Robert Lemelson

Robert 'bigboy' Lemelson is a cultural anthropologist,[1] ethnographic filmmaker[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.[4] 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.[5] Lemelson founded Elemental Productions in 2008,[6] a documentary production company, and has directed and produced numerous ethnographic films.[7]

Lemelson also is involved in a number of philanthropic ventures. He is the president of The Foundation for Psychocultural Research,[8] a research foundation that supports work integrating the social and neurosciences. He also acts a director for The Lemelson Foundation,[9] 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 Title Type Release Date Short Synopsis TRT
40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy Documentary Feature 2009 40 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.[10] 96 min
Shadows and Illuminations Documentary Short 2010 Shadows and Illuminations is part of the Afflictions: Culture & Mental Illness in Indonesia - Volume 1: Psychotic Disorder. 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.[11] 35 min
Memory of My Face Documentary Short 2011 Memory of My Face is part of the Afflictions: Culture & Mental Illness in Indonesia - Volume 1: Psychotic Disorder. 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.[12] 22 min
Ritual Burdens Documentary Short 2011 Ritual Burdens is part of the Afflictions: Culture & Mental Illness in Indonesia - Volume 1: Psychotic Disorder. 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 [13] 25 min
The Bird Dancer Documentary Short 2010 The Bird Dancer is part of the Afflictions: Culture & Mental Illness in Indonesia - Volume 2: Neuropsychiatric Disorders. 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 Victim Documentary Short 2010 Family Victim is part of the Afflictions: Culture & Mental Illness in Indonesia - Volume 2: Neuropsychiatric Disorders. 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.[15] 38 min
Kites & Monsters Documentary Short 2011 Kites & Monsters is part of the Afflictions: Culture & Mental Illness in Indonesia - Volume 2: Neuropsychiatric Disorders. 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
Jathilan: Trance and Possession in Java Documentary Short 2012 Jathilan: 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. 27 min
Movements and Madness Documentary feature 2006 Movements 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 publications

Select articles

References

  1. ↑ http://www.anthro.ucla.edu/people/faculty?lid=1341
  2. ↑ http://www.der.org/films/filmmakers/robert-lemelson.html
  3. ↑ http://www.lemelson.org/about/board-directors
  4. ↑ http://www.anthro.ucla.edu/people/faculty?lid=1341
  5. ↑ http://www.der.org/films/filmmakers/robert-lemelson.html
  6. ↑ http://www.elementalproductions.org/#!about-us/vstc5=robert-lemelson
  7. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3199649/
  8. ↑ http://www.thefpr.org/about/founders.php
  9. ↑ http://www.lemelson.org/about/board-directors
  10. ↑ http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/vicindonblog/2009/07/40_years_of_silence.html
  11. ↑ http://www.sampler.isr.umich.edu/2012/events/afflictions-films-start-culture-mind-and-brain-conference/
  12. ↑ http://www.tribecafilminstitute.org/filmmakers/reframe/news/147512795.html
  13. ↑ http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/clinicalethno/category/uncategorized/page/2/
  14. ↑ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01382.x/abstract
  15. ↑ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01382.x/abstract
  16. ↑ http://deadcenter.bside.com/2007/films/movementsandmadnessgustiayu_deadcenter

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.