Epistemic Justice and Voice

Sor Juana was systematically excluded from formal education, universities, and official intellectual authority because of her gender and colonial status. Yet she demanded recognition as a legitimate thinker and defender of her own ideas. Epistemic Justice addresses the injustice of not being heard or believed—of having one's knowledge, perspective, and insight dismissed based on identity rather than merit. This concept, grounded in Sor Juana's defiant testimony, remains vital today. Across traditions, women, colonized peoples, and marginalized communities face epistemic erasure. Authenticity across traditions requires that we honor the knowledge-claims of those historically silenced, that we interrogate our own biases about who counts as a legitimate knower, and that we actively amplify perspectives excluded from dominant narratives. Sor Juana's life insists that epistemology itself is a justice issue, and authentic cross-tradition dialogue demands structural change in whose voice is valued.