Cultural Appropriation and Group Ownership Claims

What could ground normative restrictions concerning cultural appropriation in cases where they are not grounded by independent considerations such as harm? This paper argues that such claims are best understood as ownership claims. It develops a novel account of ownership claims based on an interest in self-presentation. This account explains how group ownership claims over cultural styles arise in response to certain background conditions of oppression. Ownership-based cultural appropriation claims thus arise under non-ideal circumstances, rather than merely in virtue of some group being the originator of a cultural style. The wider contribution of this analysis is that it sheds light on the way in which ownership claims play a part in structuring the standing of individuals in society with respect to their interest in self-presentation.