Photo: Sor Juana the Younger and the Elder, Digital Photograph by Alma López @ 2019 (Models: Alicia Gaspar de Alba as the Elder, and Alicia Billalobos, UCLA Chicana/o Studies alumna, as the Younger)
Otro Corazon 3: Queering Sor Juana
A Symposium In Celebration of Alicia Gaspar de Alba’s 2026 Retirement and Lifelong Research on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Hosted by the Center for Musical Humanities, in conjunction with the Dean of Social Sciences and the Cesar Chavez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, “Otro Corazón 3: Queering Sor Juana” builds on past symposia organized by Alicia Gaspar de Alba in her “Corazón” series, and is offered as part of a year-long celebration of her 32-year academic career at UCLA, focusing on her lifetime of research and creative engagement with Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the 17th-century Mexican nun/poet/scholar who is hailed all over the world as the “first feminist of the Americas” and the Mexican “Tenth Muse.” She is also considered a sister of the Sapphic persuasion, that is, a lesbian nun, as we find in queer and feminist writings, film and television, and the arts.
“Queering Sor Juana” will include two panels and a showcase performance of arias from the opera JUANA, which is based on Gaspar de Alba’s historical novel, Sor Juana’s Second Dream. The opera premiered with Opera UCLA in 2019, with two sold-out performances and a glowing review in The Los Angeles Times.
This program is made possible by the Joyce S. and Robert U. Nelson Fund. Robert Uriel Nelson was a revered musicologist and music professor at UCLA, who, together with his wife, established a generous endowment for the university to make programs like this possible.