Emphasizes the developments in interactional theory and practice. This work includes examples of post-modern ethnography and performance texts focused on border crossings and border performances. It presents essays honoring Carolyn Ellis' contributions to 'Symbolic Interaction and Communications'.

Part I. In Touch with Carolyn Ellis; Ellis's Contributions to Symbolic Interaction and Communication. Sketching Carolyn Ellis, The Purple Diva of Autoethnography. (C. Rambo). Storying the Possible: The Life Writing and Writing Life of Carolyn Ellis. (S. Holman Jones). From Lingua Franca to Scriptio Animi: Carolyn Ellis's Writing of the Heart. (S. Green and D. Flemons). Tracing Touch. (P. Geist Martin, J. Minge). Touching Back/Receiving Gifts. (C. Ellis). Taking Notes: Lessons on Ethnography and Life from Carolyn Ellis. (L.L. Ellingson). Democracy is a Gift. (N.K. Denzin). Surviving Autoethnography. (A.P. Bochner). Part II. Peter M. Hall Lecture Series. Symbolic Interaction, Sociology and Changing Society: Critical Issues and New Directions: Introduction. (P.M. Hall). Identity Stakes, Manhood Acts, and the Dynamics of Accountability. (M. Schwalbe). Part III. Developments in Interactionist Theory and Practice. Backwards Traveler(s): Re/Writing Post-9/11 America. (M.D. Giardina). Sacred and Profane: (Six Feet Under:) a Sociological Performance. (A. Fontana, T.A. McGinnis, C.L. Radeloff). Lessons from Jasper: How a White Father's Unimaginable Imaginary Conversations with his Black Daughter Shine a Light on Whiteness. (K. Dolan). Carnaval, Cumbia and Queens: Representations of Blackness. (D. Davila). Words. (C. Moreira). The Novel: Disclosing the Self in a Creative Social Act. (L. Athens). Fanny May, The Gray Horse, and Remembrance of Ma's Death. (M.A. Katovich). The Strangeness of Being. (A. Fontana, T.A. Mcginnis). Part IV. Border Crossings/Border Performances. Caffeine, Carnival and the Emergence of Eighteenth-Century Nervous Dis-Ease. (C. Diana). The Postmodern Turn in Interactionism. (A. Fontana). Who are you: Pete Townshend, "Going Solo," and the Postmodern Search for Self in Rock Music. (D. Dotter). The Medicated Self. (J. Davis-Berman, F.G. Pestello). Emotions and Collaborative Learning: a Durkheimian Interpretation of Scheff's Theory of Creativity. (S. Derne, L. Jadwin). A Note on Inter-Viewing: Using Symbolic Interactionism for Interview Analysis. (A. Raz). The Other in the Game: Mead and Wittgenstein on Interaction. (R.S. Perinbanayagam). What's Happening To S.I.: G. Fine. (A. Ouassini). The Decline of Folkways and Mores. (B.N. Meltzer). Gay Moral Discourse: Talking about Identity, Sex, and Commitment. (D.E. Woolwine, E. Doyle McCarthy). An Account of a Life Lived: Herbert Blumer Revisited. (K. Manges Douglas).