Cultural Writing. Political Science. This year, the annual Sarai Reader looks at 'Acts'--at instruments of legislation, at things within and outside the law, and at 'acts'--as different ways of 'doing' things in society and culture. Several essays echo and complement themes that have emerged in earlier readers. Piracy, borders, surveillance, claims to authority and entitlement, the language of expertise, the legal regulation of sexual behaviour and trespasses of various kinds have featured prominently in previous Readers. This collection foregrounds these issues in a way we hope can make a series of coherent but autonomous and interrelated arguments.