3 Survivance Approaches
Photo by Harry Thaker on Unsplash
The persistent principles and beliefs that have enabled Peoples to survive and, in some cases, to thrive in the face of these assaults include:
Most Peoples share commitments to affirm collective bonds and responsibilities to one another, including the responsibility to preserve the cultural, historical, and ancestral memory. For maroon Peoples this always includes an affirmation of roots as Indigenous Africans. Women’s knowledge is often elevated in many groups. There’s also cultural and language preservation through reciprocal processes of honoring elders, teaching children, and preserving traditional foodways.
Common surivance values and beliefs include an eco and collective emphasis on love, compassion and mutual care and a shared responsibility to protect non-human life. A repeating spiritual theme is to recognize the link between natural and spirit worlds, often actualized in practices to honor and defend ancestral lands.
There’s an emphasis on the importance of ritual and ceremony for resilience, including practices supporting ritual dance, singing songs that celebrate culture, and sharing food and shelter.