The Indonesian Psychological Consortium (Konsorsium Psikologi Indonesia/KPI) recently held a workshop titled Visual Techniques in Psychological Anthropology and a screening of the film TAJEN: INTERACTIVE last Friday (9/6) in Universitas Gadjah Madas Faculty of Psychology. Both events brought in Robert Lemelson, Ph.D., who is a psychological and visual anthropologist based in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and also an ethnography film director. Lemelson has been delving into the world of Visual Psychological Anthropology (VPA) for approximately 20 years and has won many awards for his films about psychology and culture in Indonesia. In the film screening and in the workshop, Lemelson talked about the concept of VPA and its application in research and movies about cultures present in Indonesia.
In the workshop, held in the Faculty of Psychologys Room A-203, Lemelson explained that the visual technique in psychological anthropology starts by determining the research topic, and it can also start by transforming previous research to a visual film form. Lemelson also stated that aspects of filmmaking in the VPA method start from pre-production, production, post-production, and film distribution as well as marketing. In this workshop, Lemelson gave an example of filmmaking through his previous works exploring cultures in Indonesia.
After the workshop, the film TAJEN: INTERACTIVE, produced by Lementhal Production, was screened. The screening, as well as an interactive question and answer session, was held in the Faculty of Psychologys G-100 Auditorium. This film explored the theme of cockfighting in Negara, Bali, viewed from the owners perspective, the rooster itself, and the spur knife as a supporting tool. TAJEN used a unique way of shooting that makes viewers feel like they are in the middle of the action. The event continued with a Q & A session and additional commentary about the films concept.
Before this event in which Lemelson became the key speaker, Lemelson was also involved in KPIs succession. In 2018, the Center for Indigenous & Cultural Psychology (CICP) became a partner in KPIs research, with the theme Identity, Self-Esteem, Life Satisfaction, Attitude toward Multiculturalism among Young Adults from Five Ethnic Groups in Indonesia. The five ethnic groups researched were the Minangkabau, Batak, Chinese, Javanese, and Balinese people. The research was a collaboration between CICP, KPI, and the Robert Lemelson Foundation. (CICP PR/Ratri Arista)