Robert Lemelson

Robert Bush Lemelson is an American cultural anthropologist,[1] film producer,[2] and philanthropist.[3] Lemelson received his M.A. from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles.[1] Lemelson's area of specialty is transcultural psychiatry; Southeast Asian Studies, particularly Indonesia; and psychological and medical anthropology. He currently is a research anthropologist in the Semel Institute of Neuroscience UCLA, and an adjunct professor of Anthropology at UCLA. His scholarly work has appeared in numerous journals and books.[2] Lemelson founded Elemental Productions in 2008,[4] a documentary production company, and has directed and produced numerous ethnographic films.[5] His blog Psychocultural Cinema contains numerous blog-posts and edited film works.

Robert Lemelson
Born
Robert Bush Lemelson
Alma materUniversity of Chicago (MA)
University of California, Los Angeles (PhD)
Occupations
  • Anthropologist
  • educator
  • film producer
  • journalist
  • philanthropist
OrganizationElemental Productions

Lemelson also is involved in a number of philanthropic ventures. He is the president of The Foundation for Psychocultural Research,[6] a research foundation that supports work integrating the social and neurosciences. He also acts a director for The Lemelson Foundation,[3] a foundation started by his late father Jerome Lemelson to support inventors, invention and innovation in the United States and the developing world. Lemelson has also funded a number of programs supporting scholarship and research in Anthropology through the Robert Lemelson Foundation, which is a separate foundation from The Lemelson Foundation. These include Lemelson Anthropological Scholars program at UCLA, and the Lemelson-SPA conference fund and the Lemelson-SPA student fellows program administered by the Society for Psychological Anthropology. In addition, he helped create and fund the first program on Indonesian studies in thirty years, located in the International Institute at UCLA.

Filmography
Film TitleTypeRelease DateShort SynopsisTRT
TajenDocumentary short2016Tajen is a sensory ethnography exploring multiple elements of the Balinese cockfight.29 min
Bitter HoneyDocumentary Feature2015Bitter Honey chronicles the lives of three polygamous families living in Bali, Indonesia. The film follows the wives from their introduction to the polygamous lifestyle to the emotional hardships and jealousies to their struggle for empowerment and equal rights.[7]81 min
Standing of the Edge of a ThornDocumentary short2013Standing on the Edge of a Thorn is an intimate portrait of a family in rural Central Java, Indonesia grappling with poverty, mental illness, and participation in the sex trade.[8]33 min
Jathilan: Trance and Possession in JavaDocumentary Short2012Jathilan:Trance and possession in Java is a film about Jathilan, a folk dance practiced for centuries in Java that uses the power of music and dance to channel powerful and sometimes terrifying forces.[9]27 min
Ngaben: Emotion and Restraint in a Balinese HeartDocumentary Short2012Ngaben:Emotion and Restraint in a Balinese Heart is a film about the famous Balinese funerary ritual called Ngaben. The film takes an impressionistic look at this practice from the perspective of a mourning son and reveals the intimacy, sadness, and tenderness at the core of this funerary ritual and the feeling and force that underlie an exquisite cultural tradition.[10]27 min
Memory of My FaceDocumentary Short2011Memory of my Face is part of the documentary series Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia- Volume 1, Psychotic Disorders Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine . The film follows Bambang Rudjito and illustrates how the residues of colonialism and the pervasive influence of globalization affects the subjective experience of mental illness.[11]22 min
Ritual BurdensDocumentary Short2011Ritual Burdens is part of the documentary series Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia- Volume 1, Psychotic Disorders Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine. The film follows Ni Ketut Kasih and questions how communal spiritual obligations may be folded into personal schemas of stress to trigger episodes of mental illness [12]25 min
Kites and MonstersDocumentary Short2011Kites and Monsters is part of the documentary series Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia- Volume 2, Neuropsychiatric Disorders Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine. The film follows Wayan Yoga from boyhood to manhood and discovers the influential and protective aspects of culture that may guide developmental neuropsychiatric processes.22 min
Shadows and IlluminationsDocumentary Short2010Shadows and Illuminations is part of the documentary series Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia- Volume 1, Psychotic Disorders Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine. The film follows Nyoman Kereta and explores how non-normative mental events and behavior, including auditory and visual hallucinations, can be understood or interpreted in multiple ways outside the confines of western psychiatric diagnosis.[13]35 min
The Bird DancerDocumentary Short2010The Bird Dancer is part of the documentary series Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia- Volume 2, Neuropsychiatric Disorders Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine. The film follows Gusti Ayu Suartini and focuses on the social stigma of neuropsychiatric disorder and the human suffering it entails.[14]40 min
Family VictimDocumentary Short2010Family Victim is part of the documentary series Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia- Volume 2, Neuropsychiatric Disorders Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine. The film follows Estu Wardhani and examines the bi-directional influences between an individual considered to have a disruptive or troublesome personality and his social world.[14]38 min
40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian TragedyDocumentary Feature200940 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy is the first documentary to explore the personal effects of the mass killings 500,000 to over a million people in Indonesia in 1965-66. The film follows the testimonies of four individuals and their families as they break their silence for the first time.[15]96 min
Movements and MadnessDocumentary feature2006Movements and Madness: Gusti Ayu tells the story of an anthropologists search to understand a person with a severe neuropsychiatric disorder in rural Indonesia, and the ethical dilemmas involved when a research scientist attempts to aid his subject.[16]71 min

