Michael Agar

Biographic Data

ID3616404
NAMEMichael Agar
GIVEN NAMESMichael
FAMILY NAMEAgar
SIGNATUREAGAR M
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Maryland, College Park
VERIFIEDNo
TOTAL WORKS104
TOTAL CITATIONS730
AUTHOR COUNT104
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1969
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX11

  • Agar, Michael

    Open AccessMichael Agar, Karen RisagerCHAPTEREncyclopedia of Applied Linguistics2026

    Michael Agar was a well‐known researcher in linguistic anthropology. In the field of applied linguistics more generally he is especially known for his path‐breaking work on “langua‐culture,” a concept that calls attention to the inextricable bond between language and culture.

  • Lively Science

    Michael AgarBOOKLively Science2021

  • Michael H. Agar

    Open AccessMichael Agar, Heather Schacht Reisinger et al.ARTICLEAnthropology News2017

  • Human eddies and flows

    Open AccessMichael Agar, Ellen TaylorARTICLEWater History2014Cited by: 1References: 10

  • An outsider’s ethnographic thoughts about design

    Open AccessMichael AgarARTICLEArts and Humanities in Higher…2014

    This article gives Michael Agar’s email responses to two questions put by Gavin Melles: ‘What are your thoughts on the advantages and dangers of developments in applied anthropology for ethnographic and anthropology practice?’ and ‘What are your impressions of the potential and actual use of ethnography in design?’ The responses open further questions regarding the assumptions involved in the methodology and application of design research, and th…

  • Use of an Agent-Based Model to Understand Clinical Systems

    Open AccessLuci K Leykum, Luci Leykum et al.ARTICLEJournal of Artificial Societies…2012

    Health care improvement efforts often focus on changing the behavior of individuals while the interdependencies among individuals are overlooked. The application of complex adaptive systems approach to studying healthcare delivery changes the focus of improvement efforts from the individual to the relationships and interdependencies among individuals in the system. Sensemaking and improvising are social activities that take place in the context o…

  • Whose Knowledge? What Transfer

    Michael AgarARTICLEPracticing Anthropology2011

    The article is a written version of an invited plenary on knowledge transfer for medical practitioners and researchers in Alberta, Canada. The heart of it, as presented and as written here, is that “knowledge transfer” needs to be thought of as knowledge from front line organizational staff and clients transferred to leadership that controls resources and regulations. The argument is based on three cases from health-related settings. The conclusi…

  • Redefining Retention

    Shannon Gwin Mitchell, Rika Morioka et al.ARTICLEJournal of Psychoactive Drugs2011

    This study examines the process of discharge and treatment reentry for six participants who entered treatment voluntarily but were administratively discharged from methadone treatment programs. The participants completed semistructured interviews at treatment entry and at four, eight and 12 months post-treatment entry. Grounded theory methodology was used to examine the phenomenon of treatment reentry from the perspective of the patients, who oft…

  • Making sense of one other for another

    Open AccessMichael AgarARTICLELanguage & Communication2011Cited by: 20References: 16

  • Why don’t out-of-treatment individuals enter methadone treatment programmes

    Open AccessJames A Peterson, Robert P Schwartz et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal of Drug…2010

  • Premature Discharge from Methadone Treatment

    Heather Schacht Reisinger, Robert P Schwartz et al.ARTICLEJournal of Psychoactive Drugs2009

    Longer retention in drug abuse treatment is associated with better patient outcomes, and research indicates the first 12 months of methadone treatment are critical to patient success. Nevertheless, large-scale multisite longitudinal studies over the past three decades indicate that the majority of patients drop out during the first year of methadone treatment. Through an examination of 42 qualitative interviews with patients prematurely discharge…

  • Incarceration and Opioid Withdrawal

    Shannon Gwin Mitchell, Sharon M Kelly et al.ARTICLEJournal of Psychoactive Drugs2009

    Both heroin-addicted individuals and methadone maintenance patients are likely to face untreated opioid withdrawal while incarcerated. Limited research exists concerning the withdrawal experiences of addicted inmates and their impact on individuals' attitudes and plans concerning drug abuse treatment. In the present study, 53 opioid dependent adults (32 in methadone treatment and 21 out of treatment) were interviewed in an ethnographic investigat…

  • Targeted Sampling in Drug Abuse Research

    Open AccessJames A Peterson, Heather Schacht Reisinger et al.ARTICLECAM2008

    Locating and recruiting out-of-treatment drug-dependent individuals for inclusion in research studies are important and challenging tasks. Targeted sampling, a technique to reach such populations, has been described in the substance abuse literature. However, this literature has generally lacked a recent detailed account of the procedures for planning and implementing targeted sampling. This article provides a review of the literature of targeted…

  • A Linguistics for Ethnography. Why Not Second Languaculture Learning and Translation

    Open AccessMichael AgarARTICLEJournal of Intercultural…2008Cited by: 1References: 1

