Intersectional Class Consciousness

Sor Juana was of mixed race (likely Creole with indigenous and African ancestry), female in a patriarchal system, and of ambiguous class status—born outside marriage, without paternal inheritance, yet intellectually exceptional. Her class consciousness couldn't be separated from gender consciousness or racial awareness. She navigated colonial hierarchies that simultaneously devalued women's intellect, racialized bodies, and lower-class pretension to scholarship. Intersectional class consciousness recognizes that class operates differently depending on whether one is also marginalized by gender, race, sexuality, or other systems. For Sor Juana, claiming intellectual authority meant addressing not just class prejudice but the compounded skepticism toward a woman of mixed race. Intersectional approaches reveal that those facing multiple marginalized identities develop particularly sophisticated class consciousness because they must navigate and articulate how these systems reinforce each other. Sor Juana's intellectual work was simultaneously a claim to class status, gender equality, and racial humanity. Understanding class consciousness through her example requires analyzing how all these systems interact to structure opportunity, authority, and voice.