About

Robert Lemelson is a psychological anthropologist and adjunct professor at UCLA, with extensive experience working in Southeast Asia, particularly on the islands of Bali and Java in Indonesia. His research explores the relationship of culture and history to trauma, psychiatric illness, structural and gender-based violence, and their connection to subjectivity and phenomenology. He is also a visual anthropologist and ethnographic filmmaker with over twenty years of fieldwork experience, producing longitudinal film studies on topics such as mental illness, polygamy, gender-based violence, the sex trade, genocide, kinship, ritual, trance, and possession. In 2007, Lemelson founded Elemental Productions, an ethnographic documentary film company, through which he has completed over a dozen films. He is the president of the Foundation for Psychocultural Research, a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to integrating social sciences and neuroscience. His work has significantly contributed to transcultural psychiatry, ethnographic film, and the understanding of traditional healing, trauma, and social violence in Indonesia. His research and films have been recognized with numerous awards and festival selections, emphasizing his role in advancing cross-disciplinary approaches to mental health and cultural expression.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Social Science
• Anthropology
• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Aesthetics
• Philosophy
• Gender studies
• Law
• History
• Art
• Epistemology
• Cognitive science
• Psychoanalysis

Selected publications

• Visual psychological anthropology

  2025-11-13

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Cognition, Stigma, and Inclusivity Roundtable

  Projections · 2024-03-01

  articleOpen access

  For this Roundtable, we asked several leading scholars working on issues of social justice and cognition in film and media studies for a brief response to the prompt: “Explain one current theory, approach, or research finding that you think is particularly important in addressing stigma and inclusivity in screen media.” Participants drew from their own current work and insights, and they pointed to new strands of inquiry that they found exciting. Their responses represent a range of interests across diverse specialisms, and comprise an interdisciplinary showcase for the state of current research in social justice, cognition, and media, including ideas on how the fields could grow from here.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Standing on the Edge of a Thorn: Stigmatization, Social Violence, and Sex Work in Central Java

  Culture, mind, and society · 2021-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 40 Years of Silence: Generational Effects of Political Violence and Childhood Trauma in Indonesia

  Springer eBooks · 2021 · 2 citations

  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Gender studies
  PublisherDOI

• Additional Psychocultural Themes

  Culture, mind, and society · 2021-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Ethical Issues in Visual Psychological Anthropology

  Culture, mind, and society · 2021-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Visual Psychological Anthropology in the Field

  Culture, mind, and society · 2021-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Widening the Frame with Visual Psychological Anthropology

  Culture, mind, and society · 2021-01-01 · 6 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Trauma, Gendered Violence, and Stigmatization: Tracing Themes Throughout the Three Films

  Culture, mind, and society · 2021-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Filming Trauma, Gendered Violence, and Stigmatization

  Culture, mind, and society · 2021-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Annie Tucker

  31 shared

• Laurence J. Kirmayer

  Jewish General Hospital

  16 shared

• Mark Barad

  Neurobehavioral Systems

  10 shared

• Constance A. Cummings

  6 shared

• Shinobu Kitayama

  5 shared

• Carol M. Worthman

  Emory University

  5 shared

• Luh Ketut Suryani

  Udayana University

  2 shared

• Patricia M. Greenfield

  Harvard University

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• Distinguished Teaching Award, 2003
• 40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy Winner, Award of…
• Winner, Award of Excellence, Indie Fest, 2009
• Nominee, Most Innovative Production, History Makers Awards,…
• Winner, Best Foreign Feature, Oregon Film Awards, 2012