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American. Marxism--Historical materialism--20th century. Dialectics of scale. Hobbies--Model railroading. Popular culture--United States--History--20th century. Whiteness--United States--History--20th century. Masculinity-- United States--History--20th century.
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Miniature Nation Building: Model Railroading And The Dialectics Of Scale In Post-Wwii America, Ivan Weber
Miniature Nation Building: Model Railroading And The Dialectics Of Scale In Post-Wwii America, Ivan Weber
American Studies ETDs
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. The hobby of model railroading serves as the case study for this analysis, and the dialectics of scale as the theoretical apparatus with which this analysis is articulated. The central argument of the thesis is that the model railroad hobby builds the nation, in miniature, through the continual regeneration of American masculinity, the traditional American …