Knowledge as Collective Property and Justice

Sor Juana believed that understanding was a human right and a common good, not the possession of clergy, nobility, or men. Her insistence on learning across disciplines—theology, science, mathematics, philosophy, languages—challenged the idea that certain people deserved knowledge while others should remain ignorant. This framework reappears in movements for accessible education, open-source technology, indigenous knowledge protection, and anti-colonial science. Civil disobedience based on this principle argues that restricting knowledge is itself a form of violence and injustice. When systems keep people ignorant to maintain control, demanding access to learning becomes resistance. Sor Juana's life asserted that a woman's mind deserved the same nourishment as a man's, that colonial subjects deserved education, that knowledge should be shared rather than hoarded. This concept justifies civil disobedience that targets institutions monopolizing truth—whether universities, governments, corporations, or churches—as inherently unjust and needing to be disrupted.