Exploring Indigenous Language and Psychological Health Among Kickapoo Tribe Bilingual Individuals

Abstract

Participants in this study were eight bilingual Kiiweekaapaa (Kickapoo) Tribal members. Coders independently reviewed the interview transcripts using a micro analytic perspective and grounded theory methodology to identify concepts that represent participant responses. The identified themes included language fluency, translation concerns, culture, historical trauma, acculturative stress, and hope. The participants provide the field with a deeper understanding of the perceptions held by Kickapoo Tribal bilingual individuals regarding knowledge of their Tribal language and psychological wellness.

Significance of Scholarship to the Public

Understanding the use of Indigenous people’s language as it relates to concepts of psychological health when interacting with psychologists is critical to effective and ethical practice of psychology. Findings revealed five themes that are important in understanding Kickapoo language and mental health services and how Kickapoo Bilingual individuals have unique language experiences that may impact psychological services. Participants in this study conveyed being profoundly impacted by using their Indigenous language in their daily lived experience.

Introduction

There are significant health disparities between Indigenous people and other races in the United States. Research reveals an overrepresentation of Indigenous populations in health disparities driven by behavioral health causes that drive disease onset and condition severity resulting in higher death rates (Gone & Trimble, 2012). Indigenous populations have lower quality of life and 4.4 years less life expectancy than all other races living in the United States (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2016). Factors associated with these epidemics caused by behavioral health concerns are in dire need of research. Additionally, more inherent protective factors need to be identified. One of the protective factors found in Tribal communities is that of Tribal language use among its members (Hallett et al., 2007).

Previous researchers have demonstrated that thinking and speaking in a foreign language provides greater emotional and cognitive distance than when in the speaker’s native language (Keysar et al., 2012). The prospect of such a detachment and the health implications for bilingual Indigenous populations receiving psychological services is worth exploration. Additionally, research has shown that clients using services in their own language experience better outcomes (Chu et al, 2016). However, there are few studies exploring bicultural Indigenous people’s psychological health as it is associated specifically with bilingualism.

The Kiiweekaapaa (Kickapoo) Tribe of Oklahoma are an Algonquin Tribe and belong to the Algonquian linguistic family. Although the Algonquian language has been well studied, little has been written about the Kickapoo language (Bluecloud, 2020; de Garcia, 1994). The Kickapoo were originally located in the Great Lakes region of the United States. However, in response to the western migration of Europeans, many Kickapoo moved southward to what is now Kansas, Oklahoma and Mexico (Kuhlmann, 1989). The Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma is one of three federally recognized Kickapoo groups residing in the United States, with a fourth group residing in Nacimiento, Coahuila, Mexico (Bluecloud, 2020). Kuhlmann (1989) shared that the Kickapoo language knowledge in Oklahoma has been consistently replenished from the linguistic stability of their relatives living in Mexico. Those Kickapoo who live in Mexico have tenaciously clung to their Tribal language, and many also speak Spanish and English.

Kickapoo people, like other Indigenous people, have experienced and continue to experience colonization and historical trauma (Hartmann et al., 2019). Weaver (2003) defined colonization as including overt and subtle actions for Indigenous peoples to replace their language, beliefs, and ways of knowing to that of the colonizer. Colonization has been linked to the forceful assimilation practices that prevented traditional language use and cultural practices (Deloria, 2003; Tinker 1993). Traditional practices were also forcefully suppressed for generations by actions such as banning religious and other rituals. Consequently, many Indigenous people began secretly passing down their traditions through oral storytelling (Golla, 2002; Robbins et al., 2005). Research indicates that this resistance has come with a heavy toll, suppressing Tribal identity and emotions and compounding physical and psychological health problems (Mauss & Gross, 2004; Richards et al., 2003).

Globally, health professionals are more likely to meet individuals whose native language is neither the same as theirs nor the preferred language of the community they reside in, and this can impede healing (Karp & Vögele, 2016). This causes the individual to change from one language to another during conversation, also known as code switching (Wong et al., 2016). Code switching affects the therapeutic encounter as the distance caused by using the second language can impact the expression of emotionally rich statements. Not only is the emotional expression and cognitive processing of the speaker impeded, but also the listener’s emotional and intellectual resources required for making sense of the individual’s lived experience (Espín, 2013). A therapist who understands the language of their client is more likely to be sensitive to cultural nuances that may otherwise go unnoticed (de Zulueta, 1990; Kokaliari et al., 2013). In general, research about multilingualism as it is related to psychotherapy is rare (Karp & Vögele, 2016), and is even more scarce for Indigenous populations.

The land which the United States now occupies was once home to hundreds of Native languages. The vast majority of those languages were expunged through colonization (Harrison, 2007). Hill (2008) argued that the loss of language leaves a profound effect on individuals’ lives, their culture, and the collective psyche of Indigenous communities. Meek (2010) stated: “it is also about the rupturing and replacement of social-cultural practices and everyday interactions, resulting in the disintegration of the speech community or social networks that sustain the previous code (or lost language)” (p.4). Therefore, the loss of Tribal languages has dire consequences for the well-being of Tribal members (Harrison, 2007).

