Cloistered Brokerage and Conventive Threshold: Two Original Terms Coined by Mukesh Kumar (2026)
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Two original theoretical terms, “Cloistered Brokerage” and “Conventive Threshold”, have been coined by Mukesh Kumar, Assistant Professor of English, Govt. College Gharaunda (Karnal), Haryana, India, on 01 November 2026. Definitions: Cloistered Brokerage: Cloistered brokerage refers to the mediation of relationships, resources, knowledge, care, or authority by women whose agency was shaped by convent enclosure or comparable forms of religious confinement. The term captures a central paradox of convent life: women could be institutionally restricted while still functioning as significant intermediaries between religious communities and wider social worlds. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, for example, used her position within the Convent of San Jerónimo in Mexico City to participate in intellectual, theological, and literary networks beyond the convent walls. She wrote her Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz in that convent in 1691, and it later became one of the most important defences of women’s right to knowledge in the Hispanic world (Sor Juana, 1994). This article uses brokerage as its first analytical concept. In social-network theory, brokerage describes a relationship involving three actors: two parties to a transaction and one intermediary who connects them (Gould & Fernandez, 1989, p. 90). A broker therefore connects actors who would not otherwise be directly connected, enabling the movement of information, resources, opportunities, or influence across a social divide (Gould & Fernandez, 1989, p. 90). Burt (1992) on structural holes and Granovetter (1973) on the strength of weak ties extend this structural understanding, showing that brokers gain influence by connecting otherwise disconnected clusters (Burt, 1992; Granovetter, 1973). This article extends the concept of brokerage to religious women’s narratives through the term cloistered brokerage. Cloistered brokerage refers to the mediation of relationships, resources, knowledge, care, or authority by women whose agency was shaped by convent enclosure or comparable forms of religious confinement. The term does not assume that enclosed women were powerless. Rather, it recognises that enclosure could create particular forms of religious, social, and institutional access. A woman inside a convent might mediate between her community and external patrons, families, ecclesiastical authorities, charitable institutions, or intellectual networks. The concept of cloistered brokerage therefore avoids two simplistic assumptions. First, it does not present convents as completely isolated from society. Conventive Threshold: The comparative analysis shows that the conventive threshold is not limited to convents. It appears in many forms: a convent wall, a religious vow, a charitable institution, a pensionato, a family expectation, a caste hierarchy, or an ecclesiastical judgement. In Sor Juana’s case, the threshold is ecclesiastical and intellectual. In Irmã Dulce’s case, it becomes a passage through which marginalised people access care. In As Meninas, it appears as a secularised religious institution that regulates young women’s transition into adulthood. The peripheral texts show that this threshold is not unique to Latin America. Bama shows that caste can function as a threshold that determines who is welcomed, who is excluded, and whose suffering is recognised. Armstrong shows that Christian traditions have often restricted women’s religious authority. Godden shows that convent life can produce both communal intimacy and institutional conformity. However, the peripheral texts also show the framework’s limits. Cloistered brokerage and the conventive threshold cannot be applied universally without attention to local difference. Bama’s caste analysis, Armstrong’s history of Christianity, and Godden’s representation of monastic life all show that religious networks are shaped by specific social and historical conditions. The conventive threshold includes both formal institutional boundaries and affective practices of belonging. This article has introduced cloistered brokerage and the conventive threshold not as metaphors for confinement, but as analytical tools for the multidisciplinary study of Latin American religions. KEYWORDS: Cloistered Brokerage, Conventive Threshold, Mukesh Kumar, Original Terms, Latin American Religions
Author: Kumar, Mukesh
Language: English
Topic: Early Modern Women Writers
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Gender equality
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225035634