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We propose an indifference-zone approach for a ranking and selection (R&S) problem with the goal of finding the best-subset from a finite number of competing simulated systems given a level of correct-selection probability. Here the "best" system refers to the system with the largest or smallest performance measures. We present a best-subset selection procedure that can effectively eliminate the non-competitive systems and return only those alternatives as the selection result where statistically confident conclusions hold. Numerical experiments document that our procedure works well by selecting the correct best-subset with very high probability.

The following introduces a special issue of the Journal of Folklore Research (49/2, 2012) that focuses on situations in which individuals and the vernaculars associated with them are stigmatized. Authors in the special issue explore issues of reflexivity, representation, and 'stigma veneration' as they emerged during research on type 2 diabetes, accounts of tobacco farming, chaotic narratives of trauma, and the quest for political asylum. Here, the issue's guest editors introduce concerns about stigma, vernacularity, tellability, visibility, and valuation. A number of methodological issues arise as researchers struggle to hear what isn't voiced and attempt to determine what can't be said when writing about stigmatized groups or topics.

Building on Erving Goffman's discussion of stigma, this essay explores how stigma and normalcy produce each other. Stigmatizing includes processes of recognition, misrecognition, estrangement, and othering. We consider how the stigmatized vernacular produces and deploys visibility, invisibility, and hypervisibility of cultural practices. Examining the experiences of political asylum seekers, we suggest that routinized violence produces a new kind of ordinary for victims of persecution; when these stigmatized individuals seek refuge in a new country, officials sometimes further stigmatize them by insisting on their own categories of 'normal.' We argue that any assessment of cultural context that depends on cultural norms is insufficient for understanding stigmatizing situations: conceptualizing 'the normal' is itself a means for enacting exclusions, and the stigmatized vernacular can be a pervasive mechanism for concealing discrimination under the guise of what is 'normal.' We propose that studying the stigmatized vernacular can serve as a critique of the veneration of the folk in folkloristic research.

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