
I will discuss the importance of spatially dispersive charge currents in understanding the dynamics of electrons in new quantum materials. In order for spatially varying charge currents to exist the translation symmetry of a system must be broken. In the field of condensed matter physics this can occur in two fundamental ways: either by spatial inhomogeneities in the crystalline structure of the material one is studying or by application of a perturbing field that itself is modulated in space. I will discuss these currents in the context of domain walls in bilayer graphene, circular dichroism in twisted bilayer graphene, and the spatially dispersive circular photogalvanic effect in Weyl semimetals.