UC Irvine

The involvement of non-elite women from rural and the urban working-class remains at the margins of Shining Path’s history. By examining the types of women militants through the lens of class, ethnicity, location, educational level, and social status, a more thorough understanding of the roles and duties performed by the women of Shining Path. This dissertation argues that non-elite women and non-militant female leadership played critical roles in Sendero Luminoso’s insurrection from 1965 through the capture of its leader Abimael Guzmán in 1992. The non-elite women of Sendero not only served as leaders and armed insurgents but as gendered revolutionary bridges connecting the non-elite populations of rural Ayacucho and urban Lima with the clandestine, elite leadership of Sendero. Additionally, non-militant Sendero women leaders at the highest levels contributed a gendered perspective to the political ideology of Shining Path and organized women through the Popular Women’s Movement (Movimiento Femenino Popular) before merging with Sendero. This dissertation also explores the labor of non-elite women through performances of Shining Path’s “new art” to continue militancy while in the prisons of Lima and Callao. The purpose of this investigation is to offer new perspectives on the importance of the non-elite women in Sendero and their labor in sustaining Sendero’s insurrection.