Like many anthropologists, we responded to this postelection moment by turning to books. But confronted by the long lists of readings in crowdsourced syllabi, we were both impressed and paralyzed by the impossibility of reading such a vast number of pages. To help us figure out what to read first—and to help the readers of Cultural Anthropology do the same—we asked a number of scholars, including early-career scholars in our Contributing Editors Program, to reflect on a text (or a few) that has helped them to understand the current political moment. We’ve compiled their responses here.

This is an ongoing, community-built project: if you would like to submit a post to this series, please email Ned Dostaler ([email protected]) or Julia Sizek ([email protected]) with your contribution of approximately 350–450 words, discussing a small number of texts. We welcome a wide range of submissions, from personal narratives to more academic takes on the issues of the day.