This thesis analyzes the conceptualization of agency as a form of resistance against dehumanizing slavery discourses present in the narrative The Underground Railroad (2016) by Colson Whitehead. For the historical contextualization and the theoretical background, the scholarly work Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi is used. This serves to better illustrate how Whitehead’s novel, despite being fiction, draws on themes and topics that are real to the experience of millions of black people, particularly in the context of American slavery. The analysis demonstrates how the main black characters, particularly Cora, challenge and invert dehumanizing slavery discourses on brutality and sexual violence, mobility, community and bodily autonomy. They do so by reclaiming agency to humanize themselves and their people, reject captivity by escaping, reject isolation by forming and nurturing relationships with one another, and taking ownership over their bodies and minds with every possible means available. Black female characters such as Cora also reject hegemonic masculinity, which is linked to the system of slavery being understood as patriarchal. Such rejection occurs by defying power dynamics which guarantee the subordination of femaleness and blackness, to maleness and whiteness. Another finding of the thesis is the way in which racism, constructed and used to perpetuate racist policies that benefit the interests of white people, leads to a number of black people in the narrative developing a sense of self shaped by racist notions of inferiority, leading them to sabotage themselves and their people. This could be understood as assimilationism, which ranges from a severe self-sabotage, to fighting for acceptance of white people’s approval, buying into the false notion that something was wrong with blackness in the first place. This thesis is unapologetically antiracist and rejects dehumanizing slavery discourse in its writing. / Denna avhandling analyserar konceptualiseringen av agens som en form av motstånd mot dehumaniserande slaveridiskurser i The Underground Railroad (2016) av Colson Whitehead. För den historiska kontextualiseringen och den teoretiska bakgrunden används Stamped from the Beginning av Ibram X. Kendi. Detta tjänar till att bättre illustrera hur Whiteheads roman, trots att den är fiktion, bygger på teman och ämnen som är centrala i miljontals svarta människors erfarenheter, särskilt i samband med USAs slaverihistoria. Analysen visar hur de svarta huvudkaraktärerna, särskilt Cora, utmanar och inverterar avhumaniserande slaveridiskurser kring brutalitet och sexuellt våld, mobilitet, gemenskap och kroppslig autonomi. De gör det genom att återta friheten att humanisera sig själva och sitt folk, vägra fångenskap genom att fly och, isolering genom att bilda och vårda relationer och hävda äganderätt över kropp och sinne med alla tillbuds stående medel. Svarthet kvinnliga karaktärer som Cora avvisar också hegemonisk maskulinitet, vilket är kopplat till att slaverisystemet förstås som patriarkalt. Sådant förkastande sker genom att trotsa maktdynamik som garanterar underordnandet av kvinnlighet och svarthet, till manlighet och vithet. Uppsatsen visar öckså att det sätt på vilket rasism, konstruerad och använd för att vidmakthålla en politik som gynnar vita människors intressen, leder till att ett antal svarta människor i berättelsen utvecklar en självkänsla som formats av rasistiska föreställningar om underlägsenhet, vilket leder dem att sabotera för sig själva och sitt folk. Detta kan förstås i termer av assimilationism, som sträcker sig från ett allvarligt självsabotage, till att kämpa för vita människors godkännande, att köpa in sig i den falska föreställningen att något är fel med svarhet. Den här uppsatsen är antirasistisk och avvisar avhumaniserande slaveridiskurser.

The aim of this master thesis is to analyze how and why Scandinavian-American history has been used in exhibitions in both Scandinavia and the United States after the end of the Great Migration. More specifically, the thesis deals with the Swedish and American exhibitions of the controversial Kensington Rune Stone, discovered in Minnesota in 1898. Despite the fact that its authenticity has been disputed by academic expertise, it has been displayed by many prominent actors. The Rune Stone is one of many purportedly pre-Columbian artifacts found in the United States. Moreover, it is an identity marker, harboring many kinds of identity constructions. The thesis therefore focuses on the meanings that the Rune Stone has been charged with since its discovery, as historical culture and in specific exhibits, on how it has been displayed, and on why it has been exhibited at  national museums in both Sweden and the United States.  The principal source materials are five exhibitions of the Kensington Rune Stone. Through an analysis of previous research about the Rune Stone, four dimensions in the historical culture surrounding the Stone have been isolated, which are used as theoretical tools in the analysis. Hence, the previous research is viewed as secondary source materials. Structured into two phases, the analysis highlights both the making of the exhibits and the public display settings. The study shows why the actors considered the Rune Stone important, which dimensions of the historical culture that were activated, and how the actors narrated the history to the public.  This master thesis argues that the Scandinavian-American use of history consists of several dimensions and should be comprehended within a transnational context. The exhibitions of the Kensington Rune Stone differ significantly from each other. From a Swedish point of view, the uses of the Rune Stone in America, as part of a “Viking discourse”, may be regarded as both vulgar and incorrect. However, this study shows that all exhibitions have had common implications. The uses of history take place within national and regional contexts and discourses, but the historical culture is hybridized and entangled across national borders. Consequently, the pre-Columbian historical culture has accompanied the Rune Stone when it moved between cultural contexts.