Letters and Networks as Decolonial Circulation

Sor Juana maintained extensive correspondence with bishops, nuns, scholars, and patrons across the Spanish empire, creating an intellectual network that sustained and amplified her work. These letters functioned as underground publications, circulating ideas beyond institutional control. In postcolonial decolonization, informal networks and alternative circulation systems enable knowledge to move among colonized peoples without requiring permission from dominant institutions. This concept recognizes that epistolary exchange, oral tradition, diaspora networks, and contemporary digital communication create spaces where subaltern knowledge can develop and spread. Decolonial circulation rejects the gatekeeping power of official institutions and academic hierarchies. Sor Juana's model demonstrates how marginalized intellectuals build solidarity, share ideas, and strengthen one another's work through direct relationship rather than institutional mediation. For postcolonial communities, this framework legitimizes self-organized knowledge production and lateral knowledge exchange.