The Implications of Psychoanalysis for Qualitative Methodology: The Case of Interviews and Narrative Data Analysis∗

In this article I ask to what extent geographers can draw on psychoanalytic theory when examining interview data. I consider Freud's theory of the mind and its unconscious processes to ask how bringing the unconscious to bear on identity studies potentially impacts qualitative research on subjectivity and identification. Existing geographic debate on psychoanalytic theory and methods provides an organizing framework for my argument. Although the article advocates an ontology of the psychoanalytic subject, I suggest that researchers must avoid psychoanalyzing research subjects. This distinction limits the ways in which scholars can “read” personal narratives for unconscious processes. ∗I would like to thank Paul Kingsbury, Geoff Mann, and the reviewers for their help with this article. Key Words: psychoanalysisqualitative methodologysubjectivityunconscious Notes ∗I would like to thank Paul Kingsbury, Geoff Mann, and the reviewers for their help with this article. 1 Although Freud's subject is universalist, see CitationKwok (2000); also see CitationButler, Laclau, and Zizek (2000). 2 Notably, the use of “Other” indicates a Lacanian language and framework. 3 Such suturing has presumably been difficult for geographers. For example, Butler's performativity theory has been applied widely in social geographies of identity (in my own work and in many others), yet the psychoanalytic components of it have not been as applied as have its Foucaultian and deconstructive elements. CitationButler's (1997) book directly dealing with psychic life is rarely cited in the discipline's journals. 4 Indeed, this point has commonalities with other schools of thought, like Deleuzian geographies. See CitationNast (2000).