University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository American Studies ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 7-1-2011 Miniature Nation Building: Model Railroading and the Dialectics of Scale in Post-WWII America Ivan Weber Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/amst_etds Part of the American Studies Commons Recommended Citation Weber, Ivan. "Miniature Nation Building: Model Railroading and the Dialectics of Scale in Post-WWII America." (2011). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/amst_etds/43 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in American Studies ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. i MINIATURE NATION BUILDING: MODEL RAILROADING AND THE DIALECTICS OF SCALE IN POST-WWII AMERICA by Ivan Weber B.A., American Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 2005 THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in American Studies The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May, 2011 ii MINIATURE NATION BUILDING: MODEL RAILROADING AND THE DIALECTICS OF SCALE IN POST-WWII AMERICA by Ivan Weber ABSTRACT OF THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in American Studies The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May, 2011 iii MINIATURE NATION BUILDING: MODEL RAILROADING AND THE DIALECTICS OF SCALE IN POST-WWII AMERICA by Ivan Weber B.A., American Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 2005 M.A., American Studies, University of New Mexico, 2011 ABSTRACT This thesis advances a critical understanding of how scale informs the production and consumption of the American nation, and it makes a foray into Marxist critical analysis by integrating the theoretical and methodological objectives of historical materialism with the multiple, dialectically construed dimensionalities of scale.