Abstract

MCEVOY, Gabriela. The Construction of the Heroic Image through Journalistic Discourse: the Case of the Peruvian Activist María Elena Moyano. hist.crit. [online]. 2008, n.35, pp.82-104. ISSN 0121-1617.

This work tries to demonstrate that the social construction of the national hero/heroine as a symbol of courage and resistance generally arises within a period of social, political, and economic crisis. The national hero is a construction that is created in a moment characterized by the loss of public trust and the failure of government leaders to act. The creation of the heroic image functions as a socio-political tool. The article suggests that there is a close relationship between the history and the construction of heroic figures. Using the death of Peruvian activist María Elena Moyano as a concrete example, it demonstrates that journalistic discourse has the ability to create an heroic image around a person who has been given the traditional role that the hero has played in society since Antiquity.

Keywords : Heroic image; social activism; Shining Path; journalism; Peru; María Elena Moyano.

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