One study conducted with Indigenous youth in British Columbia explored Tribal language knowledge as it related to youth suicide. The study demonstrated that when communities had, at minimum, half of the youth possessing conversational knowledge of their Tribal language, the rates of suicide dropped to zero (Hallett et al., 2007). The writers suggest that knowing and using one’s Tribal language functions as a protective factor for individuals and positively benefits Tribal community psychological health. Cwik et al. (2019) further wrote about the benefits of strengthening language and culture as protective factors for suicide prevention in Apache youth.

A study with the Navajo found the use of their language “implicates a complex array of ideological forces” including cultural pride, identity, optimism, but also internalized shame (McCarty et al., 2006, p. 659). Similar results were found in another study in which Navajo parents named identity, culture, and traditions as strengths of the Navajo language (Yazzie, 1995). Yazzie’s (1996) follow-up study found parallel themes in which Navajo elders reported that the knowledge of the Navajo language contributed to greater Tribal self-identity.

Research Questions

What therapists do in clinical practice has been referred to as “talk therapy,” but what if the words that a client uses are from a language imposed upon them by oppressive forces? Is the expression of feelings and thoughts in that foreign language as healing as words from their indigenous one? Could something be lost in translation? Could that something be a loss of the capacity to express one’s cultural identity? Are there nuances of feelings and understandings that cannot be captured in a colonizer’s language? Would considering unique Indigenous psychological concepts enrich the Western psychological field? This study investigates how Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma bilingual individuals believe their Indigenous language is connected to psychological healing.

The current literature uses terms such as American Indian, Native American, Alaska Native, First Nations, and Aboriginals. Acknowledging the complexity and political implications with the use of these labels (Lewis & Myhra, 2017), the term Indigenous will be used to refer to the Native people of North America (United States or Canada) and local Tribal terms will be used when possible. Additionally, Indigenous will be capitalized to indicate that it is representative of a distinct subgroup.

Method

Study Design

This study used grounded theory methodology and built upon the framework of Indigenous methodology, defined as “research by and for Indigenous peoples, using techniques and methods drawn from the traditions and knowledges of those peoples” (Evans et al., 2009, p. 894). The main intention of Indigenous methodology is to ensure research is conducted in a respectful and culturally sensitive fashion from an Indigenous perspective. Indigenous methodology seeks to locate research specifically within the context of ongoing colonialism. According to Lomawaima and McCarthy (2006), research has existed and thrived as a part of a larger colonial project. The gradual diminishment of Indigenous epistemologies replaces Tribal approaches to understanding and knowing the lived experiences of Tribal people. Locally constructed and shared knowledge and values can provide novel and different perspectives of psychological theories. We attempted to explore “the unique and yet potentially universal nature of the experiences” (Braud & Anderson, 1998, p. 31) by incorporating the Kickapoo bilingual perspectives with Tribally and culturally appropriate, qualitative research perspectives. This study was developed conjointly with members of the Kickapoo Community Health Representative Program. The inspiration for this study flowed from the first authors’ training and work with the Kickapoo mental health services personnel and Tribal members. The design of the study including participant recruitment, ethical considerations, participation of translators, and communication of the findings was a joint process that took place over several meetings.

Participants

Each participant selected was a Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma member and bilingual speaker of both the Kickapoo and English languages, who resided within their Tribal jurisdiction. Recruitment of participants was made with a purposeful sampling selection by the Kickapoo Community Health Representative (CHR) Program. Each CHR met with each potential participant one-on-one to assess their interest in the study. This procedure resulted in eight participants agreeing to participate in the study. Interviews were conducted in a closed office space to ensure confidentiality within the CHR Program building.

Researchers

The primary researcher is a member of the Diné (Navajo) Nation and received her doctorate in counseling psychology. She has worked in the health care system within Indigenous communities at the federal, Tribal, and urban levels for over 20 years. She also conducted a portion of her clinical training with the Kickapoo Tribe, and the initial impetus for the study was mutual between her and the mental health services staff at the Tribal agency. This study received ethical approval from the primary researcher’s academic institutional review board.

The peer debriefer identifies with his Cherokee and Choctaw Nations heritages. He is a professor in counseling psychology and has worked with numerous Tribes throughout the country in his over 40-year career. Further, his work contributed to the foundation of psychological research involving Indigenous Peoples. Both authors have worked for the Kickapoo Tribes in the United States. Together, their cultural background and body of research provide them with a more subjective view of Indigenous individuals, bringing a deep familiarity with Indigenous issues while also potentially influencing their objectivity. The third author has been a professor of counseling psychology for over 30 years, and identifies as White. He has worked to develop collaborative relationships between his large public research university and Indigenous communities throughout his career. All three authors believe in the values of using community-based participatory action research approaches specifically as described by Tucker et al. (2017) in their work addressing systemic disparities that impact Indigenous communities. All authors also hold the view that historical training and service delivery in counseling psychology has maintained structural inequities in mental health among Indigenous people, and these systems must be challenged.

