We are thrilled to announce the release of the first of two Fourth World Journal special editions commemorating the life and work of CWIS founder Dr. Rudolph Rÿser.
In this issue, we focus on Dr. Rÿser’s ideas and the development of his thinking over the years.
To orient the reader to the articles in this issue, we’ve put together the following summaries.
This introduction to Rudolph Rÿser’s seminal book on Fourth World geopolitical power structures, Indigenous Nations and Modern States: The Political Emergence of Nations Challenging State Power, reflects on how personal identity influenced his early political and diplomatic thinking and skills, and provided the genesis for what is now known as government-to-government relations between Nations and States. He discusses how his work with the American Indian Policy Review Commission in the 1970s led him to confront the oxymoronic and dubious “dependent domestic sovereign” status imposed on Indian Nations by the US while attempting to answer the commission’s question, “What is the political relationship between Indian Nations and the United States?”
The resulting collaboration and consultation with Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons, Quinault President Joe DelaCruz, and Barney Nietschmann from the Department of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley, among many others, led to the development of “a new general theory of international relations and new modalities and institutions for international collaboration to resolve disputes between Nations and between Nations and States—to affirm the political identity and status of Indigenous Nations.”
“Observations on ‘Self & Knowing,’ ” published in a collection under the title Tribal Epistemologies, edited by Helmut Wautischer, is an intimate and personal inspection of the influence that cultural identity in the form of “Cowlitz Consciousness” links to and affects how the structure, meaning, and makeup of self become known. Using metaphor and comparative analysis, he introduces “Weaving the Braided River” as a way of knowing one’s self and cultural identity as a “relationship between people, their natural environment and the interpretation of the cosmos.” This chapter is one of my favorites, written while he lived with the people of La Comunidad Indígena de Chacala and in the village of Yelapa. It was a remarkably peaceful and reflective time in his life, allowing for deep introspection and imagination. His language is poetic and expansive, observing and expressing the very personal nature of the braided path toward self-knowledge.
“Conjoining: The Reawakening to Spiralism from the Age of Progressivism” is a companion piece and a continuation of the ideas expressed in “Observations on ‘Self and Knowing.” Elaborating on philosophical differences as competing “modes of thought,” Rÿser expands on how mental and spiritual constructs “mediate relationships between all manner of things in the Living Universe” and that “Spiralism comprehends the totality of the Living Universe in both its material and immaterial forms and unifies knowledge instead of separates it.” He entertainingly expresses these complex relationships through an old Cowlitz story about how great mountains can be explosive yet remain related.
“The Rules of War & Fourth World Nations” is one of Rÿser’s earliest publications, outlining the basis for international government-to-government relations between Indigenous Nations and States to mitigate violence and genocide against the Fourth World. He carefully deconstructs the Geneva Conventions of 1949 from a Fourth World perspective, allowing that “Indigenous National initiatives in the international arena are essential to the changing of violent conditions which surrounds them.”
He asserts that “only the changes and additions to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the World Bank’s new Indigenous Nation’s policy may be said to have significance in elevating the political status and strategic importance of Indigenous Nations.”
This is foundational in understanding Rÿser’s approach toward strategically applying sovereign rights toward conflict resolution from a Fourth World geopolitical standpoint.
As a tribute to his friend, collaborator, and brother in spirit and mind, Grand Chief George Manuel, Rÿser reflects on their life and work together in “The Legacy of Grand Chief George Manuel.” He recounts the process and path from the community and tribal organizations toward Fourth World solidarity undertaken as George Manuel forged the National Indian Brotherhood.
George worked “from the ground up” to implement the international government-to-government strategies he and Rÿser envisioned. Rÿser led the development of the global function of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and encouraged George and Mel Tonasket of the NCAI to enter into international agreements. Thus, government-to-government relations between Fourth World Nations were established with the imprimatur of the largest coalition of tribal governments in the United States of America. The movement toward global indigenous networks gained momentum, leading to the creation of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples, which was made up of representatives of Fourth World Nations and was formally established with Chief Manuel as its first President. This heartfelt tribute is a testament to Rÿser’s storytelling abilities, humility in service to friendship, and the weight of the greater good.
Written under the nom de plume ¨Bertha Miller,¨ Rÿser’s “Rights of Distinct Peoples” walks us through the history of the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights and the formation of the World Council of Indigenous People in 1977, with a specific focus on the General Assembly’s 1992 Draft Universal Declaration on Indigenous Peoples to which he was a significant contributor.
“Fourth World Nations will not be denied the right to freely determine their political, economic, and social future. The Draft Universal Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples could have a profound effect on political relations in the world, and perhaps by having terms agreeable to both Nations and States, a more peaceful world will emerge.” Rÿser spent the next 30 years refining the language and developing mechanisms to implement the declaration, which he later identified as the missing piece to actualizing the intended vision.
Initially published in the Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law, in “Between Indigenous Nations and the State: Self-Determination in the Balance¨ Rÿser develops the foundational background and arguments for self-government for tribal communities in the United States. In part two, he explores further the application of the policy and strategy that he was instrumental in developing, its practical outcomes, and the progress experienced by the initial members of the Tribal Self-Governance Demonstration Project toward sovereign self-government by the Quinault, Lummi, Jamestown S’Klallam and Hoopa nations. In identifying the context of changes in the domestic political dynamics to the international, he asserts, “The transition of these Indian Nations from non-self-governing to self-governing peoples will undoubtedly have a direct impact on changing political relations between Indigenous Nations and States long into the future.”
The final article in this collection is from Rÿser’s book-in-progress at the time of his death where he devoted his attention to the environment and the concerns of his later work, what he called biocultural collapse. Recognizing that the remaining world’s resources are in Fourth World territories, Rÿser focused on developing mechanisms for accountability now that resolutions and policies like Free, Prior, and Informed Consent have been codified. This first chapter (of three completed) lays the conceptual groundwork for strengthening indigenous governments’ self-determination and their ability to negotiate with transnational corporations and state governments around their increasing incursions to extract natural resources, which inevitably leads to environmental degradation.
Thus, this final article weaves full circle the major themes of Rÿser’s career: identity, culture, geography, and self-determination, as it also lays the roadmap for issue two (forthcoming June, 2024), which focuses on strategy and tactics for implementation. Rÿser’s opus was influenced by Chutupalu leader Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt’s wisdom: “The earth and myself are of one mind. The measure of the land and the measure of our bodies are the same.”
To celebrate the launch we are offering the first and last articles for free on the website. For full access, sign up for an annual subscription.
In the next issue, we will focus on how Dr. Rÿser put his ideas into action and the effects on the study of Fourth World Geopolitics and the advancement of indigenous self-determination around the world.
The library is dedicated to the memory of Secwepemc Chief George Manuel (1921-1989), to the nations of the Fourth World and to the elders and generations to come.
access here
When you sign up for our newsletter