Select Journal Articles
  • Lemelson, R.; Tucker, A. (2015). "Steps Toward an Integration of Psychological and Visual Anthropology: Issues Raised in the Production of the Film Series Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia". Ethos. 43 (1): 6–39. doi:10.1111/etho.12070.
  • Lemelson, R; Suryani, L.K (2006). "Cultural Formulation of Psychiatric Diagnoses: The Spirits, Penyakit Ngeb and the Social Suppression of Memory: A Complex Clinical Case from Bali". Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. 30 (3): 389–413. doi:10.1007/s11013-006-9026-y. PMID 17089200. S2CID 22024051.
  • Lemelson, R (2004). "Traditional Healing and its Discontents: Efficacy and Traditional Therapies of Neuropsychiatric Disorders in Bali". Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 18 (1): 48–76. doi:10.1525/maq.2004.18.1.48. PMID 15098427.
  • Lemelson, R (2003). "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Bali: The Cultural Shaping of a Neuropsychiatric Disorder". Transcultural Psychiatry. 4 (30): 377–408. doi:10.1177/13634615030403004. PMID 14649851. S2CID 36844273.

Select Book Chapters
  • "Afflictions: Psychopathology and Recovery in a Cultural Context" by Lemelson, R., and Tucker, A., in Kirmayer, L., Lemelson, R., and Cummings, C. eds. in Revisioning psychiatry: Cultural Phenomenology, Critical Neuroscience and Global Mental Health. 483-514. 2015.
  • "Fear and Silence in Burma and Indonesia: Comparing Two National Tragedies and Two Individual Outcomes of Trauma" by Lemelson, R., Thein-Lemelson, S. in Ataria, Y., Gurevitz, D., Pedaya, H., and Neria, Y. eds. in Interdisciplinary Handbook of Trauma and Culture. 2016.
  • "Anak PKI!: Multigenerational Trauma in a Javanese boy" by Lemelson, R., Ng, Emily and Supartini, N. in Worthman, C., Plotsky, P., Schecter, D. and Cummings C. Formative Experiences: The Interaction of Caregiving, Culture, and Developmental Psychobiology Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010
  • "Children and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" by Lemelson, R. in Shweder, R. et al. Ed. Chicago Companion to the Child. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
  • "Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Traditional Healing in Indonesia: The Question of Efficacy" by Lemelson, R. in Maldonado, M. ed. Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers: Unwitting Partners in Global Mental Health. London, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
  • "Trauma in Context: Integrating Biological, Clinical and Cultural Perspectives" by Lemelson, R., Kirmayer, L, Barad, M. in Kirmayer, L, Lemelson, R., Barad, M. eds. Understanding Trauma: Integrating Cultural, Psychological and Biological Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  • "Epilogue: Trauma and the Vicissitudes of Interdisciplinary Integration" by Kirmayer, L, Lemelson, R., Barad, M. in Kirmayer, L, Lemelson, R., Barad, M. eds. Understanding Trauma: Integrating Cultural, Psychological and Biological Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2007

Edited Volumes

Books

Multi-Media

Shadows and Illuminations: A Multi-touch Film Guide || E-book || 2015 || Shadows and Illuminations: A Multi-touch Film Guide is a multimedia eBook study guide and documentary film available on the iTunes platform. The book integrates the complete film Shadows and Illuminations as well as a film guide that explores historical, clinical, cinematic and cultural material at the intersection of medical, visual and psychological anthropology.[17]

Select articles

References
  1. "Faculty".
  2. "Robert Lemelson | DER Filmmaker Bio". www.der.org.
  3. "Members of The Lemelson Foundation's Board of Directors | The Lemelson Foundation". www.lemelson.org. Archived from the original on 2009-12-20.
  4. "Elemental Productions". Elemental Productions.
  5. "Robert Lemelson". IMDb.
  6. "FPR: Board and Founder". www.thefpr.org. Archived from the original on 2010-08-28.
  7. Webster, Andy (October 30, 2014). "The Pain of Polygamy (Published 2014)". The New York Times.
  8. "UNAFF 2013: Films: Standing on the Edge of a Thorn". www.unaff.org.
  9. "Jathilan: Trance and Possession in Java".
  10. "Ngaben: Emotion and Restraint in a Balinese Heart | A short documentary film takes an impressionistic look at a Balinese funeral ritual through the eyes of a mourning son". www.ngabenfilm.com.
  11. http://www.tribecafilminstitute.org/filmmakers/reframe/news/147512795.html
  12. http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/clinicalethno/category/uncategorized/page/2/
  13. "Institute for Social Research". Institute for Social Research.
  14. Nakamura, Karen (2011). "Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia [The Bird Dancer, 40 min.; Family Victim, 38 min.; Shadows and Illuminations, 35 min.] by Robert Lemelson". American Anthropologist. 113 (4): 655–656. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01382.x.
  15. "Adrian Vickers' Indonesia blog". blogs.usyd.edu.au. Archived from the original on 2009-08-10.
  16. http://deadcenter.bside.com/2007/films/movementsandmadnessgustiayu_deadcenter
  17. "Shadows and Illuminations: A Multi-Touch Film Guide | Anthropology-News". www.anthropology-news.org. Archived from the original on 2016-04-24.
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