Relating to Sor Juana

How can I connect with a nun and poet who is oppressed by the hierarchies of colonial Mexico? At the start of the movie I, the Worst of All, I questioned how this film could have any relevance to my own experiences. The film portrayed the oppression of the archbishop and his hierarchy against a brilliant female writer, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

I am relieved to find (at least in my personal experience) that our culture today encourages education and does not blatantly discriminate against women who desire to pursue their academic interests. Of course, there is still injustice against women in education, but not to the same degree as in colonial Mexico. My parents strongly emphasized education when I was growing up, perhaps because neither of them went to college. They encouraged me to take advantage of every opportunity to reach my fullest potential. How sickening to imagine the repression of education in Sor Juana’s experience. Not only was her pursuit of knowledge discouraged, but it also resulted in punishment and the eradication of her books. Though not all families encourage children toward further education, our culture has definitely transformed the attitudes toward women in education.

I cannot begin to understand the power dynamics of colonial Mexico, but I do see how Sor Juana’s life mirrors my own. She uses her passion for self-learning and knowledge to influence the young girls and question what they have already been taught. By encouraging the students to have open eyes and ears as they learn she acts as a challenging mentor. I resonate with the experience of learning from a mentor who thinks outside the box and explains things in thought-provoking ways. This mentor does not allow the opinions of others to hinder his strong beliefs as he challenges others to grow through learning that may make others uncomfortable.

Two summers ago, I served at an orphanage as a teacher/tutor in Santa Cruz, Bolivia through GC’s Service Inquiry Program. Spanish classes did little to prepare me for the rapid speech of the kids and I initially struggled with the vosotros form and the dropping of the “s” at the end of words (“dos” becomes “do”). It took me many weeks before I felt comfortable speaking Spanish with the other Bolivian teachers. I struggled to find my voice. Once I found this voice, I shared more openly with others and allowed friendships to flourish. In Borderlands/La Frontera, Gloria Anzaldúa describes how growing up with a mixture of languages affects her identity. She needed to take pride in her language before she could take pride in herself. In order to overcome her shame of existing, she uses her voice, “my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice.” To form my identity, I needed to find my voice. In spite of oppression and discrimination, Anzaldúa and Sor Juana form their identities through the voice of their poetry and the sharing of their minds.