Dr. Pellegrino A. Luciano is currently an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the American University of Kuwait. He completed his doctoral work in anthropology in 2005 at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York on questions pertaining to privatization, nature/heritage conservation and inequality in Peru.
His research involves examining property relations embedded in the conservation of public resources such as heritage and nature. His fieldwork in the southern Peruvian Andes examined the way economic restructuring convert’s nature and heritage into commodities for a tourism economy. Pellegrino’s work describes the way residents living in the Sanctuary of Machu Picchu adapt and challenge the privatization efforts of governing authorities who attempt to restrict access to people’s land on conservation grounds, but can justify concessions to private investments.  The data presented in his research, and published articles argue that conservation has become part of a rationale of dispossession of local land and property as a way of facilitating capital investments.
Pellegrino also conducted anthropological research on public health issues pertaining to drug use and AIDS in NYC.  He carried out an ethnographic project for a 3-year study investigating the HIV infection risks of intravenous drug users. The study correlates the range of methods of syringe and paraphernalia acquisition to structural factors associated with high-risk behaviors. This research was published in numerous journal publications and professional presentations informing policy on matters of public health messages pertaining to sharing drug paraphernalia, outreach services, and the utility of needle exchange programs across the United States.