- Center for World Indigenous Studies
The Center for World Indigenous Studies was founded in 1984 by Dr. Rudolph C. Ryser, Ph.D. (Cowlitz Tribe ) and Chief George Manuel (1929-1989) (Shuswap Nation) as an independent research and education organization. It began earlier as an unincorporated research and documentation clearing house in 1979 in response to calls by the Conference of Tribal Governments in the United States and the
World Council of Indigenous Peoples .George Manuel , former chief of the National Indian Brotherhood/Assembly of First Nations in Canada, was first to initiate global communication andcoordination amongst indigenous peoples emerging fromcolonialism . Through their formation of theWorld Council of Indigenous Peoples , he and Dr. Ryser [http://www.cwis.org/ryserbio.html] laid the groundwork for indigenous fora and working groups within the UN [http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/] .Joe DelaCruz (1937-2000) [http://nwindian.evergreen.edu/jdlc.html] , chair of public policy at CWIS and former president of the
National Congress of American Indians , was once called the greatest American Indian leader of the twentieth century.CWIS today is considered the premier indigenous think tank and archival repository serving the
Fourth World .External links
* [http://www.cwis.org/ Official website of the CWIS]
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