Self-Education as Property Reclamation

Denied formal access to universities—a privilege reserved for men—Sor Juana educated herself through voracious reading and correspondence, turning personal study into an act of freedom. Self-education is a radical form of property reclamation: it asserts that your mind and its development belong to you, not to institutions that claim the right to distribute knowledge. By teaching yourself, you claim ownership of the process of becoming knowledgeable. In libertarian terms, self-education rejects the notion that intellectual formation is a privilege to be granted; it declares that you own your own capacity to learn. Sor Juana's example shows that when formal channels of education are blocked by injustice, the individual can still exercise property rights over their own mind through deliberate self-direction. Her tradition argues for removing barriers to information and resources so all people can engage in this fundamental right. Self-education is freedom in practice: the assertion that your intellectual development is your own property.