The Practice of Crediting Sources

Sor Juana's work was densely footnoted and allusive—she credited her intellectual lineage openly. This practice of attribution resists one of privilege's most insidious effects: the appearance of self-creation and originality. Privileged people often benefit from invisible labor—mentoring, editing, introduction, inspiration—that goes uncredited. This concept makes that labor visible. It's a simple practice with profound implications: name your teachers, acknowledge your influences, credit the ideas that built your thinking. This practice serves multiple purposes simultaneously: it honors those who helped us, it makes visible the networks and structures that enable success, it distributes intellectual property more equitably, and it models intellectual humility. For practitioners, this becomes a discipline: never publish an idea without tracing its origins, never claim insight without naming who helped you see it.