Destination Ellis Island: An Examination of Place Narratives

Abstract

Ellis Island (ELIS) is a prominent symbol evocative of America’s controversial immigration story. From its time as an active immigration processing center to current day management by the National Park Service, place meanings have been repeatedly and differentially ascribed to ELIS and the experience. Shifts in the narrative between those of first-person recollections to the mythos perpetuated by those less proximal to the experience are seen over time. Although once viewed as a cumbersome, daunting final barrier to America, dominant narratives later have diminished this barrier aspect in favor of a positive, welcoming, “gateway” one. Place meanings attached to and stemming beyond ELIS are indicative of how contentious places are defined, and the attachments and power behind these definitions. In this review and synthesis of the literature, I explore historic to contemporary place meanings attributed to ELIS, and then frame this transition with the lens of the power of place to discuss these narratives’ on-site and beyond site implications.