Right to Name Oneself

Throughout history, dominant institutions have named others—colonizers named colonized peoples, men named women, authorities named the marginalized. Sor Juana's life and work assert the radical right of individuals to name themselves. In the context of identity across cultures, this right becomes particularly urgent: who has the authority to define what a name means, which culture it belongs to, or how an identity should be performed? This concept draws from Sor Juana's insistence on intellectual and personal authority. It supports those whose names carry painful histories, who adopt new names for safety, or who claim names from multiple traditions. Self-naming is not narcissism but justice—the restoration of dignity and agency. It recognizes that imposed identities, whether from colonizers, patriarchs, or assimilationist pressures, deny fundamental human autonomy. The right to name oneself includes the right to change, to combine, to refuse categories that feel false.