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.

<p>The aim with this paper is to study how the integrational ideology of the Swedish parliaments party platforms, including the right wing Sverigedemokraterna, is formulated. The integration theories examined are assimilationism, multiculturalism, universalism and residualism. In turn these theories are simultaneously applied to the party platforms extracting explicit or implicit messages of the four former mentioned theories. The Swedish history of integration as well as immigration, which per capita is one of the highest in the European union, pinpoints the reason why this subject is due to further investigation. The results show that most of the parties contain traces of more than one integration theory, with the exception of primarily Sverigedemokraterna which focuses on assimilationism. On the other hand Vänsterpartiet, Socialdemokraterna and Centerpartiet are in favour of multiculturalism whereas Folkpartiet, Kristdemokraterna, Miljöpartiet, and Moderaterna contain more than one integration theory.</p>

The aim with this paper is to study how the integrational ideology of the Swedish parliaments party platforms, including the right wing Sverigedemokraterna, is formulated. The integration theories examined are assimilationism, multiculturalism, universalism and residualism. In turn these theories are simultaneously applied to the party platforms extracting explicit or implicit messages of the four former mentioned theories. The Swedish history of integration as well as immigration, which per capita is one of the highest in the European union, pinpoints the reason why this subject is due to further investigation. The results show that most of the parties contain traces of more than one integration theory, with the exception of primarily Sverigedemokraterna which focuses on assimilationism. On the other hand Vänsterpartiet, Socialdemokraterna and Centerpartiet are in favour of multiculturalism whereas Folkpartiet, Kristdemokraterna, Miljöpartiet, and Moderaterna contain more than one integration theory.

This master’s thesis deals with the cultural diversity policies of Denmark and Sweden within the cultural sector. It attempts at explaining why these two “most-similar” scandinavian countries having in common the same cultural model, “the architect model”, opted for different policies when it came to cultural diversity: Assimilationism for Denmark and multiculturalism for Sweden. I show that though institutional and power-interest factors had an impact, ideas as “programmatic beliefs” (Sheri E. Berman 2001) or “frames” (Erik Bleich 2003) played the ultimate role. I evaluate their relative importance by analyzing the anthropological dimension of the countries cultural policies since 1969. The study confirms that at least in the cultural sector, Danish policies have been assimilationist and Swedish ones multiculturalist and proposes a new classification of terms.By investigating immigrants cultures, it fills a gap left by previous researchers working on a common Nordic cultural model.

<p>Some researchers argue that the immigrant integration approaches in liberal (and “Western-“) states are becoming more and more alike. Some claim that the previous philosophises of integration (i.e. multiculturalism, segregationism, universalism and assimilationism) no longer exists in liberal states. This study assesses the robustness of this “convergence claim” within an East-EU context. The purpose of the study is to analyse the policy trends of immigrant integration in the East-EU and assess the robustness of the convergence claim. The analysis and methodological approach is based on a theoretical framework of ideal-types (multiculturalism, segregationism, universalism and assimilationism). The study objects are Estonia and Poland, and the analysis is primarily based on national legislation and policy documents. The study describes the immigrant integration trends in Poland and Estonia in the “post-Soviet era”, looking at the policy trends between 1991-2008. During this period both countries have shown tendencies of segregationism and cultural monism. It is clear that Estonia and Poland (i.e. parts of East-EU) have not adopted a more “Western-style” approach regarding immigrant integration, i.e. there is no evidence of such convergence. In fact, the ethnic component of their immigrant integration approaches stands in contrast to the “convergence thesis”.</p>

Some researchers argue that the immigrant integration approaches in liberal (and “Western-“) states are becoming more and more alike. Some claim that the previous philosophises of integration (i.e. multiculturalism, segregationism, universalism and assimilationism) no longer exists in liberal states. This study assesses the robustness of this “convergence claim” within an East-EU context. The purpose of the study is to analyse the policy trends of immigrant integration in the East-EU and assess the robustness of the convergence claim. The analysis and methodological approach is based on a theoretical framework of ideal-types (multiculturalism, segregationism, universalism and assimilationism). The study objects are Estonia and Poland, and the analysis is primarily based on national legislation and policy documents. The study describes the immigrant integration trends in Poland and Estonia in the “post-Soviet era”, looking at the policy trends between 1991-2008. During this period both countries have shown tendencies of segregationism and cultural monism. It is clear that Estonia and Poland (i.e. parts of East-EU) have not adopted a more “Western-style” approach regarding immigrant integration, i.e. there is no evidence of such convergence. In fact, the ethnic component of their immigrant integration approaches stands in contrast to the “convergence thesis”.

Doctoral dissertation: Panoptical tropes and negotiations between art and politics in Charles Johnson's short fiction Abstract The dissertation traces the uneasy marriage between ideology and aesthetics in African American literature, and its reflections in Charles Johnson's short fiction. The historical introduction is an attempt to reevaluate the tradition of ideological self-policing in African American literature. Its central thesis resides in the claim that African American literature and its critical reception has still retained some of this ideological template, in a manner and degree that throws it out of sync with the mainstream trajectory of American literature. This lingering anachronism cannot be legitimately attributed to a single causative circumstance, yet one of the more obvious explanations for this residual trend is the living memory of overt discriminatory practices in many parts of the United States, which is why the centrifugal literary discourses of assimilationism and protest fiction are still very vibrant. This simple argument alone provides a sufficient basis for contextualizing and understanding the thesis that ideological writing still inadvertently manages to find its way into African American fictional pursuits. This is also underscored by the observable fact that even the...