Survivance and resurgence in a Maya diaspora

Abstract

This paper explores how displaced Maya Peoples are working toward justice and resurgence amid increasing government persecution in the United States. The authors facilitated multi-year Critical Participatory Action Research with communities living in northeast Ohio, United States, where a large diaspora of Maya people has been growing since the 1980s. Participants reported increased suffering resulting from oppressive border enforcement policies. At the same time, they shared their work to cultivate what Gerald Vizenor (2009), White Earth Anishinaabe writer and literary theorist, called "survivance": resistance and survival in vibrant communities despite structural violence. Their strategies included cultural continuity, community orientation, and land-based healing. These themes intersected in an array of practices such as reviving ancestral relational traditions, building shared power and alliances (even with State institutions), restoring ecological care, and telling the truth about their Indigenous histories. The praxis highlights Maya knowledges that can inform how community-based psychologists and scholars work alongside Indigenous Peoples severely impacted by border violence, supporting their resurgence strategies through research and action.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. American Journal of Community Psychology, 2026 · DOI ↗