    Language and ethnography have always gone hand in hand. In this article two kinds of linguistics are explored that seem to have a close relationship to ethnography, namely, second languaculture learning and translation theory. The article shows how the former resembles the ethnographic research process while the latter is similar to the usual ethnographic product. The irony is that neither of these two kinds of linguistics have played much of a r…

  • Emic/Etic

    Open AccessMichael AgarOTHERThe Blackwell Encyclopedia of…2007Cited by: 1

    Emic” and “etic” have become shorthand terms, especially in anthropology, for an “insider” versus an “outsider” view of a particular social world. For example, an outsider view of an economic exchange might hold that the seller's goal was to maximize profit. An insider view from people actually involved in the exchange might show that profit was only one of many concerns. Kinship ties, a long relationship history, previous social favors, earlier …

  • Getting clean and harm reduction

    Open AccessJames A Peterson, James Peterson et al.ARTICLECadernos de Saude Publica2006References: 7

    Many contemporary HIV prevention interventions targeting injection drug users (IDUs) have been implemented using Harm Reduction as a theoretical framework. Among drug-using individuals, however, the abstinence-based "getting clean" models espoused by Narcotics Anonymous and other widely adopted approaches to drug treatment are often more readily accepted. This paper describes an ethnographic examination of the ideological dichotomy between Harm R…

  • Culture

    Open AccessMichael AgarARTICLEInternational Journal of…2006Cited by: 37References: 3

    This is a written version of a lecture delivered at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Eduction at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The original series of lectures can be viewed at http://www.education.ucsb.edu/thematicschool/ . In this 'culture' lecture, the author explores the difficulties in using the concept in contemporary research with particular reference to its relational nature, its partiality, and the various problems that ethno…

  • Local discourse and global research

    Michael AgarARTICLELanguage in Society2005Cited by: 3References: 5

    Detailed analysis of transcripts is a time-honored practice among linguistic ethnographers. In contemporary research, however, interactions among global forces distant from ethnographic sites are critical for analysis and explanation, as is the fact that multiple sites must be covered. Ethnographers' interests, pragmatic relevance, and personal deixis militate against the ability of site-specific talk to serve as raw material for construction of …

  • Know When to Hold ’Em, Know When to Fold ’Em

    Open AccessMichael H Agar, Michael AgarARTICLEQualitative Health Research2004

    Qualitative researchers often face a dilemma. They are asked to apply their knowledge to problems without adequate time or support to conduct projects that meet traditional academic standards of research design and methodology. Should qualitative researchers pitch in and get involved or keep their distance? What can they hope to accomplish, if anything? How do they know whether a particular job can be done? Traditional research training provides …

  • An Anthropological Problem, A Complex Solution

    Michael AgarARTICLEHuman Organization2004

    This article means to introduce complexity science, more specifically agent-based models, to an anthropological audience. It does so by laying out a research problem that has concerned the author for some time—how can illicit drug epidemics be explained? Traditional social research is simply not adequate to the task. After introducing the newer framework of agent-based modeling, the author argues that both complexity and anthropology focus on “a …

  • Ecstasy

    Michael Agar, Heather Schacht ReisingerARTICLEJournal of Psychoactive Drugs2004

    This article evaluates past work on heroin and crack cocaine epidemics by comparing it with the increase in Ecstasy use in the late 1990s. First of all, the authors make the case that there was, in fact, a dramatic increase in Ecstasy use in the late 1990s. Following that is a review of the rise and fall of several different Ecstasy scenes beginning in the 1960s. The most recent rise, in the late 1990s, requires a broadening of the theory of epid…

  • Going for the Global

    Michael Agar, Heather Schacht ReisingerARTICLEHuman Organization2003

    Anthropologists now routinely use global factors to describe and explain meanings and practices uncovered in specific ethnographic sites. In our efforts to explain illicit drug epidemics, we participate in this shift, since changes in a system of illicit drug production and distribution are always a part of the story. In the case study presented here--the increasing use of ecstasy in the late 1990s--we deal with two new problems. First, global an…

  • The Story of Crack

    Michael AgarARTICLEAddiction Research & Theory2003

    Ongoing work with two heroin epidemics in Baltimore produced a "trend theory," a way to explain illicit drug use tends. In this article, the case of the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980s is analyzed to challenge the theory. Two of the key parameters of the theory - the drug production system and the linking networks - apply directly and generate useful explanatory material. A third parameter - historical conditions of the impacted population - …

  • Toward a Qualitative Epidemiology

    Open AccessMichael AgarARTICLEQualitative Health Research2003Cited by: 3References: 10

    This article is based on an invited keynote lecture to the Qualitative Health Research meetings in Banff, Alberta, in April 2002 and so is written in an informal style. The author begins with problems in traditional epidemiology, with its focus on the case record and the epidemiological triad of host, agent, and environment. The idea of a person-in-context "movie" is offered as an alternative kind of case record, and broader issues of identity an…

  • A Tale of Two Policies

    Open AccessMichael Agar, Heather Schacht ReisingerARTICLECulture Medicine and Psychiatry2002