Solidarity Across Institutional Hierarchy

Sor Juana maintained intellectual relationships with Church authorities, patrons, and fellow scholars while also critiquing them—a delicate solidarity that did not require false equality but did demand mutual respect. She could be both grateful for patronage and critical of its limits; both devoted to the Church and skeptical of its constraints on women. This practice acknowledges that relational justice must work across real hierarchies of power. We live in systems where people have different access to resources, authority, and protection. Genuine solidarity in these conditions means: acknowledging the hierarchy clearly, neither denying it nor being paralyzed by it; finding points of genuine shared commitment; maintaining accountability and truthfulness; using privilege to create space for marginalized voices; resisting the temptation to bond with the powerful by sacrificing the vulnerable. Solidarity across hierarchy is messier and slower than simple alignment, but it creates the possibility of actual relational change. It requires ongoing negotiation, honesty about interests, and commitment to those with less structural power.