Qualitative Psychology, Vol 12(2), Jun 2025, 162-185; doi:10.1037/qup0000313
The present study employed photovoice, a participatory action research method, to understand how seven Black womxn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) doctoral students actively resisted toxic STEM milieus, protected their mental health, and promoted their healing. Using reflexive thematic analysis grounded in the Psychological Framework of Radical Healing (French et al., 2020), researchers identified four emergent themes: (1) Acts of Resistance, (2) Collectivist Communities as Sites Supporting Resistance and Healing, (3) Photovoice Group as a Site Supporting Resistance, and (4) Envisioning Black Future, Hope, and Accountability. Results indicated that enactment of resistance and engagement in (Black) collectivist communities were essential for Black womxn to counter interlocking systems of oppression in STEM and elevate their mental health and wellness as well as their healing. While resistance was the mechanism that enabled Black womxn coconstructors to shift the narrative, it does not absolve the STEM environment from the transformations needed for justice toward Black liberation. STEM department administrators and faculty can support Black womxn on their healing journey by taking active and sustained systems-level steps to eradicate anti-Blackness in STEM and support Black womxn’s STEM persistence. Such institutional support would reduce the burden placed on Black womxn and Black collective communities to be the sole drivers of Black women’s resistance efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)