ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on in-depth interviews with heritage professionals to explore how complex international immigrant histories have been mobilised by its various producers. It explores the dialectical tension that often exists between world heritage as a force which may legitimise inclusive multicultural senses of identity and transnational citizenship, and world heritage as vehicle for nation-building. The chapter illustrates the problems of representation and legitimacy often faced by World Heritage Sites in an increasingly interconnected world. It explores how some museum producers have incorporated insights of the new social history into the museum, invoking the complex nomadologies of mass movements of people back and forth across borders. Located prominently in New York harbour, Ellis Island is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1984. Ellis Island is a world famous tourist site involving a wide range of stakeholders, political and grass-roots institutions, and depicts many diverse ethnic and diasporic populations.