Procedure

A digital voice recorder was used to record the interviews. Each participant took part in a 60 to 120-minute interview conducted by the primary researcher, with a bilingual CHR also in the room. The researcher used a semistructured supplemental question script to facilitate the interviews, which were then transcribed verbatim by the interviewer. Several approaches were used to assist with establishing the trustworthiness of the data. All participants in the study participated in an interviewee transcript review process in which they were provided verbatim transcripts of their interviews to verify accuracy, correct errors, and provide clarifications (Hagens et al., 2009). One participant had corrections pertaining to spelling. The primary researcher kept a digital journal that served as a collection of memos. Memoing served as a research technique that enabled the researcher to engage with the data in a richer and more immersive manner (Birks et al., 2008). The memos consisted of a recording of observations, thoughts, ideas, reflections, feelings, and impressions following participant interviews and transcription recording sessions. Consistent with procedure for investigator triangulation as noted by Stahl and King (2020), field notes were primarily written after collaborative meetings with partners and after the data synthesis process with the peer debriefer. Another factor of the research that addresses the trustworthiness and credibility of this work is found in the prolonged engagement of the primary researcher in the community as she was a member of the mental health staff for a significant portion of her training (Stahl and King, 2020). Reflections during the data synthesis process were also used to highlight strengths and possible limitations of the instrument of study: the researcher (Polit & Beck, 2006). Further, due to the population size of the Tribe, it was felt that the procedure used for participant recruitment and member checking attained the goal of sufficient data saturation (Morrow, 2005). Although the interviews were conducted in the English language participants did at times respond in Kickapoo and the CHR interpreted to English on these occations.

Demographic Information Sheet

Participants answered demographic questions that pertained to age, gender, Tribal affiliation, language acquisition, language proficiency, basic academic information, and spiritual or religious affiliation.

Data Analysis

Data analysis was informed by grounded-theory procedures (Huberman & Miles, 1994). The raters consisted of the primary researcher and one peer debriefer. The analysis began by independently reviewing the transcripts through multiple readings, taking a micro analytic perspective, and using grounded theory methodology and open coding to identify concepts and generate potential categories to represent participant responses (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). In most cases, the level of coding anchored on sentences and phrases (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), and frequency amounts (Huberman & Miles, 1994) were collected to aid in the representation of concepts and themes. During this coding process phase, the raters continued to document new or alternative constructions of themes and concepts. Having identified the coding conventions, the two raters independently returned to the transcripts and coded the responses to each question.

The raters then explored identification and discussion of potential concepts, their properties and constructions, and metaphors chosen to realistically represent participant responses. Raters then reviewed and compared their analyses, held additional discussion, and combined their interpretations, finally reaching a consensus regarding how each participant’s responses were to be coded. Categories and themes were found to exist across all interviews, as well as within the context of specific questions.

Results

Eight members of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma met inclusion criteria and gave their time for the interview. Of the eight original interviews, seven interviews were used in the synthesis of the study data. One participant requested that their transcript be withheld at the completion of the interview due to sensitive content they did not intend to disclose. The seven remaining participants ranged in age from 50 to 73 years old, with a mean age of 63.3 years. There was one man and six women in the sample. All participants considered their spiritual affiliation to be Traditional Kickapoo.

All participants endorsed the Kickapoo language as the native language they were exposed to from birth. Six participants endorsed English to be the second language they learned later in life, and one participant learned Spanish second. Six participants shared that they learned a third language. One stated that their third language was English, and five participants endorsed Spanish to be the third language they learned. Lastly, when discussing language proficiency, three participants felt most proficient in the Kickapoo language; three felt proficient in Kickapoo and English; and one participant felt proficient in Kickapoo, English, and Spanish.

Five overarching themes emerged from the participants’ responses. Many of the themes interconnected to conform to the interrelated style of communication provided by the participants. Themes are described and illustrated by excerpts from the participants' transcripts. It must be noted that the reader is unable to experience the participant’s responses fully, as the reader cannot see and hear the speaker’s voice intonation, cadence of speech, poignant pauses, breathing rate, facial expressions, hand gestures, posture changes, and eye movements. Participant responses are provided in transcript form to bring forward as much of their voice and experience as possible. However, the text was still unable to fully capture the complete energy, emotional potency, and context of the powerful statements that were shared.

Theme 1: Psychological States; Lost or Created in Translation

Participants were asked to consider the health concepts of stress, anxiety, and trauma from what they felt were a Kickapoo perspective. The following are different participant responses to the concept of “stress”. One participant said, “You are asking me hard words… Let’s skip that one.” Another responded:

Stress. Stress. Stress. Stress. Stress. Can we skip that and let me think, because I think I am thinking about other stuff… (speaks Kickapoo) what that means is that you are so stressed and it’s your mind. You have so much on your mind it just makes you feel (speaks Kickapoo).

Two participants simply wanted to skip the notion of stress because they could not define it “correctly” or because it was too taxing to think about. It appeared that trying to translate the term “stress” caused participants discomfort. Could this phenomenon be largely due to having to translate from English to Kickapoo and then back to English again? Or was the Western concept of stress not completely aligned with larger Kickapoo concepts concerning mental health? Or was the participant’s stress triggered?

