'Well, What Did You Expect?': Black Women Facing Stereotype Threat in Collaborative Academic Spaces at a Predominantly White Institution

Stereotype threat theory has been profoundly influential in examining how racial stereotypes undermine the academic performance of highly capable Black students. Overwhelmingly, researchers have examined stereotype threat using experimental methods; few have examined how it manifests in real-world collegiate classrooms where students are not subject to controlled manipulation. Additionally, few scholars have leveraged an intersectional perspective to examine the manifestation of stereotype threat specifically in the educational experiences of Black women. Based on 30 semistructured interviews, I examined how stereotype threat emerged in collaborative academic spaces for Black undergraduate women. Analysis revealed that the manifestation of stereotype threat in these spaces allowed Black women to have conscious and agentic responses that weakened some of the negative influences of stereotype threat.