La Madre Coraje y sus enlaces: Remembering María Elena Moyano

This paper examines the varied manifestations of the memory of community leader Maŕıa Elena Moyano during the violence of Peru’s “Dirty War.” After her assassination by Shining Path rebels in 1992, her memory has been manipulated to promote feminist, and more problematic politically biased perspectives rather than an objective account of the goals she sought to achieve. The paper points out the problematic publication of her “autobiography” and analyzes the allegorical memory of Moyano as depicted in the novel Useful Fools. The article proposes an alternative to these forms by analyzing the internet as a medium of memory construction, concluding that the internet allows for a more accessible, collaborative source of knowledge, as the website “Amigos de Villa” represents an appropriate form of remembering Moyano.