The Harm of Institutional Silencing

Sor Juana faced relentless pressure from Church authorities to abandon her intellectual work and public voice, ultimately renouncing her writings. This institutional silencing represents a systemic harm that extends beyond individual actors. Restorative justice typically focuses on individual accountability, but this concept expands the framework to address how institutions harm by suppressing knowledge, critique, and truth-telling. Restoring justice in such cases requires institutional acknowledgment, policy change, and creation of protected spaces for voices previously marginalized. Punitive approaches may prosecute individuals but leave oppressive structures intact. Drawing from Sor Juana's resistance and ultimate silencing, restorative processes must examine and transform the institutions perpetuating harm, ensuring that conditions enabling future silencing are dismantled and that previously suppressed voices are actively restored to legitimacy and influence.