The Right to Intellectual Authorship

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz fought fiercely for her right to sign her name to her work in a colonial context that denied women intellectual authority. This concept examines how naming oneself as a knower and creator is fundamentally tied to identity and justice across cultures. When people are denied authorship of their ideas—whether through colonial suppression, gender discrimination, or cultural marginalization—their identities are fractured. Sor Juana's insistence on her intellectual legitimacy models how claiming authorship becomes an act of self-determination. In our globalized world, this principle challenges who gets credited in academic discourse, whose knowledge systems are recognized, and whose voices are centered in conversations about identity. The right to intellectual authorship is the right to be named, known, and valued for one's mind.