Bio

Dr. Bluecloud is a dedicated linguist and Indigenous language revitalization specialist with over 16 years of experience in language revitalization. documentation, curriculum design, and language immersion instruction. He is a citizen of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. Dr. Bluecloud has worked extensively with the Sauk, Shawnee, and Kickapoo languages. He works to combine academic expertise with community centered methods to create new speakers and facilitate natural language transmission in the home.

Dr. Bluecloud began his career with the Sac & Fox Nation, later teaching Sauk at Shawnee High School as a certified world language educator. Dr. Bluecloud directs all activities of the Kickapoo Language Department, where he coordinates teaching, curriculum development, and community immersion efforts. His work also involves facilitating national workshops on the Master-Apprentice method, and supporting Indigenous language workers through conferences such as COLANG and the Annual Group Mentor apprentice conference. 

Dr. Bluecloud holds a Bachelors in Linguistics from the University of Oklahoma, a Master's in Native American Languages and Linguistics from the University of Arizona, and a PhD in Linguistics also from the University of Arizona. His dissertation, Speaker Creation in Indigenous Communities(2024), offers a guide and critical insights into immersion-based language acquisition models for communities with few remaining first language speakers. Dr. Bluecloud's approach blends Total Physical Response, TPR Storytelling, GMA methods, and multimedia language documentation. Through teaching, training, and research, He continues to advocate for sustainable, community-led language reclamation across the United States.