Embodied Knowledge and the Whole Self in Knowing

Sor Juana's writings engage not only abstract philosophy but also desire, embodied experience, and the erotic dimensions of intellectual life. Dominant intellectual traditions, particularly those shaped by masculine and colonial frameworks, often demand that thinkers present themselves as disembodied minds. This framework particularly harms those whose bodies are already marked as Other—women, people of color, disabled people, queer people. Embodied knowledge challenges the mind-body split by insisting that who we are—our bodies, genders, sexualities, physical abilities, sensory experiences—shapes what and how we know. In intersectional practice, this means validating knowledge rooted in lived experience of oppression; honoring emotional and intuitive knowing alongside rational analysis; recognizing how structural violence is experienced in and through bodies; and creating intellectual spaces where whole selves can be present. It reclaims the body as a site of knowledge production rather than an obstacle to overcome.