Dr. ShaDawn “Boobie” Battle
Meet 2023-2024 Artist as Instigator Dr. ShaDawn “Boobie” Battle
South Side of Chicago native, Dr. ShaDawn Battle is an Assistant Professor of Critical Ethnic and Black Studies at Xavier University (Cincinnati, OH) and multidisciplinary artist, researcher, activist, and educator whose work spans mediums including documentary films, performances, and public talks.
She currently serves on the advisory council for the Chicago Dance History Project. Dr. Battle earned her PhD in literature from The University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include African American Literature, Postcolonial Studies, Black Feminist Studies, Critical Race Epistemology, and Hip-Hop Studies. Dr. Battle has written on the relationship between Black male killings and epistemic injustice, the inexpressibility of Black girls’ pain, and on the art form, Chicago Footwork.
Place, Space, Werkz
For her Residency, Dr. Battle’s created Place, Space, Werkz (PSW), an innovative remix of workshops and cyphers. The workshops hosted 6 young professional footworkers who learned the history of 4 pillars of The Violation of Homeplace in Chicago: No Knock Warrants, Environmental Racism in Altgeld Gardens, Land Sale Contracts in Englewood, and the Plan for Transformation that led to the demolition of the Robert Taylor Homes, The Ickes, The Ida B. Wells and other Chicago housing projects. After each workshop, Dr. Battle tasked the participants with metabolizing the information they learned through footwork cyphers.
The team then spent the summer synthesizing what they’ve learned to create a Showcase that honored those affected by those displaced and violated by these racist government crimes. This process is all documented in Battle’s forthcoming Place, Space, Werkz film.
ShaDawn BattleI want my work to always be tethered to the material realities of culture and the city I come from.
Footwork saved my life shirt
This limited edition t-shirt is stylish, comfortable, and ready to hit the dance floor! Find it in the shop when you next visit the National Public Housing Museum.
Place, Space, Werkz: In the Press
At the start of her residency, Dr. Battle was interviewed by Block Club Chicago, along with our Associate Director Tiff Beatty. In the article, journalist Atavia Reed writes, “Battle will use the year-long residency at the museum to create Place, Space, and Werkz, a three-phase project involving educational workshops, site visits, archival records from the museum and creative expression to examine the Chicago Footwork dance community as it relates to social inequities and oppressive systems.” Read the full article. ShaDawn also sat down with WBEZ to discuss what Chicago Footwork can teach us about public housing communities. Listen to the full segment!
In 2025, Dr. Battle’s work with the museum continued as she worked with our archival team as part of 60 Inches From Center’s Chicago Archives + Artists Project to critically examine Chicago Footwork and its ability to hold the stories of public housing told through oral histories collected and preserved in the museum’s archive.
Read the full article here and find out more about Dr. Battle and her upcoming work via her instagram @drboobiebattle.
ShaDawn BattleI think I have a moral obligation to tell stories about people who live in the margins in this city. I want to use an art form that has been the saving grace of a lot of young Black people in this city to do just that.
How it started
Dr. Battle kicked off her residency with an online artist talk. During the event, Dr. Battle shared examples of her past work as well as her vision for her residency. Members of the Chicago Footwork community, including an intergenerational group of dancers, choreographers and DJ’s from across the Chicagoland area chimed in with their own musings, memories, and stories.
