Champions of patriotism: la Perricholi in the voice of María Jesús Alvarado (1935)

Abstract

The paper proposes an approach to the radio soap opera La Perricholi (1935), written by the Peruvian feminist María Jesús Alvarado. It seeks to show how the character of Micaela Villegas was used by the female author to intervene in the debate on political rights, access to education and paid work for women. This woman writer uses as her main strategy to position herself an alternative construction of this historical figure that had been read from many angles. At the same time, the dominant sentimental regime intervenes and proposes new criteria for the moral evaluation of female citizens.