ShaDawn "Boobie" Battle is an assistant professor of critical ethnic and Black studies at Xavier University. Born and raised in Chatham, ShaDawn is passionate about the liberatory potential of Black expressive culture in Chicago - especially Black dance culture. She is directing and producing a documentary on Chicago Footwork, of which she is both practitioner and cultural critic. Her current work involves harnessing the art form as a language of the body to tell stories about Chicago's dense history of housing injustice. ShaDawn is committed to giving voice to those residing in the margins, when normative modes of expression are not available to them.