Robert Lemelson is an anthropologist and documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on the relationship of culture, psychology and personal experience in Indonesia. He received his M.A. from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a Fulbright scholar in Indonesia, exploring the relation of culture to mental illness, and has worked for the World Health Organization. Lemelson’s area of specialty is Southeast-Asian studies, psychological anthropology and transcultural psychiatry. He is currently an adjunct professor of Anthropology at UCLA and a research anthropologist in the Semel Institute of Neuroscience at UCLA.

Lemelson is currently working on a number of documentary films based on his research in Indonesia. He has been filming on the islands of Bali and Java in Indonesia since 1997, exploring the relation to culture to such disorders as schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette’s syndrome and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Lemelson founded Elemental Productions in 2007 and as Director & Producer has produced documentary films focusing on the relationship of culture, mental illness and personal experience in Indonesia and the United States.

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Lemelson, R. & Tucker, A. (2021). Widening the frame with Visual Psychological Anthropology: Perspectives on trauma, gendered violence, and stigma in Indonesia (Culture, Mind, and Society). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79883-3

Lemelson, R. & Tucker, A. (2017). Afflictions: Steps toward a Visual Psychological Anthropology (Culture, Mind, and Society). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59984-7