The Politics of Naming

Sor Juana's own name—given as Juana Ramírez, claimed as "Sor Juana," debated by posterity—embodies how naming is never neutral. Names carry colonial histories, gender expectations, and claims to legitimacy. In Sor Juana's tradition of intellectual resistance, we examine how dominant cultures impose names that erase origin and agency. Across cultures, renaming becomes a practice of liberation: enslaved peoples reclaiming surnames, diaspora communities preserving birth names, indigenous nations restoring traditional designations. Understanding naming as political means recognizing that what we call ourselves and others shapes access to knowledge, rights, and recognition. This concept invites examination of how personal names intersect with power structures and how reclaiming naming authority becomes an act of intellectual and cultural sovereignty.