The role of stereotypes: Racial identity and learning

Stereotypes have long been central to psychological theory (Allport, 1954) and a robust literature has examined the ways that stereotypes are related to identity and learning among Black/African American youth in educational contexts. While the majorityof theoretical and empirical attention has focused on how youth incorporate (or accommodate) stereotypes into their own identities, less research has attended to how youth challenge (or resist) those same stereotypes to positively transform their learning experiences. In this chapter, we review research from three key bodies of literature that have framed the conversation about identity-relevant pathways to learning among Black/African American youth: (a) stereotype threat; (b) ethnic-racial identity development; and (c) oppositional identity theory (i.e., “acting White hypothesis”). In reviewing these literatures, we discuss how stereotypes can (and often do) critically constrain the path between identity and learning but also highlight how youth positively transform their relationship to learning through their identities. Including resistance as a normative process of human learning and development is essential for (re)framing our discussions and interpretations of Black/African American youth in academic settings.