Strategic use of allegory, poetry, and veiled reference to communicate subversive ideas within repressive power structures.
Sor Juana employed baroque poetry, biblical exegesis, and philosophical allusion to express forbidden thoughts while evading institutional punishment. This coded communication reflects a survival strategy essential to postcolonial subjects living under dominant power. Hidden transcripts allow marginalized communities to maintain intellectual and cultural independence while appearing compliant. In decolonization work, understanding coded language reveals how colonized peoples preserved resistance knowledge through oral traditions, proverbs, and artistic expression. Contemporary decolonial scholars employ similar strategies, reframing indigenous concepts through academic language to gain institutional legitimacy. This concept teaches that resistance operates in multiple registers—public compliance paired with private dissent. Recognizing coded languages in historical and contemporary texts unveils the sophisticated ways colonized peoples protected their autonomy and transmitted liberatory ideas across generations.
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