Most participants referred to stress as the external factors, or as they said, “stuff,” that resulted in negative feelings, fatigue, and feelings of paralysis in terms of making decisions and ability to act. A conglomeration of “stuff” weighed upon participants, people or a multitude of expectations putting pressure on them, as they said, “making” them feel negative feelings. One participant used the powerful expression, “self-confliction,” suggesting inner turmoil or even self-condemnation, while also alluding to “people” instigating the turmoil.

Participants also responded to the concept of “trauma.” One said:

I don't think we got that trauma word in Kickapoo. Humm… Trauma means like someone got hurt real bad. Somebody that almost died from it right? I don't think we got that trauma word in Kickapoo. Sometimes people say that something happens to you, you want to heal and you wanna… If you survive the trauma you wanna be better. To me that is what I think. Trauma is something really bad.

The participants discussed how the English word for trauma is not readily interpreted in the Kickapoo language. Some participants worked hard to translate it as near-death experiences, something bad, and something one would want to get healed from. There was a palpable feeling in the room that felt like the word and the attempt to translate it, evoked something not easy to share in this format. These translations appeared to be an especially taxing exercise for almost all participants. Perhaps during translation, the incongruence of their world views and the concepts collided.

When asked to translate anxiety many participants describe it with brevity, if they were able to answer at all, while several participants described it holistically.  One participant stated, “Anxiety. Uhh. I always say (speaks Kickapoo), there is a lot of things going through your head.” Another reported, “Nervousness. It be like she said, if you are going to the doctor and being nervous about what the doctor is going to tell you…(speaks Kickapoo) kinda like a scared feeling.” A third participant shared, “Cause when I have anxiety it….my blood pressure shoots up. The doctors called it white coat syndrome you know.” They stated that anxiety affect people mentally in terms of rumination, physically in terms of breathing and high blood pressure, and it showed up in the nervous system as fear and worry. Other participants said that there was not a word in Kickapoo for anxiety. With the knowledge that language impacts experience, this then leads to the question of whether the English word itself might reshape the way Kickapoos interpret experiences. Could the very act of emphasizing these Western terms be an act of colonization?

Theme 2: Kickapoo Language Connected to Religion in the Context of Historical Trauma

This participant reported praying in his Kickapoo language and not the English language, explaining that it relates to his racial and cultural identity.

Because we are not into the Caucasian religion you know? Some people are. They almost throw away... who they are. They want to go to some other religion. But you shouldn’t do that because your skin’s brown, see (as he points at his skin). You seem to be somebody else you can never be. You should never lose that fact of who you are and your religion and background and everything like that. You should always maintain that regardless. There was a time when Indians wasn’t permitted to speak their language and they chastised you for doing that. Slap you around a little bit. Get you where you don’t want to speak that way.

The participant discussed how the historical treatment of the Kickapoo has impacted their status. He prays in his Kickapoo language because as a Tribal member who practices his traditional ways, he is not “into the Caucasian religion.” He views religion as coinciding with race and ethnicity. From his lived experience this has been the case, as he identified as a Kickapoo Tribal member, spoke the Kickapoo language, practiced traditional Kickapoo customs, and lived on his traditional Kickapoo homelands. He also used the phrase “throw away” to describe what he felt could happen to the Kickapoo identity when his traditional religion is replaced. He argues that keeping one’s Tribal language is imperative to keeping one’s cultural capital and identity.

He also referenced how the White school system imparted violence against Indigenous peoples in their attempt to erase Tribal cultural capital. He specifically associated the genocidal behavior of this system with attacks on Indigenous ways. He offered an example of how schools functioned under the rule of genocidal erasure, in which students endured language shaming.

This participant further added that fellow Indigenous peoples should not go to other religions besides their own traditional ones because “your skin is brown, see.” This statement speaks to another complicated facet to the Indigenous lived experience in which one is profoundly impacted by how they are perceived to be identifiably Indigenous by other people. He stated that depending on the environment, he is treated by others in a variety of ways, both positive and negative, and sometimes invisible.

The following described another participant's preference of language for verbally expressing spirituality through prayer.

Interviewer: What language do you prefer to pray in?

Participant: Kickapoo. Because it is my religion.

Interviewer: Can you pray in English?

Participant: No. I’ve never learned. I've heard prayers but I can’t… I can’t. For some reason I can’t say things the way they say. The way they pray… other people. Probably because the same thing… my religion. I can’t go out of my religion. I feel that I can’t.

This participant conjoined prayer with her Indigenous language. As the speaker thought of praying in English, her body language visually grappled with the notion. She repeated “but I can’t, I can’t” while shaking her head back and forth sideways with her eyes slightly squinted. It appeared that she could not fathom one without the other and only words in her Kickapoo language were emotionally laden enough to emote meaningful religious feelings.

The following is the conversation between the interviewer and a participant as she discussed participating in both her traditional healing ceremonies in Kickapoo and clinical counseling sessions in English.

