Hope readers in the U.S. are having a great Labor Day (aka your annual state-mandated day off from the crushing reality of capitalism)! Here are your readings for the week!

Is your groundbreaking ethnography not informing public discourse as much as you hoped? Peter Taylor-Gooby turned his research into a novel. Literary ethnographers keep doing your thing!

I am still weak from Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade, but did you catch any of the references to Yoruba and the representation of the Orisha, Oshun? 

As Boliva recently passed Law Nº 807, the “Gender Identity Law” that provides a wide-range of legal protections for transgender and transsexual people in the country. The law providing a contrast in international LGBTQ rights discourse that focuses on same-sex marriage and decriminalization of homosexuality.

August 31, 2016 marked the 64th Anniversary of the “Criminal Tribes Act” in India. However, these communities still face stigma from police and structural barriers to resources.

Perplexed by an enthusiastic “YAAASSSS” from the young people in your life? Dive into the queer history of “YAS” and its recent appropriation in popular culture.

Skid Row in Los Angeles exposes the loophole that intense poverty and over-policing have on each other, as witnessed by sociologist Forrest Stuart.

See you next week!