Intersectional Marginalization and Epistemic Voice

Sor Juana faced compounded marginalization: as a woman, a woman of indigenous and African descent, in a male-dominated Church hierarchy within Spanish colonial Mexico. Intersectional marginalization and epistemic voice examines how colonialism compounds with other systems of domination to silence particular groups from intellectual and public discourse. This concept reveals that decolonization cannot succeed by addressing only colonial relationships while ignoring gender, caste, or class hierarchies that predate or coexist with colonialism. Postcolonial identity requires recognizing these layered oppressions and developing strategies that validate voices systematically excluded from multiple institutions simultaneously. Sor Juana's intellectual contributions were continually questioned because of her gender, her racial background, and her position outside formal theological training—yet her work endures. For contemporary decolonization, this means building platforms and institutions that actively amplify voices rendered invisible by intersecting power structures, ensuring that postcolonial knowledge production includes the most marginalized perspectives, not just those of elite colonized classes.