Michael Agar Senior Research Scientist Degree: Ph.D., Linguistic Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley Phone: 410-837-3977 Email: magar@anth.umd.edu

Research Interests  

Dr. Agar is an internationally recognized expert on drug abuse trend issues.  He has researched and published on drug issues since the 1960s, with other work in ethnographic theory, method, language, and culture.  He has recently finished work as a Principal Investigator on a seven-year NIH project to explain illicit drug epidemics.  

Dr. Agar is also a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park, with adjunct appointments in Speech Communication and Comparative Literature, as well as at the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology at the University of Alberta.  Recently, he became an associate of Antropokaos at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.  Dr. Agar is also an honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellow, NIH Career Award recipient, and currently a Fulbright Senior Specialist.  

Dr. Agar conducts introductory and advanced workshops on qualitative research and complexity theory and consults on the use of those methods in diverse project applications.  Lately, the use of complexity theory to reformulate social service organizations occupies his time and interest.  

Beyond his work at the SRC, Dr. Agar works independently at Ethknoworks LLC in northern New Mexico. Ethknoworks centers on research, writing and consultation around issues in ethnography, language, complexity theory, and the organization from both theoretical and practical points of view.  Kurt Lewin provides the motto: There is nothing as practical as a good theory.  Dr. Agar also works with the Redfish Group in Santa Fe (www. redfish.com), particularly around the application of a blend of ethnography and computer visualization called “OrgViz,” short for “making the organization visible. ”

Dr. Agar is a member of several editorial boards and has served on numerous research advisory committees.  In 2004, he was presented with the Leadership Award in Qualitative Inquiry by the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology.

Dr. Agar has published quite extensively including articles in journals from the fields of anthropology, linguistics, folklore and oral history, sociology, psychology, psychiatry, public policy, artificial intelligence, complexity, intercultural communication, and the substance use and transportation fields.  He also writes for general magazines like the Smithsonian. His books include Ripping and Running, The Professional Stranger, Angel Dust, Speaking of Ethnography, Independents Declared, and Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation. A new book, a policy critique based on his decades in the drug field that was just published, is Dope Double Agent: The Naked Emperor on Drugs.

Selected Publications

A tale of two epidemics. Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry, in press.

A heroin epidemic at the intersection of histories (with H. S. Reisinger). Medical Anthropology 21: 79-126, 2002.

Another complex step. Field Methods, Vol 13(4): 353-369, 2001.

Another complex step. Field Methods, Vol 13(4): 353-369, 2001.

Using trend theory to explain heroin use trends (with H. S. Reisinger). Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 33(3): 201-212, 2001.

Buprenorphine: A Field trials of a new drug. (with Philippe Bourgois, John French and Owen Murdoch). Qualitative Health Research 11:58-68, 2001.

Ethnography. International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 3, 1: Article 76. Oxon UK: Elsevier, 2001.

Explaining drug use trends (with H. S. Reisinger). In Illicit Drugs: Patterns of Response, ed. A. Springer & A. Uh. Innsbruck, Studienverlag, 2000.

Border lessons: Linguistic rich points and evaluative understanding. In special issue of New Directions for Evaluation, How and Why Language Matters in Evaluation, ed. Rodney K. Hopson, 86:93-110, 2000.

Read all about it: media construction of a heroin epidemic (with H. S. Reisinger). Substance Use and Abuse 35:(4): 1363-1383, 2000.

Complexity theory: an overview and exploration based on Holland’s work (with commentary by Michael Patton and reply). Field Methods 11:99-126, 1999.

Numbers and patterns: heroin indicators and what they represent (with H. s. Reisinger). Human Organization 58:365-374, 1999.

How to ask for a study in Qualitatish. Qualitative Health Research 9: 669-681, 1999.

Talking Numbers: Ethnography and Epidemiology. Special Issue of Substance Use and Misuse. (co-editor with Nick Kozel). Vol. 34, No. 14, 1999.

Heroin habit size in three cities: context and variation. (with Philippe Bourgois, John French, and Owen Murdoch) Journal of Drug Issues 28:921-940, 1998.

Ethnography: An Overview. Substance Use and Misuse 32(9) 1149-1167, 1997.

The Professional Stranger: An Informal Introduction to Ethnography. New York, Academic Press, 1980. (Forthcoming in Japanese translation as “Yosomono Kagyo” with Shinjuku publishing, Tokyo. ) (U. S. Second Edition, 1996).

Show it, don’t tell it: How to run an ethnography appreciation course. Practicing Anthropology, 18(2): 3-5, 1996.

Recasting the “ethno” in “epidemiology. ” Medical Anthropology, 16:391-403, 1996.

Ethnography. Handbook of Pragmatics Manual, ed. Jef Verschueren, Jan-Ola Ostman and Jan Blommaert. Amsterdam, John Benjamins. 1995, pp. 583-590.

Concept abuse in the drug field. International Journal of the Addictions 30(9): 1165-1168, 1995.

Focus groups and ethnography (with James McDonald), Human Organization 54(1): 78-86, 1995.

Investigating recent trends in heroin use in Baltimore City: A Pilot “Quanitative” Research Project. (With Owen Murdoch). CESAR Special Topics in Substance Abuse 94-1, College Park, MD, 1994.

Le role de l’ethnographie dans les politques de soins aux Etats-Units. (The role of ethnography in health politics in the U. S. ) La Revue Agora: Ethique, Medecine, Societe, 31:95-105, 1994.

The intercultural frame. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 18:221-237, 1994.

What is a trip--and why take one. In LSD: Still With Us After All These Years, ed. Leigh Henderson and William Glass. New York, Lexington Press. 1994, pp. 9-36.

Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation. New York, Wm. Morrow, 1994.

The right brain strikes back. In Using Computers in Qualitative Research, ed. Nigel G. Fielding and Raymond M. Lee. London, Sage, 1991.

Speaking of Ethnography. Hollywood, Sage. 1985. Part reprinted in Human Communication, ed. S. W. Littlejohn, Wadsworth, 1989.