Colonial Privilege and Complicity

Sor Juana lived in colonial New Spain, where her education and institutional position depended on colonial structures that subjugated indigenous peoples. Her intellectual life existed within a colonial system, whether or not she explicitly critiqued it. This concept addresses the uncomfortable reality that privilege is often entangled with injustice. Acknowledging privilege means recognizing one's complicity in systems larger than individual intention. Even those who work against oppression benefit from structures they oppose. For Sor Juana and for contemporary scholars, this requires examining how intellectual authority, institutional access, and educational privilege connect to historical and ongoing colonialism, racism, and exploitation. This is not about guilt but about lucidity: understanding that acknowledging privilege includes acknowledging one's location within power structures. Sor Juana's own position as a colonial subject complicates the narrative, showing that privilege is intersectional and contextual. For modern practitioners, this framework demands ongoing interrogation of how our intellectual work relates to systems of injustice, and what responsibilities that relationship creates.