A Promising Practice: Using Facebook as a Communication and Social Networking Tool

Individuals with autism often face barriers to social interaction. Residing in a rural environment can compound these difficulties for individuals diagnosed with autism. Some of the reasons include transportation problems and small social networks, in addition to the characteristics of autism. This article discusses a promising practice for supporting the communication and social opportunities for individuals with autism. The authors examined how Facebook supported the social interaction of Jacob, a 28-year old with High Functioning Autism. The findings suggested that, through Facebook, Jacob increased the quantity and quality of social ties he had with others. The authors argue that although online social networking has limitations, with supervision, tools such as Facebook hold potential for developing and increasing social interaction for individuals with High Functioning Autism /Asperger Syndrome

The Language and Affect of Belief

Research on emotion in anthropology has been supplanted by an ethnographic turn toward ‘subjectivity’, ‘embodiment’, ‘personhood’, and ‘experience’. In this article, I explore how these interrelated modes of analysis can help ethnographers to better understand the cultural processes that constitute how people feel. I show that among my Christian Dusun interlocutors in Ranau, Malaysian Borneo, the interactive engagement between subjects and their environment determined the vectors of emotional possibility in terms of belief. The intersection of religious objects (God, the Holy Spirit, Satan) and mutual obligations in the community produce what I refer to as the ‘faith network’. I trace these collective attachments to consider how ‘believing in’ regulates feeling in relation to situations of crisis, impasse, and tragedy. The combined efforts of my interlocutors, I suggest, created an active commitment that pulsated through the faith network, which sustained an intensive and defining mode of their relational experience

The Stigmatization of Individuals Convicted of Sex Offenses: Labeling Theory and The Sex Offense Registry

The sex offender registry currently lists over half a million U.S. citizens as sex offenders. Modern day legislation directed toward sex offenders was born in an era of public fear and rash decision-making. Terrible consequences have since been identified as resulting from the labeling of sex offenders via the registry. These unintended consequences socially, economically, and psychologically influence the lives of sex offenders. Labeling theory states that individuals who are given a label eventually subscribe to that label; in other words, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the case of sex offenders, this can only mean more damage to society. This paper examines how the registry reproduces labeling and how sex offenders are consequently damaged by their given label. GPS tracking and treatment through the Good Lives Model are offered as contemporary solutions to the ever-growing problem