Intersectional Oppression and Compound Resistance

Sor Juana faced constraints not simply as a colonial subject but as a woman, a person of mixed heritage in a racialized society, and a religious figure under ecclesiastical authority. Her intellectual project addressed these interlocking oppressions simultaneously, refusing to treat them as separate struggles. Postcolonial decolonization must similarly recognize that colonialism never operates alone; it intersects with patriarchy, capitalism, religious domination, and racial hierarchies. A postcolonial woman, for instance, may not be liberated by anticolonial nationalism if that nationalism is patriarchal. Indigenous workers face both colonial exploitation and class subjugation. This concept insists that decolonization strategies must be intersectional—addressing multiple systems of oppression, recognizing how they reinforce each other, and creating resistance that serves the most marginalized within postcolonial communities. It validates the specific knowledge and leadership of those experiencing compound oppression and warns against liberation movements that would simply replace one oppressor with another, demanding comprehensive transformation rather than narrow elite advancement.