The Pedagogy of Resistance and Self-Education

Sor Juana taught herself Latin, theology, mathematics, and philosophy using improvised methods and borrowed texts—she created her own education against institutional exclusion. This self-directed learning was both survival and rebellion. A reparations-centered pedagogy recognizes that oppressed communities have always been educators of themselves: enslaved people learning to read in secret, Indigenous elders preserving oral traditions, Black churches developing theological thought. Rather than waiting for institutional permission, communities built knowledge systems in resistance. Reparations must honor and resource these alternative pedagogies: supporting community-led learning, validating non-credentialed expertise, funding cultural centers and freedom schools, and recognizing that marginalized peoples have already been doing reparative intellectual work. Sor Juana's example shows that self-education is not merely survival but a powerful assertion of human capacity and dignity.