The Right to Intellectual Sovereignty

Sor Juana's fierce defense of her right to study, write, and think—despite institutional and religious opposition—establishes intellectual sovereignty as a foundational justice claim. She demonstrated that the ability to pursue knowledge is not a privilege granted by authorities, but an intrinsic human right. For reparations philosophy, this concept demands recognition that colonized peoples, enslaved peoples, and oppressed groups have been systematically denied access to education, authorship, and epistemic authority. Reparations must therefore restore not only material resources but also the conditions for intellectual self-determination: funding for community archives, support for marginalized scholarship, and institutional recognition of excluded knowledge traditions. Sor Juana's life shows that intellectual reparations are inseparable from human dignity and justice.