Vershawn Ashanti Young is a scholar, writer, and performance artist who specializes in four areas of African American studies: language, literature, masculinity, and performance. He values collaborative academic work and in recent years has published with Frankie Condon a special issue of Across the Disciplines: “Anti-Racist Activism: Teaching Rhetoric and Writing” (2013); with Julie Naviaux, “Snap!: The Marlon Riggs Bibliography” (African American Review, 2012); with Bridget Harris Tsemo, From Bourgeois to Boojie: Black Middle-Class Performances (2011); and with Aja Martinez, Code-Meshing as World English: Pedagogy, Policy, Performance (2011). He is currently completing with Michelle Bachelor Robinson and Carmen Kynard the groundbreaking The Routledge Reader of African American Rhetoric: The Longue Duree of Black Voices.