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Clanship andK’È: The Relatedness of Clinicians and Patients in a Navajo Counseling Center

University of New Mexico

I examine the significance of clanship ties among mental health clinicians and patients in a counseling center on the Navajo Nation. Navajo clans are matrilineal, exogamous, and geographically dispersed social units. Clan relatives are expected to observe the rules of conduct embodied in the behavioral code of k’È. This code structures social interaction among clan relatives, obliging each party to employ intimate, age-appropriate kin designations in personal address and to act towards kinfolk compassionately and respectfully. I explore the ethical dilemmas that can arise when clinicians and Navajo patients invoke clan relatedness to shape the contours of their therapeutic relationships.

Key Words: clan • ethics • mental health • Navajo • practitioner–patient interaction

Transcultural Psychiatry, Vol. 39, No. 1, 5-32 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/136346150203900101


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