The Right to Self-Interpretation

Sor Juana asserted her right to interpret sacred texts, philosophical questions, and her own work—claiming authority that her position should have denied her. She refused to let others define what her name meant or what her intellectual identity represented. This concept establishes that self-interpretation is a fundamental right, not a privilege granted by institutions or dominant cultures. Across cultures, identity is often imposed from outside—colonizers naming conquered peoples, patriarchs defining women's roles, majority cultures assigning minority identities. The right to self-interpretation means reclaiming the power to say who you are, what your name means, and how your contributions should be understood. This applies urgently to anyone navigating identity across cultural boundaries: the right to define yourself in your own terms, to reject others' interpretations of your name and work, and to claim authority over your own narrative becomes essential to maintaining coherent identity in fragmented cultural spaces.