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Two new species of pelican spiders (family Archaeidae) are described from rainforest habitats in south-eastern Queensland, Australia – Austrarchaea davidi Rix, sp. nov. and A. laidlawae Rix, sp. nov. – and the female of A. clyneae Rix & Harvey, 2011 is described for the first time. Phylogenetic analysis of a mitochondrial molecular dataset for the genes cytochrome c oxidase subunits I and II reveals that these two new species are the closest relatives of A. judyae Rix & Harvey, 2011 and A. clyneae, respectively, with mitochondrial sequencing also used to identify newly-collected specimens of Austrarchaea from populations throughout south-eastern Queensland. These recent collections were largely made during dedicated survey work conducted after the devastating 2019–20 summer bushfires in eastern Australia. We further provide a synopsis of the archaeid fauna of south-eastern Queensland, which is comprised of 11 species in two monophyletic regional-endemic clades. A revised key to species is presented for both clades, along with updated distributional information, and live habitus images for nine of the 11 species.

There are few works on the reproductive behavior of species of cribellate spiders. Even more scarce are studies of the reproductive behavior of representatives of the Desidae, such as the genus Metaltella Mello-Leit˜ao, 1931. In this paper, we describe for the first time the reproductive behavior of Metaltella iheringi (Keyserling, 1891), a species that is characterized by complex genitalia in both sexes. We determined frequencies and durations of the behaviors in the different phases. Thirty virgin males were exposed to virgin females and the behaviors performed by each sex, as well as their frequencies, were recorded. Three phases were identified: pre-copulatory, copulatory, and post-copulatory. The most frequent behaviors were chelicera-palp rubbing, abdomen vibration and web-stretching by the male, and body-shaking and leg-tapping on the web by the female. When the male grabbed the female, she typically fell into a state of quiescence (the female remained motionless with legs in a semi-flexed position) and she remained so even after the male ended the copulation. Mating was characterized by low aggression by the female and a low incidence of cannibalism. In the postcopulatory phase, the male performed frequent behaviors such as abdomen vibration, sperm induction, and postcopulatory cohabitation. We discuss the possible implications of these behaviors in a pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection context. We also provide information that serves as a basis for future studies to understand the mechanisms involved in these behaviors.

The pseudotyrannochthoniid genus Centrochthonius Beier, 1931 is one of the rarest and most poorly understood pseudoscorpion genera in the world. Only a handful of specimens are presently known, all from high-altitude habitats in China, Kyrgyzstan and Nepal. The inaccessibility of specimens has resulted in major taxonomic difficulties such as a poor generic diagnosis, but also a lack of understanding of evolutionary patterns in this psychrophilic fauna. Herein we diagnose Centrochthonius for the first time since its original description and include four Holocene species: one from Kyrgyzstan, two from China, and C. anatonus sp. nov. from Nepal. A fifth fossil species from Bitterfeld amber (Oligocene-Miocene) in central Europe highlights significant range retraction and continental extinction in this genus since the Neogene, leading us to suggest a climatic relict hypothesis for this fauna. Biogeographically, the genus provides further evidence for significant range shifts and extinction events in the Holarctic invertebrate biota during the Cenozoic. Close relatives of Centrochthonius are found in subterranean habitats throughout eastern Asia and warm temperate forests in the western U.S.A. which highlights the magnitude of range retraction caused by climatic cycling in an ancient fauna since at least the Paleogene. The subgenus Allochthonius (Urochthonius) Morikawa, 1954 from caves in Japan has been largely defined by the presence of troglomorphic features such as eye loss, which are here regarded as insufficient to retain as a separate clade from other species of Allochthonius. Therefore, Allochthonius (Urochthonius) is treated as a junior synonym of Allochthonius (syn. nov.).

In Two Trains Running (1992), August Wilson uses three interlocutors to feed the spirit of the community with the moral-ethical imperatives of the past. Joining Aunt Ester and the diner’s jukebox, Wilson’s most striking device of ancestral wisdom is Risa Thomas, the enigmatic character with the scarred legs. On the corporeal level, her scarification is the means through which she redresses sexual objectification and defines the self—just as Wilson intends. However, on the spiritual level, her leg inscriptions are an atavistic gesture that alludes to Yorùbá orature, the Odù Ifá (Odù), and speaks to the prevailing cosmic forces that challenge the community and offers curative remedies to solve its moral dilemmas. In the context of the Odù suggested through her scarification, Risa is more voiced than the text demonstrates. She carries stories of the entire community, and thus, is representative of the dramatic journey of the play.

How do I stop the pain? I don’t. But we do. This is the premise of Keeper of My Mothers’Dreams (Keeper), a collaborative, community exhibition about the history and healing of Black women. The exhibition was and is a site of memory that possesses and generates ase—a life force that is transformative and has the potential to make order out of chaos. In short, it “gives me life” instead of draining it. As the artists and audiences participate in its rituals and interactive components, Keeper invites us to remember the violent histories that have impacted Black women and their families emotionally, physically, psychologically, and spiritually: slavery, enslavement, lynching, sexual violence, and child mortality (to name those evident in the exhibition). In the same space, however, Keeper offers us the opportunity to be healed, or at least to begin the healing process, by a delicate balance of life-giving points masterfully integrated into the artwork and space: a libation bowl, poetry, decorated wombs, song, the disruptive beauty and cadence of Black women’s voices.

