Research Stories

by Sheilah Britton

Victor Agadjanian works quietly from his 5th floor office in the Coor Building on Arizona State University's Tempe campus. The view from his window reaches north to Camelback Mountain and blue Arizona skies beyond. These days, though, his mind is filled with thoughts of people in Mozambique. He first visited the country as a young college graduate. Today, he conducts socio-demographic research in that country, especially on issues dealing with HIV/AIDS, migration, and religion.

Agadjanian is an associate professor of sociology who came to ASU in 1996. He was born and raised in Moscow. As an undergraduate he majored in African Studies and Swahili at Moscow State University in the former Soviet Union.

"At that age, I found Africa more fascinating than any other place on Earth–it was different, distant, enigmatic," he recalls. In addition to Swahili and English, he also studied the Portuguese language.

"The political map of the Portuguese-speaking world changed dramatically in the 1970s. Brazil returned to democratic rule; there was the revolution in Portugal, and the independence of the Portuguese colonies," he explains. "Almost all of those colonies embraced some form of Marxism and suddenly the Soviet Union had all these allies in Africa."

During the mid-1980s, Agadjanian spent three years working with the Soviet Ministry of Health in Angola and in Mozambique. Both countries installed a Marxist form of government after they won independence from Portugal in 1975. Agadjanian worked as a Russian-Portuguese interpreter. He also was exposed to health-related issues and a culture that he embraced. A path was carved for him.

"In Angola and Mozambique, I was fascinated by a unique combination of traditional African cultures, the Portuguese colonial legacy, and Marxist ideology. This ideological and cultural soup was very complex. But it was very ‘tasty' at the same time. I was trying to understand how all those different layers interact and adjust to each other."

At the University of Southern California in the early 1990s, Agadjanian worked towards a doctorate in sociology. He applied for and received a fellowship from The Population Council, an international non-profit organization based in New York City. He planned to conduct research in Angola for his dissertation. The day he received news of the fellowship, war broke out in Angola.

"I asked The Population Council to consider me doing the same project in Mozambique where a war had just ended," he says. "So I was chasing peace and that worked out quite well."

In Mozambique, he worked primarily on reproductive and contraceptive behavior. He also observed traditional healing practices and organized religion, especially the rapidly growing Pentecostal and similar churches that emphasize miraculous healing.

Agadjanian's current research explores social forces that shape the dynamics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Mozambique. HIV is short for human immunodeficiency virus. The virus causes AIDS, still an incurable disease that is fatal in almost all cases. HIV prevention remains an important matter in that country, but dealing with the disease is becoming of central concern for government and non-governmental organizations. People who are sick and dying need treatment and support. Their survivors need assistance.

One of Agadjanian's projects deals with the role of organized religion in HIV/AIDS prevention and care in rural, largely Christian areas.

"Think about a typical African rural community. There are barely any social services, health care, schools, police, or government," he says. "There is no ‘civil society' as we know it. Basically, all you have is your kin and your lineage. The only other thing that really functions is the church. Organized religion is therefore a potentially crucial vehicle in dealing with the risks and consequences of HIV/AIDS."

The ASU professor's project is aimed at harnessing this potential of rural religious organizations. He and his colleagues will collect and analyze scientifically interesting data. But they also will use the results to help religious organizations coordinate their efforts in HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support.

"We will start with a representative population-based survey of religious affiliation and involvement. We'll then interview church leaders to see how they deal with AIDS issues, and compare their perspectives with those elicited in the survey," he says.

Most importantly, the findings will be translated into a language that people can understand and relate to.

"We will have people discuss how they can use these findings to reach a better level of collaboration across churches and between churches and secular authorities in HIV related issues," Agadjanian says.

Migration has a long tradition in Africa. It has also been a focus of Agadjanian's HIV/AIDS related research. In the past, Mozambican men would often migrate to South Africa to work in the mining industry. They would send money home to the family in the village. This is no longer the case.

Men continue to migrate. But well-paying and stable jobs are now scarce. Most migrants work illegally in odds jobs that rarely generate enough income to send home.

The sex factor is always in play. While away from home for extended periods of time, many men will engage in casual and commercial sex. This increases their risks of HIV infection.