Participant: I feel that with English I let stuff out. and then over here (in ceremony) I feel like I am doing a spiritual ritual. I am taking in (takes a deep breath).

Interviewer: You took a deep breath… what are you taking in?

Participant: What they are telling me. You are doing something right. You are going the right way. But you are also needing to express yourself, let it all out in English. You see what I am saying?… Because all the gods help them think.

This participant discussed the benefits of participating in both her traditional healing ceremonies and clinical counseling sessions. As a bilingual speaker, she has adapted and found strategies that work for her. She initially made the intriguing remark that she appreciated speaking in English because she can expel her stressors and appreciated speaking Kickapoo because she can freely integrate the communication into her being. This participant also stated that while with her spiritual clan leader she was able to “take it in.” She inhaled deeply to demonstrate her meaning. The spiritual leader’s words went into her, healing her within. One might speculate she is fulfilled internally by Kickapoo wisdom spoken in Kickapoo.

In her contemporary setting, marked by almost continuous interaction with people who speak only English, she sought to see this diverse situation realistically while also not wanting to lose Kickapoo ways of knowing, which she characterizes as benefiting from the aid of the gods. She is convinced that holistic healing requires the spiritual element that only her Kickapoo healers can provide.

Theme 3: Language Fluency Impact Upon Feelings of Connection With Others

This participant shared experiences that suggest a different quality of connections that exists when she was not required to switch back and forth from Kickapoo and English.

Participant: Again, it depends on where I am at. Back home we didn't have to speak English… we didn't have to, we don't speak English over there. We were not allowed to speak English. We were not called names but put down when they heard us talking English. Even just one simple word like “ouch.” And then my grandma would get on to me. Are you a White person? (Laughs) I said ok. I remember this so clearly. I got hurt somewhere, somehow and I was crying and I said owwww. I did not say ouch this time because I remember she was gonna say something. I said ooowwww. And then she said are you a White person? I am like okay what is the word for ouch in Kickapoo? Later on, I cried again and I knew the word this time.

This participant described the strong interplay of language, place, and culture in her life. Her grandmother argued that expressing one’s pain in Kickapoo rather than in English was vital. Even when hurt and in pain, she was required to recalibrate her experience with language contingent upon who she was with and her location.

Further, she was taught that the English language is synonymous with White people and choosing to speak English is to be like “a White person.” She was realistic in her awareness that when she is in places dominated by different cultures, if she wants to communicate she must make concessions and learn those languages, but she contends that her life experiences had a unique meaning when spoken in her Tribal language. She vividly described multiple factors, such as code switching and constant attunement to the environments that are required to survive as a Kickapoo bilingual. The energy expenditure associated with this appeared to be high.

Another participant shared how language proficiency impacted his connections with others:

I can feel that way about both, you know? Depending on how well they understand either one, you know? Some of our own people don't speak our own language that good. I can speak it pretty well but it's hard to translate back and forth to Indian you know. Now these other people like these guys (points to CHR in the room). I can speak to them all day long and they pretty understand what I am saying. We are on the same level as far as knowing different things. Just about the language, but they do know more than I do because I was not educated like I should have been. In spite of the fact that I stayed in there quite a while. It’s like I said, I was dyslexic and didn’t know too much of anything. I always just thought I was an ignoramus all that time I was in there.

This participant's response described how he relates to others linguistically and how that related to the fluency of the other speaker. He also stated that the environment in which Kickapoo is spoken impacted the meaning he experienced. He repeatedly compared his fluency to others, and he experienced fluctuating levels of confidence about his bilingual and bicultural capacities. For example, he felt that he did not know as much Kickapoo as many of the people working in the CHR Program, and that impacted his feelings of connectedness. Still, he stated that the CHR “pretty much understands what I am saying,” and due to their Kickapoo fluency, he felt heard and seen by them. Their Kickapoo language fluency increased his sense of connection with them.

Additionally, he interpreted not being “educated” as “not knowing much of anything.” He did not fit in his public school environment. On the one hand, he felt like an “ignoramus” when attending public school. Then, he commented that some of his fellow Kickapoo Tribal members didn’t speak Kickapoo “that good” (including himself). He gave an almost textbook definition of Indigenous Tribal members, who are often referred to as “marginal,” as neither fitting into White society nor their Indigenous society (Garrett & Pichette, 2000). Could it be that many Indigenous people that meet this definition experience disconnection, isolation, self-effacement, and possible depression? He suggested that language proficiency is at the heart of this problem.

Another participant shared how she thought speaking Kickapoo impacts the overall well-being of Kickapoo Tribal members. She cited pride as a constitutive element of Kickapoo identity; she was resistant to colonization. This pride was not a selfish interest but one of self and community love. Additionally, she acknowledged her pride at a communal level, as her tribe was “probably one of the most culturally intact tribes.” Further, she indicated that to lose Tribal cultural capital is to “go White.” It appeared that she felt confident that the only way to be herself, and for the community to be intact, is to preserve their cultural capital.

