Eliane Karp

Eliane Karp
First Lady of Peru
In office July 28, 2001 – July 28, 2006
Preceded by	Keiko Fujimori
Succeeded by	Pilar Nores de García
Personal details
Born	Eliane Chantal Karp Fernenbug September 24, 1953 (1953-09-24) Paris, France
Citizenship	American Peruvian Belgian French
Spouse(s)	Alejandro Toledo (m. 1972)
Children	Chantal Toledo
Residence	Lima
Alma mater	Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Profession	Anthropologist
Religion	Jewish
Website	http://elianekarptoledo.com/

Eliane Karp Toledo (born September 24, 1953), a French-born anthropologist and economist, and the wife of the former president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo. She is a prominent academic, specializing in the study of Andean indigenous cultures.

Early life

Eliane Chantal Karp-Toledo was born in Paris in 1953. Throughout her youth, Karp was an active supporter of Israel's statehood. She studied economics at the Lycée Français in Brussels, and earned her B.A. in anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in Latin American Studies. She also holds a Master of Arts in Anthropology from Stanford University. Karp has taken courses on indigenous communities at the University of Mexico, and has done graduate work on Anthropology and Economic Development at the Catholic University of Peru.

At Stanford, she met Alejandro Toledo, whom she married in 1972. Karp first came to Peru in the late 1970s to study Indian (indigenous) communities while working on her Ph.D. In 1992 Karp and Toledo divorced and she returned to Israel with their daughter, Chantal. There she worked at Bank Leumi in Tel Aviv, Israel, where she was in charge of developing relationships with foreign banks. The couple remarried and returned to Peru before her husband's 1995 campaign.

Karp has also worked for the European Investment Bank, the OAS, UNDP and UNICEF. . In addition, she has served as an adviser to a number of banks and financial institutions, both in Peru and abroad, in connection with development and investment projects.

Karp speaks seven languages: French, Spanish, English, Hebrew, Dutch, Portuguese, and Quechua, a native Andean language.

During her husband's 2001 presidential bid, Karp contributed to a campaign which drew deeply on Toledo's indigenous heritage. She donned traditional Andean costume, rallied voters in Quechua, and demonstrated the couple's commitment to indigenous issues. According to the New York Times, "her flaming red hair and fiery speeches made her a popular and controversial fixture at campaign rallies.”

Political Contributions

In 2001, Karp became the First Lady of the Republic of Peru when Toledo was elected President. She served as First Lady until 2006. During this period, Karp became the Honorary President and Founder of the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Communities of Latin America and the Caribbean.

During the campaign, Karp proved to be an influential if divisive figure. Her political activism, particularly on indigenous issues, unsettled many, and, along with her continued support of her husband through several scandals, led the media to compare her to Hillary Clinton.

CONAPA

Many Peruvians hoped that as a result of the election of Peru's first indigenous president, the rights of indigenous peoples would be enhanced and the issues of greatest concern to them would be properly addressed. Shortly after Toledo's inauguration, his administration created the National Commission on Andean, Amazon and Afro Peruvian Communities (CONAPA) of Peru, of which Karp served as president. The agency was meant to establish a development agenda for indigenous communities, provide representation of indigenous interests within the government, and lead the way to constitutional reforms that benefit indigenous peoples. Some critics viewed these actions as a state co-optation of indigenous identity, mockingly dubbing the agency the “Karp Comission.”

Others lamented the commission's ineffectiveness. Noting its lack of funding and of implementing powers, Diana Vindling called it "no more than a space for dialogue." On the other hand, Oxfam's Martin Scurrah points out that the agency did good work. Noting that in addition to promoting a chapter on indigenous rights in the new constitution, Eliane Karp "intervened on numerous occasions in support of or in defense of indigenous initiatives." She also opened the "Desamparados" train station as a cultural center dedicated to the country's first nations, and organized numerous other exhibits around the world.

Some critics viewed the very creation of the commission as a step backwards for indigenous Peruvians, noting its leadership by a person with no official government position rather than a Ministry head. The commission also absorbed the former SETAI (office of indigenous affairs) which reportedly led to a loss of autonomy and dynamism for that agency. Others complained that Karp's leadership of the commission represented a conflict of interest, givern her involvement in her own private NGO, Fundacion Pacha.

In 2003, partly in response to these criticisms, Karp resigned from CONAPA, which was subsequently restructured as a national institute rather than a commission.

Macchu Pichu Artifacts

Throughout Toledo’s presidency, Karp participated in negotiations with Yale University for the return to Peru of over 350 indigenous artifacts. The museum pieces were excavated from Machu Picchu around 1915 and sent to Yale on a twelve month loan. On this matter, Peru had the support of the National Geographic Society and Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut. Negotiations stalled when the university refused to acknowledge Peru as the sole owners of the artifacts, but resumed under the García presidency.

In a New York Times op-ed, Karp accused Yale of waiting out “Peru’s first elected indigenous president, until Peru had a new leader who is frankly hostile to indigenous matters.” She also criticized the agreement between Peru and Yale that was finally arrived at in 2008. Under the terms of this agreement, Peru would have to build a museum and research center near Machu Picchu to Yale’s specifications before it could receive a portion of the articles for display and study. Most of the artifacts would remain with Yale.

Pacha Foundation for a Change

In 2001, Karp started Fundación Pacha, a non-profit organization that oversees development projects for indigenous Peruvians. The foundation “places special emphasis on the design of sustainable development projects based on traditional and communal organizations and the development of productive skills to promote the comparative economic advantages of the Peruvian biodiversity and its rich potential for ecotourism.”

Karp remained the head of the organization until 2006. Pacha’s micro projects have included giving Amazonian peoples vaccinations against yellow fever, hepatitis B, and malaria, building basic community institutions, and providing equipment for basic medical care centers in rural areas with indigenous populations.

Current activities

Karp serves on the board of several organizations. She is the Honorary President and Founder of the Fund for Development of Indigenous Communities of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Since leaving the office of First Lady, Karp has been an active academic. Initially, she was at Stanford University, where she was a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, as well as a Distinguished Fellow in Residence at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

She currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she is an Adjunct Professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. She teaches classes there on the culture and social organization of indigenous peoples in the Andean countries, and their struggle for greater rights and participation in public life and democratic politics.

Publications

Books

• Karp de Toledo, Eliane. Los pueblos indígenas en la agenda democrática: Estudios de caso de Bolivia, Ecuador, México y Perú. Corporación Andina de Fomento, 2006.
• Karp de Toledo, Eliane: Allin Kausaynapaq, Interculturalidad y participación: Para vivir mejor con nosotros mismos. Office of the First Lady of the Nation. Lima, May 22, 2006.
• Karp de Toledo, Eliane: La Diversidad Cultural y los ciudadanos del Sol y La Luna – Propuestas para la inclusión social y el desarrollo con identidad de los pueblos originarios del Perú. Office of the First Lady of the Nation. Lima, November 30, 2004.
• Karp de Toledo, Eliane; Lema Tucker, Linda (eds.): El Tema Indígena en Debate. Aportes para la Reforma Constitucional. Presented in the Congress of the Republic of Peru. Office of the First Lady of the Nation. Lima, April 2003.
• Karp de Toledo, Eliane: Hacia una nueva Nación, Kay Pachamanta. Office of the First Lady of the Nation. Lima, July 2002. Second Edition, October 2002. Third Edition, June 2003.