Most wives don't migrate. But their risks for infection stem from two factors. First, their husbands get infected while in migration. Second, the precariousness of their economic situation may push them into casual sexual partnerships or expose them to sexual violence.

"Migration is thought to be a major culprit in the spread of HIV," Agadjanian says. "We want to get at the complexity of both the direct and indirect effects of men's migration on women's HIV risks."

Agadjanian and his ASU team collaborated with the Population Center of Eduardo Mondlane University for the study. They surveyed almost 1,700 women in 56 villages–about 30 women per village. In each village, they sampled and interviewed 15 women who were married to migrants and 15 women who were married to non-migrants.

These issues are difficult for the women to discuss. The work requires sensitivity. Agadjanian says that it is challenging to communicate that they are not curious to know if a particular woman cheats on her husband and vice versa. They must let the women know they are just interested in assessing women's risks and analyzing factors that influence those risks.

Agadjanian often has to search for interviewers who are from other villages. They must build trust between the women being interviewed and the person asking the questions.

"We try to find someone who speaks and understands the subtleties of the language and knows local life but is not part of the community," he says. They must reassure the women that their confidential information will not be leaked.

Agadjanian immerses himself in the culture and the people with whom he works. He is fluent in eight languages. His love of languages allows him the ability to engage his collaborators and subjects, alike.

As a young man, the ASU professor says he decided that the best way to understand the phenomenon of traditional healers was to use their services. He went to one healer complaining of back pain. The healer told him that his pain was caused by bad spirits. The healer exorcized the spirits. To prevent their return, he cut Agadjanian's body with a razor blade and rubbed magic medicine into the incisions.

Agadjanian continued training to be a witch doctor with a healer in Mozambique. The man taught him how to use pods, shells, and goat bones to diagnose illnesses. He learned how to use leaves and roots to treat those maladies. The professor's training culminated in a "graduation" ceremony. It involved another series of body cutting and magic medicines.

Today, Agadjanian says he connects with the societies he studies in less dangerous ways. For example, he enjoys riding in the back of a truck with men, women, children, domestic animals, and the many detours along the way.

"I cannot relax and stop being a sociologist, even for a moment. I talk to these people. I ask questions that have to do with my research, such as my research on women and HIV risks. But when I'm talking to a woman sitting in the pickup truck with me, I'm not talking about HIV or her sexual relationships," he says. "I'm talking about her life, what she does during the day, where she goes, who she interacts with. These conversations give me ideas of how I can modify my approaches and instruments."

Cecilia Menjívar is an associate professor in the ASU School of Social and Family Dynamics. She works with Agadjanian to develop and implement the qualitative portions of his projects.

"He does not simply rely on answers from his already well-designed survey questionnaires," she explains. "He goes out to the field. He talks to people in their language in the street, in markets, and in their homes. He shares meals with them, goes to church with them, plays soccer with the youngsters. He rides buses with them, all the while truly enjoying himself. He loves to interact with people when he is in the field."

Scott Yabiku also is actively involved in the projects. An assistant professor at ASU, he credits Agadjanian as a generous mentor.

"He's supported numerous graduate students with tuition and stipends from his grants over the years. He also supports international students. Victor knows that bringing international students to the United States is a good thing. It helps the students get a quality of education that might not be available in their home countries."

Yabiku says that education flows in both directions. International students learn from us. "At the same time, American students get to learn about other countries and cultures. It helps to broaden their worldview."

Agadjanian is the new director for ASU's Center for Population Dynamics. He is strongly committed to university-based research because it is so beneficial to students and faculty, especially in poor developing countries. But he also strives to break through the walls of academia.

"I want to expand my knowledge and understanding of societies," he says. "Not only in matters of AIDS, but also with issues related to reproduction, gender, and institutional dynamics. I want to get a picture that is holistic and complex. But it must be elegant and clear enough to be understood and appreciated beyond just a narrow circle of people in academia."

Socio-demographic research at ASU is supported by the National Institutes of Health and other funding agencies. For more information, contact Victor Agadjanian, Ph.D., School of Social and Family Dynamics, 480.965.3804. Send email to Victor.Agadjanian@asu.edu