survivance

Survivance is a term in Indigenous studies and literary criticism that blends survival, resistance, and presence. Coined by Anishinaabe writer and scholar Gerald Vizenor in the late 20th century, survivance refers to Indigenous peoples' ongoing presence and agency in the wake of colonial violence and erasure, and to the ways they create and sustain cultural continuity through language, storytelling, and community life.

Rather than the idea of merely surviving or a passive survivor, survivance emphasizes active resistance to assimilation and stereotypes and asserts political and cultural sovereignty. A central idea is the "logic of survivance," which describes Indigenous narratives—across literature, film, and media—that contest the "vanishing Indian" trope and insist on Indigenous presence and relational identities.

In practice, survivance appears in Indigenous literature, film, art, and political action as storytellers reclaim narrative authority, reframe histories, document elders and land, and imagine futures rooted in place, kinship, and governance. It encompasses multiple communities and is used to analyze how Indigenous peoples respond to colonization not by withdrawal but by ongoing creative participation in public life.

Scholars note survivance as a useful analytic for examining representation and sovereignty but also discuss its limits, including debates over universal applicability across diverse Indigenous Nations. Overall, survivance remains a central concept in contemporary Indigenous poetics and politics, signaling an insistence on presence and ongoing cultural renewal.