The Hermeneutics of Suspicion

Sor Juana read biblical and theological texts with careful attention to what they were being made to mean by those in authority. When she was told that women should not study or write, she examined the texts cited to support this claim, questioning whether such conclusions followed necessarily or whether interpretations served the interests of those in power. This hermeneutics of suspicion—methodically asking "whose interest does this interpretation serve?"—is essential to justice work. It appears across traditions in thinkers who interrogate whether accepted meanings are truth or ideology. Fairness requires this vigilance: recognizing that those with power often encode their interests into what appears as universal truth, natural law, or divine will. Yet suspicion must be disciplined, not paranoid; it must engage seriously with dominant readings, not merely dismiss them. Sor Juana models this balance. She does not assume bad faith, but she does not assume neutrality either. She asks questions, traces consequences, examines who benefits. In a fair society, such questioning is not disloyalty but intellectual integrity. The concept calls us to cultivate the ability to see through power, to notice how meaning is made and remade, and to insist that interpretation remain open to challenge.