ABSTRACT
I have two basic objectives in this chapter, both of which inform the procedures and conceptualization of Lacanian Discourse Analysis (LDA). In the first half of the chapter, I develop a series of arguments in respect of how we need to understand that most elusive of psychoanalytic notions, namely the Lacanian unconscious. Doing so will set the scene for a practical example of how one might utilize LDA in respect of narrative texts. The narrative material I draw on here stems from the Apartheid Archive Project. My attempt here is not to develop a series of methodological steps for a version of LDA, neither is it to become bogged down in the theoretical minutia of Lacanian jargon. My agenda is rather to explore a series of implications of Lacan’s important conceptualization of the unconscious, which will, in turn, open up practical possibilities for a psychoanalytic analysis of textual material.
