The Peruvian anthropologist and philosopher Juan Ossio is an expert on Andean culture, poverty and its relation to mining companies who is now in charge of Peru’s new Ministry of Culture, an appointment that has created great expectations in Peru, a country with diverse identities and a very important historical heritage.
Ossio, who is a Doctor in Philosophy, is professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP)’s Social Sciences Faculty and has called himself in the past a “liberal”, like Mario Vargas Llosa, his close friend.
Ossio was part of the commission chaired by Vargas Llosa that investigated the killing of eight journalists in the remote locality of Ucchuraccay, in the region of Ayacucho, in 1983, during the first years of terrorism in Peru (1980-2000).
He was also a collaborator of Vargas Llosa’s Movimiento Libertad, the political initiative that launched the author of “Conversación en La Catedral” to the presidential candidature in 1990.
The journal “El Comercio” pointed out today that Vargas Llosa was one of the first candidates President Alan García thought of to lead the Ministry of Culture. However, the writer declined the offer.
Ossio, who is 57 years old, has published numerous books since the seventies like “Ideología mesiánica del mundo andino” (1973), “), "Familia campesina y economía de mercado" (1985), "Los indios del Perú" (Madrid, 1992), "Empresas mineras y poblaciones rurales,(1998) y "El códice murúa" (Madrid, 2004).
He has also been visiting professor of various universities in the United States of America, the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris) and been a professor of the Master of Amerindian Studies, Aula Bartolomé de las Casas (Madrid).
Ossio has been awarded scholarships from foundations like Guggenheim, Ford and the Foundation for Anthropological Research. He was advisor on indigenous matters of the former First Lady Elianne Karp, wife of President Alejando Toledo (2001-2006), and of the current President of Peru, Alan García.
Currently, he is a member, alongside Vargas Llosa, of the high-level commission in charge of developing the project “Museo de la Memoria”, a tribute to the victims of the armed conflict between the security forces and Sendero Luminoso when 69.000 people lost their lives.
After the creation of the Ministry of Environment in 2008, this is the second post created during Alan Garcia’s administration.