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Why family ties in Kūfa mattered for early Islamic politics
Read more: Why family ties in Kūfa mattered for early Islamic politicsAliya A Ali explores how kinship and marriage alliances shaped political power and governance in the early Islamic city of Kūfa.

Class and Feeling in the Films of Jia Zhangke
In 2008, I saw Jia Zhangke’s film Still Life, and it changed my life. I had never seen a film that had affected me so intensely and knew that, after that moment, I needed to research this director and his films further. What impacted me the most about Jia’s films were their emotional and affective qualities, and how they evoked feelings that lingered long after the films had ended.