Theme 4: Acculturation Stress and Its Impact on Kickapoo Identity

Participant's response regarding how speaking Kickapoo impacts his identity:

Well yeah yeah… it means more to you if you do speak your language. That’s why you should never forget who you are, where your language comes from, how long it has been around, you know? If it hadn’t been for us, the way we had been raised all this time, I told the young people we might have been annihilated a long time ago… cause everybody is trying to snuff you out one way or the other… trying to run you out of your property and… for instance, us, we had a great big area here, but they eventually took out part of it. They moved us clear across the country where you are now living a meager existence you know… they did not want you to speak your language for a long time, you know, and means a whole lot to who does speak their language. It should. You never should forget that, you know?

This participant linked colonialism to contemporary Kickapoos’ experiences with language, land, poverty, and childrearing. First, he emphasized that history permeates the present experience of the Kickapoos, and it is vital for children to be raised mindful of their history. He expressed discontent regarding the violence that has been used to “snuff out” Kickapoos to the point that colonists want to not simply defeat but to “annihilate” their cultural capital, especially their language. In addition, he believed that Tribal identity and psychological health is linked to a connection with place, and removal destroyed not only cultural and Tribal identity but also resulted in poverty. He stated that speaking the Kickapoo language has been a protective factor in the face of attempted genocide.

Another Participant shared:

To speak Kickapoo, it feels great. (Inhales) It feels proud. It feels kind of like you wanna show off I guess (laughs). You show off you can speak your language. Just recently… there was four of us, all us speaking Kickapoo and laughing and all that stuff. This one girl comes in there… turns around and looked at us and she says, “don’t be speaking that foreign language around me like that (gasps).” She did not understand what we were talking about. One of the other girls, she was making fun of herself and how she was gonna dress up. It was our break-time, so we were just making fun of her and were just laughing away with her (laughs). And then I am like… that just hurt me so bad and I’m like uh-uh (no). That threw me way back when the kids were told not to speak their language and all that. And I said oh my gosh, now I know how they feel because right here, right now I was told to not speak my language… It made me really upset. It made me think, am I overreacting or are my feelings really hurt? Should I be feeling this way? Because when I got off work, I thought about it all the way home, and I try not to, but it was in my head and I could not sleep. I didn’t want to tell my family because if I tell them, I might get them upset. But then I had to tell them because I wanted to know if I was over reacting. They were mad. They were like, who is the person that told you all that (in an angry tone). And I was like, I cannot tell you who it is. But speaking Kickapoo, it is our pride. It makes me happy. It makes me proud. I’m loving it. Yep.

This participant described how speaking her language brought her great pride, and she recognized its value as she used it to “show off.” When she discussed speaking Kickapoo, strong emotional English words were used to describe her feelings, such as: pride, happiness, and love. The participant further described a joyous exuberant interaction, which included laughing and joking in the Kickapoo language. The participant suggested that healthy social interaction has health benefits. This social interaction entails expressing one’s true self, which includes acknowledgement of ones’ cultural self.

Ironically, in the above story, a person interrupted this jocular conversation and asked her not to converse in the Kickapoo language, as it was a foreign language, when in fact it is a language that emerged on the very land that they were situated. She felt that she was asked not to be proud, not be happy, and not to experience love. She further described how the comment evoked multiple intense emotions and forced her to wrestle with these emotions for many days. She questioned herself about her right to feel anything when the colonizing individual abused her. Instead of allowing herself to be hurt, to feel sadness or anger, she turned her feelings against herself. She asked, “Am I overreacting?” Then, she sought support from her family, who acted as a corrective influence by validating her anger. This incident also caused her to empathize with her ancestors, as she felt their pain of being told not to speak their language. The violent comment about speaking her beloved Kickapoo language involved multiple negative thoughts and emotions, including anger, sadness, confusion, and self-doubt, indicating just how much of a health issue prejudice and oppression are. This participant offered a skeletal outline of the stages of psychological oppression that many Indigenous people experience. Her story also shows that retaining culture may contribute to greater happiness, but it also requires resistance.

Theme 5: Kickapoo Language Impact on Authenticity and Well-Being

This participant described the acculturation stress he experienced, in which he was forced to contend with the unspoken demand made of bilingual speakers to choose between his Kickapoo language and English. As a bilingual person often forced to engage with the “you are either with us or against us” scenario, this participant found himself in a tenuous place of uncertainty, having to constantly scan overt and covert messages in his environment to communicate. He also reported an intense pressure for Kickapoos to either live as a Kickapoo or as a White person, with many feeling that living biculturally was not an option. He feared that one could easily be tempted by the overwhelming power to give up the Kickapoo identity, as White society is felt to be all-encroaching. Those who attempt to live biculturally may feel shame and guilt for giving in at all to a society that has so little knowledge or respect for Kickapoo ways.

This participant shared what language she prefers to speak when angry:

Participant: It depends on who you are mad at. Just recently, I was really angry with a lady over there… She said things that she shouldn’t have said to my daughter. I was so angry, and I kept it for a long time. And when I got there during that meeting, I let her have it. And I was talking to her in English… my daughter said I wish you could have spoke to her in Kickapoo. It was English and I was angry. And then if it is somebody else if that person speak Kickapoo then I will talk to them in Kickapoo.

