The Unfinished Work of Decolonization

Sor Juana lived under colonialism's direct rule and articulated creole resistance to Spanish supremacy; decolonization was her urgent intellectual project. Climate crisis is inseparable from this unfinished project: the Global North built wealth through colonizing land and labor, extracting resources and externalizing environmental costs to colonized territories. Climate breakdown is colonialism's latest phase—wealthy nations extract Southern resources to fuel consumption while Southern communities absorb environmental devastation. Decolonization means Southern nations reclaiming sovereignty over territories and resources; it means rejecting the Western development model that equates growth with progress; it means restoring Indigenous governance systems that sustained ecosystems for millennia. This is not about Northern nations benevolently 'helping' the Global South adapt—that reproduces colonial dynamics. Sor Juana teaches that the colonized must articulate their own intellectual and political futures. Climate responsibility for the Global North means actively supporting decolonization: reparations, land restitution, technology transfer without conditions, and genuine partnership where the colonized lead.