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Storytelling rights is most notably important in the genre of personal experience narrative in English academics. Academic disciplines such as English,performance, folklore, literature, cultural, anthropological, and other social sciences are interested in exploring storytelling rights, because.storytelling rights hinges on ethics.

The storytelling rights of retelling other people’s stories is explored by asking a few questions; like whose story is it, what is the story being used for, what does the story promise (empathy, redemption, meaning), and at whose benefit? ^[33] The ethics of storytelling rights— includes empathy and representation— helps people, organizations, the media, and government agencies clearly understand stories, One way in which personal experience narratives achieve the status of the authenticity is with representation.^[33] Violating the representation of storytelling rights creates negative repercussions on not only the individuals who are engaging in the storytelling process, but also damages the social order like the communities, institutions, and the networks that people are involved in because “voice” is used as a powerful tool for agency and advocacy.

This misrepresentation of voice often leads to the misunderstanding and exploitation of storytelling rights. An example, would be the stories of abused women, because women are told by government agencies that by telling their stories they will be heard and helped. But, in truth, the irony is that domestic violence has become ‘big business' because the law system does not listen to the voices of these battered women.^[34]This example illustrates how women reshape their stories to gain assistance from shelter and charities. But women reshaping their stories violates the ethics of storytelling rights, because this fuels the “big business” of domestic violence.

There was another study on Hurricane Katrina survivors where the media misrepresented the voices of the survivors, and manipulated the public in a negative way. The media and press turned the whole country against a community that desperately needed help because journalist reshaped the stories of the survivors in television broadcasts and newspaper articles. Nevertheless, this study contradicted the media, and used "voice” to prove that the media misrepresented their stories of the survivors.^[35] At the end of the article, the readers learned that the media was actually misrepresenting the community of New Orleans, because the truth was heard in the “voice” of the survivors. In which the people’s stories revealed that the community was actually helping each other out during a destructive time.

Empathy is an important aspect in storytelling rights because if the audience has empathy towards a story, there will be less of a chance for violating ethics. Empathy presumes the ability to understand another’s life story: its opposite, the inability to empathize, is reserved for situations that the normal person cannot imagine, including, notably unspeakable evils and insanity. Empathy describes the sphere of the normal and allows us to imagine what any normal person would do.^[33] In other words, the listener of a narrative will not be able to comprehend a story without empathy. That is why empathy is an important component concerning storytelling rights.

The examples of domestic violence against women and the survivors of Hurricane Katrina show how stories are reshaped either by the narrators themselves or by others, and highlights an important issue regarding the ethics and storytelling rights in narration. Such as, that the listener or audience infringes on storytelling rights because sometimes they are not listening to the “voice” of the teller. Ultimately, when a narrator reshapes their own story, the “voice” becomes lost and muddled in the ears of the audience. Logically, when the narrator’s voice is not being adequately represented, the ethics of storytelling rights are not honored.

Storytelling Rights

Storytelling rights is most notably important in the genre of personal experience narrative in English academics. Academic disciplines such as English, performance, folklore, literature, cultural, anthropological, and other social sciences are interested in exploring storytelling rights, because.storytelling rights hinges on ethics. Ethics is a system of universal rules that correspond and applies to particular cultural actions, and practices in a society. Shuman address's the ethics of retelling other people’s stories by asking a few questions like whose story is it (the question of entitlement), what is it being used for (what is the allegory), what does it promise (empathy, redemption, meaning), and at whose response? [1].

The ethics of storytelling rights— includes empathy and representation— helps people, organizations, the media, and governments have a clear understanding of stories, because “voice” is used as a powerful tool for agency. Shuman continues to say that one way in which personal experience narratives achieve the status of the authentic is by conflating two kinds of representation. The first one in the problem of mimesis, or the relationship between the representation…The second is the problem of representing the other, or the right one has to represent another[1]. This violation of representation creates negative repercussions on not only the individuals who are engaging in the storytelling process, but also damages the social order like the communities, institutions, and the networks that people are involved in.

The misrepresentation of “voice” is obvious in some examples throughout history. This misrepresentation often leads to misunderstanding and exploitation. Elaine Lawless says we tell people that telling their story t is ‘for their own good’ so that they will be heard and helped. But, in truth, the irony is that domestic violence has become ‘big business.’ … The court system has been established on the backs of women who are being battered, but who are not listened to when they speak” (Lawless 42). This illustrates how women reshape their stories to procure assistance from the state, shelter, or charities. However, women reshaping their stories is ethnically wrong, and violates storytelling rights, because this fuels the “big business” of domestic violence. There was another study on Hurricane Katrina survivors where the media misrepresented the voices of the survivors, and manipulated the public into thinking that these people were ravaging beasts. The media and press turned the whole country against a community that desperately needed help because the media was reshaping the stories of the survivors in television, newspaper, and other platforms. Nevertheless, this study actually did contradict the media, and used “voice” to prove that the media misrepresented their stories of the survivors. Carl Lindahl argues, “The chaos of Katrina was all too real, but for the vast majority of us looking on, those who pictured and purveyed it were the mainstream news media, who reported a remarkable combination of images projected not from the events that unfolded before us, but ultimately and thoroughly from our pre-existing fears… Every one of my vicarious experiences of the drowned city was infected with such embellishment—until I had the chance to hear directly from those who had been there” (Lindahl). At the end of the article, the readers learn that the media was actually misrepresenting the community of New Orleans, because the truth was heard in the “voice” of the survivors. In which the people’s stories revealed that the community was actually helping each other out during the destructive time of Hurricane Katrina. If the audience has empathy towards the person who is telling his or hers story, there will be less of a chance for violating storytelling rights and ethics. In terms of empathy, Shuman continues to argue “Empathy presumes the ability to understand another’s life story: its opposite, the inability to empathize, is reserved for situations that the normal person cannot imagine, including, notably unspeakable evils and insanity... In other words, empathy describes the sphere of the normal and allows us to imagine what any normal person would do” (Shuman 162). This quote illustrates, that the listener of a narrative will not be able to comprehend a story without empathy. That is why empathy is an important component concerning ethics because empathy is the understanding of another person's situation from their perspective.

These examples of domestic violence against women and the survivors of hurricane Katrina and how their stories were reshaped either by the narrators themselves or by others is universal and can be applied to all situations in which story telling is involved. This highlights an important issue regarding ethics and storytelling rights in the relation with narrative, in that sometimes it is the listener or audience, infringes on story-telling rights by not properly listening to the “voice” of the teller. Ultimately, when a narrator reshapes their own story, the “voice” becomes lost, and is not truly heard by the audience. Logically, when the narrator’s voice is not being represented, the ethics of story storytelling right is not being honored.

Works cited

• Elaine J. Lawless, Women Escaping Violence: Empowerment through Narrative, Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2001.
• Lindahl, Carl. 2012. “Legends of Hurricane Katrina: The Right to Be Wrong, 8 Survivor-to-Survivor Storytelling, and Healing.” Journal of American Folklore 125, (496): 139-176.
• Shuman, Amy. 2005. “Speaking from Experience.” In Other People’s Stories: Entitlement Claims and the Critique of Empathy. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 149-162.