The Black Masking Indians (BMIs) of New Orleans, commonly called the Mardi Gras Indians, are groups of African Americans who have maintained, arguably, the oldest surviving festival arts tradition by Africandescended people in North America. Elaborate handmade suits depicting Native American and African-inspired designs are personified through dance and call-and-response singing on Mardi Gras, St. Joseph’s Day, and Super Sundays. This tradition pays homage to Native Americans who provided refuge to escaped African slaves. Masking Indian empowers practitioners by celebrating resistance and the survival of marginalized peoples. Records reveal that enslaved Kongolese, Senegambians, and Yoruba were brought to Louisiana in significant numbers and that these Africans interacted with Native Americans in and surrounding New Orleans. Because enslaved Africans in Louisiana were from many different cultures, this article examines the maintenance of broad musical Africanisms among BMIs. In keeping with the focus of this journal, I examine the office of the Big Chief through the lens of Yoruba spirituality, specifically the concept/aesthetic known as asé (the life force or power to make things happen). Yoruba orisas (deities) examined include Esu/Elegba (the keeper of asé, the gatekeeper and messenger of God), Sango (the leader, warrior, and strategist), Osun (the goddess of beauty), Yemonja/Olukun (the deity of motherhood and guidance), and Obatala (the creator of humankind and the symbol of wisdom, old age, and creativity). This analysis of BMI chieftaincy explores the lives of Donald Harrison Sr. and Victor Harris, Big Chiefs responsible for introducing and maintaining the Africanization of BMI culture. Ultimately, the article shows how elements of African-derived sound expression and BMI chieftaincy might be analyzed using a single cultural and spiritual aesthetic.

Non-cisgender, non-heterosexual, non-male bodies are not safe in Black churches. The digital Black church must be different from its physical landscape and historical institutional status. In the digital age, forward-thinking Black preaching women are going live on social media to preach in multifaceted ways and “bypass traditional systems of legitimization and historically recognized gatekeepers.” A natural progression from the clandestine clearing to phonograph preaching, to radio and televangelism livestreams—online streaming media broadcast in real time and simultaneously recorded—serve as agential sites. The article argues that Black preaching women are making use of networked space to circumvent interlaced oppressive religious structures and theologies. Acting as curators, they are deploying livestreams as digital hush harbors in ways that are challenging traditional hierarchies of Black church authority and changing the nature of religious space. The offering concludes that when Black preaching women couple digital media with spiritual agency, they sacralize their lived experiences in ways that colonized religion and the offline Black church have not fully recognized.

This article examines the implications of the digital application Whoop Triggerz—a software product designed to mimic live instrumentation—for the practice of whooping—the Black church expressive tradition of melodically intoned speech. I argue that this digital application, by attempting to reproduce on demand an “authentic” aesthetic of ecstatic expression via whooping, simultaneously underscores a performative anxiety in whooping practice and a detachment from the vital intimacies and technologies that contribute (d) to the organic emergence of the tradition itself. I explore how instrumentation—specifically via the Hammond organ—operates as an accompanying breath through which musicians actively shape the sonic aesthetics of celebration, in analogical relationship with the preacher and congregation. I compare and contrast this process with the features and limitations of the Whoop Triggerz application, through which the dynamic response of the musician is constrained by programmed trajectories of digital performance. I conclude that Black church cultural traditions, whooping among them, are not utterly reducible to digital routinization, but their ongoing significance and survival depends on remaining grounded in analog relationships of apprenticeship and practice. To the extent that digital objects are bound by discrete and finite realms of possibility, I argue they ultimately lack the full representative capacity for capturing the excess of sound and the affective openness gestured toward and generated by whooping.

A trending topic since 2013, #BlackGirlMagic is often used to celebrate the beauty, power, and resilience of Black womxn. 2 Each use of #BlackGirlMagic is a “shout!” of resistance, where one has carved or is encouraging others to carve out a living space in a world that has been more hostile than helpful, more critical than caring, more death-dealing than life-giving. As a search term, #BlackGirlMagic creates an organizational network where Black womxn and girls share messages of survival as they simultaneously experience the chaotic conditions of life. This virtual gathering place or cyber congregation functions as a religious surrogate where Black womxn and girls share sacred messages that encourage us to push through our personal struggles. The Black church traditions of testimony, exhortation, improvisation, call and response, and song live and are made “live” through every post, like, share, tweet, retweet, screen shot, and repost. “Black Girl Magic” hashtags create an aesthetic blend of theology and culture that not only addresses real-life, concrete, existential concerns but also promotes a life-sustaining spiritual praxis. As journalist Jamescia Thomas noted, “‘Black girl magic’ is more than a hashtag; it’s a movement.” I contend that this movement is a denomination of “the digital Black church.” As we experience the hallelujah chorus of “Black girl” wins, we are motivated to think differently about the sacred and deal more deeply with religion.

African American preachers and journalists have partnered throughout history to establish some of the most influential news outlets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This has meant, however, that much of what news audiences read in those newspapers and magazines adhered to the respectability politics of the Black church itself. At the turn of the twenty-first century, however, Black millennial Christian podcasters have reached an editorial tipping point. Gone are the appeals for assimilation. In their place are bold proclamations of anti-respectability, embracing the “ratchet” performance as authentic social justice commentary. But why? In this case study I explore how four leading Black women podcasters are reporting the “good news” in reimagined ways: D. Danyelle Thomas of Gospel for the Culture, Candice Marie Benbow of Red Lip Theology, and Simone Brown and Seretha Collins of The Clean Ears Show.