ABSTRACT
We take it as given that any definition of discourse and any approach to discourse analysis are historically located (and similarly so with other concepts and approaches to research). By this we do not mean that there is an authorized history that provides the definition of discourse analysis. Similarly, there is no given set of traditions that define the boundaries of what counts as discourse and discourse analysis. This is not to suggest that the prior experiences, endeavors, and arguments of researchers are not useful to people seeking to define discourse analysis but rather that a history or a set of traditions must be claimed, argued, and labored for by the present;1 that is, the task of locating discourse analysis (or any approach to research) historically is one not predetermined by the past but is acted on by the present as it looks to the future.2
