Graduate Student, American Studies
Graduate Assistant
Arts and Letters
About
Shawn David Young is a Ph.D. candidate in the American Studies program at Michigan State University. He holds the M.A. in American culture studies from Washington University, St. Louis and the B.S. in music industry studies from Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Specifically, his research deals with the intersections of 20th Century evangelicalism, 20th Century countercultural expression, and popular music. Additional areas of research include theories of rhetoric and cultural exchange as applied to communal studies, counterculture theory, and festival culture. Further, his interest in music (specifically) and new media are, for him, methods of representation which offer extensive possibilities for semiotic analysis. Shawn is interested in the connection between emerging methods of expression and the formation of ideology as demonstrated within particular spaces and situations. He is currently working with Dr. David W. Stowe in researching the evolution of music and political theory as applied to fundamentalism within the contemporary Christian music youth culture, and its alignment with the Religious Right. Selected publications include writings on dystopian communities and rock history in ABC-CLIO's World History Encyclopedia, and chapters in a forthcoming book on 9/11 and popular culture with Greenwood Press. He is the area chair for subculture with the Midwest Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association and co-chair for the areas of Baby-Boomer culture and The Sixties, with the National Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association. Young also contributes as a news editor to Religion Compass, an online journal from Wiley-Blackwell.
Young and his family spent five years in Greenville, Illinois, where he taught contemporary music studies at a small liberal arts college. While at Greenville College, he was able to mentor students in a rock performance course. Some went on to form notable acts such as Augustana.
Contact Information
http://www.americanstudies.msu.edu/students/student-bio.php?page=young
Michigan State University
235 Bessey Hall
East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1033
