her most recent books are Unstable Ground: The Lives, Deaths and Afterlives of Gold in South Africa (2025, winner of the CU Press Distinguished Book Prize for 2025); For Lack of a Dictionary: poems (2025) and the edited volume, Reconocimientos: A Memoir of Becoming, by Rafael Sanchez. Her media works include the award-winning documentary film, We are Zama Zama, and the flexible multi-channel installation, 'The Zama Zama Project,' which was an official selection of the Berlinale Forum Expanded in 2021. She is also co-librettist, with Yvette Christiansë of the operas, Southern Crossings and Cities of Salt.
"For Lack of a Dictionary" (2025)
Thursday November 27th @ 2:30 PM
A poetry reading, book signing, and discussion with Rosalind Morris
Synopsis:
In this debut collection, renowned scholar Rosalind Morris spans the lyrical landscapes of personal experience and global political dilemmas. Organized into four distinct sections, each featuring seven poems that vary in style and content, For Lack of a Dictionary reflects the diverse facets of human complexity and the struggle to find a language capable of addressing them. Beginning with a mythopoetic exploration of the self and progressing through varied voices and forms—from the epistolary and the erotic to the elegiac—the collection navigates the absences and presences that shape our interpersonal connections. From Homer’s Iliad to Hobbes’s Leviathan, and from the intimate letters of the Rosenbergs to the television broadcasts of lunar landings, Morris revisits epic figures of classical literature with a contemporary voice, concluding with poignant reflections on personal loss and the seductive allure of magical thinking in times of grief.
In the tradition of Adrienne Rich and Muriel Rukeyser, Morris engages in a dialogue that challenges and enlightens, positioning For Lack of a Dictionary as a profound commentary on the intersections of personal and political realms.
Bio:
Rosalind Morris is an anthropologist, cultural theorist and documentarian who is Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. Her most recent books are Unstable Ground: The Lives, Deaths and Afterlives of Gold in South Africa (2025, winner of the CU Press Distinguished Book Prize for 2025); For Lack of a Dictionary: poems (2025) and the edited volume, Reconocimientos: A Memoir of Becoming, by Rafael Sanchez. Her media works include the award-winning documentary film, We are Zama Zama, and the flexible multi-channel installation, 'The Zama Zama Project,' which was an official selection of the Berlinale Forum Expanded in 2021. She is also co-librettist, with Yvette Christiansë of the operas, Southern Crossings and Cities of Salt.
