Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

This Element focuses on the villancicos (or choral poems) of the Novohispanic philosopher Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Though the villancicos have traditionally been considered as minor works that Sor Juana wrote by commission for various religious feasts, this Element argues that Sor Juana's villancicos are in fact important philosophical writings. Specifically, this Element shows that the villancicos are in fact major philosophical works because, through them, Sor Juana presents a philosophical pedagogy, develops a form of virtue pluralism based on a series of moral paradigms, articulates a form of mannerist feminism and provides a partial defense of Black and Indigenous people.