Story ownership is contested for different reasons and at different points of interaction, from disputes among people who know each other well to questions about the exploitive use of others’ stories and the use of personal stories to advocate a social cause among people distantly connected to each other. Retellings complicate the unstated rule that the person who suffered or experienced the event has the right to tell it. Methodologically, the study of narrative ownership begins with the idea that narrative is interactive; it is about a relationship between tellers and hearers. Ownership describes a relationship between speakers and listeners and between narrative and events; it is “territory shared by both addresser and addressee”. To explore these dimensions of story ownership, the chapter focuses on Harvey Sacks's sociolinguistic observations about entitlement, addressing some of the philosophical and ethical discussions. It considers the significant issues raised by questions of narrative ownership.
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