Interviewer: Why do you think your daughter said that?

Participant: Because she wanted the Kickapoo speakers to hear what I said.

Among this Kickapoo bilingual participant, there also appears to be multiple levels of code switching occurring to express anger. From the context of communicating with health care providers, Kickapoo Tribal members encounter multiple levels of internal conversations to express anger, especially if occurring in an environment with non-Kickapoo speakers. This event occurred in her own Tribal community; one can easily imagine how much more difficult this would be outside the Kickapoo speaking environment. It leads to the question, what mental gymnastics must a Kickapoo engage in to ventilate emotions in a Western counseling situation?

Another participant reflects on how speaking the Kickapoo language impacted her overall well-being as well as that of her fellow Kickapoo Tribal members.

Good… When you’re talking Kickapoo and you're talking to somebody that speaks Kickapoo, you really, really understand each other. There is no missing something you don’t understand there. And then whatever you are wanting to say you say it and then it comes right out when you say it. When you say it, it feels good? And then when they are laughing, and we are laughing cause we are talking our language. We understand each other and all. It just makes it feel really good.

This participant emphasized that speaking Kickapoo is associated with clarity of expression, feeling good, freedom, ease, joy, and personal understanding. The participant discussed the intense joy that speaking her language brings her, especially when it is reciprocated by another fluent speaker.

Discussion

The participants in this study conveyed being profoundly impacted by using their Indigenous language in their daily lived experience, especially when discussing sensitive psychological concerns. The Kickapoos interviewed reported an interconnection between the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual experience of being human, and the language they used structured the meaning and organization of their experiences. Participants’ comments articulate how their traditional Kickapoo religion, language, and healing ways are a part of each other, in which one cannot exist without the other. Participants reported they were able to express religious feelings through their language.

Additionally, participants indicated that their Tribal members suffer from feelings of isolation and alienation when they are not able to communicate fluently with other Tribal members. For several participants, depressive symptoms accompanied not being able to access language as their prime source of cultural capital. Many claimed they are not fully able to be themselves if they cannot speak their Indigenous language. There was also a fear that by not being able to speak their language, the nature of the pain they experienced was altered, suggesting that language is part and parcel of the reality experienced in their physical and mental world. Some participants expressed that language proficiency, whether in Kickapoo or English, was directly related to psychological distress. This knowledge brings concern for those Indigenous members who are classified as “marginal.” They do not fit fully into their own culture nor that of the majority population (Garret & Pichette, 2000), and are possibly unable to fully articulate their pain.

The positive emotions these participants expressed regarding speaking their native language was powerful and included joy, freedom, authenticity, and feeling seen and heard. In the Kickapoo language, they said they were able to express their true selves. They reported that being able to speak their Tribal language directly combated isolation, depression, and death. Although cultural death was associated with the loss of their Kickapoo language, speaking it was identified with the life impulse of a fully functioning human being, one connected to their culture.

Some of the participants comments about telling stories in the Kickapoo language resemble a phenomenon known as “audience design.” This occurs when stories are tailored for a specific audience, and the audience reciprocally impacts the storytelling process (Fussell & Krauss, 1989). The shared laughter between the speaker contributes to emotional connections. Inherent within the art and science of storytelling, the cooperative aspects of language, used jointly, create meaning for internal representation and influence the speaker’s depiction of events (Holtgraves & Kashima, 2008). These discussions collaboratively create meaning for their unique internal representations and appear to create comradery, joy, visibility, and, quite possibly, healing. However, these connections are likely muted in interactions in which Kickapoo speakers are not able to communicate in Kickapoo.

The multiple factors associated with communicating in a language not your own are challenging; however, they appear to be magnified with efforts to communicate emotional concerns. The multiple layers of code switching described by participants appeared to be tremendously taxing. The Kickapoo bilingual is consistently immersed in a society that requires them to do a large amount of code switching. Multiple participants shared that they questioned their anger, or delayed their expression of anger, for varied reasons including fears related to potential microaggressions such as conscious or unconscious condescending looks related to their inadequacies in speaking English. Research suggests that suppressing feelings such as anger impacts mental health (Brondolo et al., 2009). These comments may also be related to the structural positioning described in critical race theory (Braveboy, 2006); that is, when their cultural capital is not seen as legitimate.

The themes that arose in this study brought forth the complicated history that language has and continues to have on populations that endure colonization. Specifically, Kickapoos continue to face the domination of both the English and Spanish languages, tools of oppressive forces. Some participants internalized the belief that their English proficiency was an indicator of intelligence. Participants, at times, associated their time as a monolingual Kickapoo speaker with isolation and hardship. Nonetheless, all participants viewed speaking their language as a marker of strength and pride.

