George Vizenor is author of more than twenty books of poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and critical theory. Often, his scholarship uses postmodern theory to describe and complicate notions of representation and misrepresentation of Native people. At the heart of Vizenor's work is the proposition that there is no such thing as an "indian." In fact, "indian," in Vizenor's view, is nothing more than the accumulation of various simulations that shape thinking and writing about Native people. This article examines the intersections between Gerald Vizenor's theories of "survivance," "postindian," "manifest manners," and "transmotion," and some longstanding rhetorical concepts that shape the teaching of writing. It also examines how Vizenor's terminology may inform one's understandings of these terms and help reshape the canon that informs one's teaching of writing and rhetoric. (Contains 6 notes.)