AnthroDorphins is an anthropology video series that eases the pain and elevates the pleasure of learning anthropology by making key ideas accessible and engaging. From funeral rites to extreme sports, ghost marriage to gender identity, AnthroDorphins fuels your spark of curiosity about cultures around the world and brings concepts alive through ethnographic film, animation, and expert insights. Created and led by Rob Lemelson, a UCLA anthropologist and ethnographic filmmaker with decades of experience in the classroom and the field, AnthroDorphins videos are perfect for teachers looking to invigorate their lectures, students looking to reinforce their learning, and anyone interested in anthropology.

In “Part 1: Ethnographic Methods” you’ll get a behind the scenes look at my personal experience doing ethnographic research in Indonesia over the past 30 years. You’ll also explore the work of other anthropologists. Part 1 will give a brief history of “Ethnographic Methods” and illustrate anthropology as it’s done in the field today.

“Part 2: Ethnographic Relationships and Presentation” will address the fundamentally social nature of fieldwork and introduce innovative ways of presenting research. Together, the videos will give you a foundational understanding of what ethnography entails.

Kinship is one of the first topics anthropologists studied over 150 years ago. While the term may seem quaint, issues of intimate relationships never get old. “Part 1: Kinship Structures” outlines different ways of structuring family through marriage.

Kinship is one of the first topics anthropologists studied over 150 years ago. While the term may seem quaint, issues of intimate relationships never get old. “Part 2: Brother, Sisters, and Beyond” explores siblinghood and culturally specific kin relationships.

Kinship is one of the first topics anthropologists studied over 150 years ago. While the term may seem quaint, issues of intimate relationships never get old. “Part 3: Oedipus Ubiquitous?” questions whether there are universal psychological dynamics between parents and children.

Kinship is one of the first topics anthropologists studied over 150 years ago. While the term may seem quaint, issues of intimate relationships never get old. “Part 4: Kinship and Contemporary Family-making,” offers an anthropological perspective on significant contemporary shifts in the way family is being created and defined.

Kinship is one of the first topics anthropologists studied over 150 years ago. While the term may seem quaint, issues of intimate relationships never get old. “Part 5: Manipulating Kinship: Cults and Politics,” explores what happens when kinship structures and family ties are interrupted or controlled for political purposes.

What’s the most influential factor in any child’s development? What do you think? Could it be… parents? Schooling? Individual personality? In fact, the most influential factor in any child’s development is the cultural community into which they are born. Culture will impact every major aspect of a growing child’s life, from the very first moments of its life. In “Part 1: Situating Childhood” we’ll learn how material conditions, care-taking responsibilities, and cultural expectations shape the process of child development.

Part One: Gender will address cultural variations in gender performance, gendered labor, gender fluidity and gender beyond the binary.

Rites of passage help transition individuals from one stage of life to the next, and no matter the stage, they often share a similar underlying structure. In this video, anthropologist Robert Lemelson walks you through the three parts of a rite of passage proposed by cultural theorist Arnold Van Gennep: separation, liminality, and incorporation. Lemelson explains how group participation in a rite of passage can build a powerful sense of connection known as communitas, and investigates what happens when rites of passage become objects of tourism or cultural appropriation.

What’s the most influential factor in any child’s development? What do you think? Could it be… parents? Schooling? Individual personality? In fact, the most influential factor in any child’s development is the cultural community into which they are born. Culture will impact every major aspect of a growing child’s life, from the very first moments of its life. In “Part 1: Situating Childhood” we’ll learn how material conditions, care-taking responsibilities, and cultural expectations shape the process of child development.

Part Two: Gender Fluidity will address the way different cultures allow for shifts in gender identity and are changing their own constructions of gender.

Part Three: Sexuality will explore sexual liberation, gendered sexual violence, and sexual subcultures.

Part 2: Coming of Age surveys different coming of age rituals, where young people around the world can train for and demonstrate their mastery of skills required for adulthood, such as religious and gendered knowledge, bravery and endurance.

Part 3: Funeral Rites, covers the last rite of passage a human will go through– death

Part 4: Death Ritual: Continuity and Change goes even deeper into this most mysterious transition, raising pressing questions about how rites of passage around death are changing in response to societal and environmental conditions today.

Part 4: Death Ritual: Contemporary Death goes even deeper into this most mysterious transition, raising pressing questions about how rites of passage around death are changing in response to societal and environmental conditions today.

If you watched our video on gender and sexuality, you know there are aspects of human experience that feel like sheer biology–but a deeper investigation reveals the influence of culture. Race has been framed as a physical fact, but it is actually a construct–arguably, as much a product of culture as ethnicity and ethnic identity. In Part Two: Contemporary Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity” we’ll look at experiences of celebration and oppression around race and ethnicity, delving into food, family, and more.

If you watched our video on gender and sexuality, you know there are aspects of human experience that feel like sheer biology–but a deeper investigation reveals the influence of culture. Race has been framed as a physical fact, but it is actually a construct–arguably, as much a product of culture as ethnicity and ethnic identity. In Part Two: Contemporary Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity” we’ll look at experiences of celebration and oppression around race and ethnicity, delving into food, family, and more.