When asked to translate descriptions for stress, anxiety, and trauma, participants provided insight into the complexity of articulating emotions when translating not only common words from one language to another but even more in translating conceptualizations such as psychological states into a language embedded in a different worldview. There were instances when participants could not effectively translate feelings they had into English, as though it was a distinctly Kickapoo feeling. The opposite was also true, as though until they were introduced to certain feeling words in English, they had not had those feelings. This then leads to important questions about whether or not introducing untranslatable words into a culture may adversely impact it. Such a possibility calls into question the existing psychological perspective that naming emotions helps clients to work with their issues, as it really calls for bilingual Indigenous peoples to name their emotions in English for an English-speaking counseling psychologist to understand.

Particularly noteworthy would be the translation of the word “trauma.” Although some participants chose not to explore the word’s meaning with the interviewer, some suggested that it is a feeling that “arises due to something bad that has impacted one from the outside.” Further, there is the sense that many of the participants perhaps understood the experience almost in an unconscious way but were unable to communicate it verbally in interview format. One wonders if historical trauma may be experienced in this way: that it is a deep feeling or hurt, stemming inside from a horrible experience whose content has been forgotten but whose remnants remain. This is similar to Western psychological beliefs, yet the reluctance of many to talk about trauma may suggest the need for further exploration.

Kickapoo bilinguals live in a space that is immersed in acculturative stress. The joy they feel from speaking their language is counterbalanced by the shame they sometimes feel when speaking their language among the majority population. Consequently, some Kickapoo participants used their language as a form of resistance, combating oppression with the key element of their ageless cultural identity. By speaking their language and participating in their ceremonies, they connect with their Tribal community and spirituality. Despite experiencing prejudice, invisibility, and misclassification, participants expressed optimism and pride due to their possession of their Kickapoo language and identity, as it is a protective factor left for them by their ancestors.

Implications for Practice, Advocacy and Education and Training

Findings from this study may contribute to the implementation of treatment approaches that are more reflective of Indigenous belief systems regarding healing, physical health, and psychological health. The interview process itself in this study demonstrated some of the most powerful implications for therapists. The interviewer witnessed a physical toll upon participants as they struggled to translate many Western health concepts into English, and many of the participants took extended periods of time to respond to questions. It is not known what was occurring internally during these pauses. Therapists would benefit from being aware that this pause may characterize counseling interactions and consequently give ample time for Indigenous clients to respond to questions (Robbins et al., 2011), as the client may be thinking through their response in their Tribal language before responding in English (Dewaele, 2004, 2004b, 2006, 2008, 2010; Pavlenko, 2005). Therapists may further ask their clients to respond in their Tribal language before translating it into English. The participants in this study suggested that by speaking their own language, they may be able to access emotions otherwise neglected. Further, because participants felt most authentic speaking their Tribal language, recalling first language memories may increase emotional impacts for bilingual speakers (Puntoni et al., 2009).

On the one hand, healthcare providers may pay special attention to a personal relationship Tribal clients may have with their Tribal language. Therapists might recognize what the English language represents on implicit and explicit levels for Tribal clients. On the other hand, Indigenous clients may experience internalized beliefs that intelligence is correlated with English proficiency. As suggested previously, therapists might demonstrate respect for Indigenous clients and their language by providing opportunities for them to speak it in session, even when a translator is not available. To gain greater empathy for Indigenous clients who are bilingual, health care workers are encouraged to visit a region where their own first language is not the dominant language (Harris et al, 2021; Sue, 2001). One might become more mindful of how their clients’ experiences impact their state of being; how vulnerable it may make them feel; how much energy and trust it takes to communicate basic needs. Additionally, practitioners and training programs are encouraged to partner with Indigenous communities in their area with cultural humility to establish effective collaborations and reciprocal relationships.

Many of these implications for practitioners can be applied directly to the training of counseling psychologists. Ensuring that clinical supervisors, faculty, and students engage in reflexive practice to consider the impact of the traditional majority-dominant practices on the Indigenous populations is essential work in decolonizing training in the field. A primary recommendation for training is that efforts to recruit and train members of the Kickapoo and other underrepresented groups into counseling psychology should be closely examined and improved. Lastly, counseling psychologists can use their awareness and knowledge of how institutional structures maintain inequities for Indigenous clients in health care systems and are encouraged to utilize their privilege to dismantle these systems of discrimination by incorporating and amplifying Indigenous perspectives at all levels of decision and policy making.

Limitations and Future Research

It would have been ideal to have Kickapoos as primary researchers and interviewers, which would have contributed to greater levels of trust and would have allowed the interviews to be conducted by Kickapoo speakers. Additional research is needed with other groups of Indigenous people to further explore the connections of language, cultures and psychological health. Of particularly interest would be how Indigenous language revitalization efforts impact psychological health.

Conclusion

Through this study, the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma participants gifted the field of counseling psychology with the abundantly clear knowledge that Indigenous people’s resilience, strength, and psychological health derives from being able to speak one’s Tribal language. Overwhelmingly, participants discussed the pride they felt for their culture and Indigenous language. Literature supports the notion that self-esteem is vital to physical and psychological health (Mann et al., 2004), especially for Indigenous people (LaFromboise et al., 2010). Foregrounding Indigenous language usage in therapeutic relationships is therefore a crucial element in strength-based therapy with Indigenous people.