This research project focuses on teacher education among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon region in Ecuador. The purpose of the ongoing research project is to examine an intercultural bilingual (IB) teacher education institute as a meeting place of indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing. Targeted are teacher education students and teacher educators at one IB teacher education institute in the Ecuadorian Amazonia. The students represent Amazonian indigenous (Shuar, Achuar and Kichwa) populations, and teacher educators are of indigenous or non-indigenous origin. The research question discussed in this paper is: What knowledge is considered worthwhile for the students to learn for their becoming role as teachers in IB schools? The objective is to explore both the students' and the teacher educators' conceptions of worthwhile knowledge, and discuss the role and relevance of indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge. How do students and teachers conceptualize their views, and how do the educational practices of the institute support these views? The study is framed within post-colonial and critical theory, and the attention is directed to the asymmetric relations between indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge. According to Bourdieu and Passeron (1990) the educational system generally has an important role in defining what is legitimate knowledge and in inculcating the views of the dominant social groups. Bourdieu's and Passeron's writing on cultural capital has often been used to argue that dominated groups lack the cultural capital that is valued in the educational system and in the dominant society at large. IB education is designed to form an alternative to the mainstream educational system, and to question the supremacy of 'mestizo' (Spanish speaking population) knowledge over indigenous knowledge. Consequently, it can be argued that indigenous knowledge should also be considered legitimate cultural capital in schools and institutes that are under the jurisdiction of the IB educational system. In this paper the theory of cultural capital is reinterpreted from critical theoretical perspective (Skeggs 2004, Yosso 2005) to examine different forms of cultural capital that originate from indigenous and non-indigenous culture, and to discuss how these forms of capital are legitimated in the educational practices of an IB teacher education institute.

The main empirical data was collected during two field work periods at the targeted teacher education institute in Ecuadorian Amazon in June 2006 and November-December 2007. A combination of ethnographic, oral and visual methods were employed. The main empirical data collecting activities included individual and focus group interviews with 19 students and 11 teacher educators, photo eliciting interviews (PEI) with students, and classroom observations with the second year teacher education students group (N = 25). The ethnographic data was analysed through qualitative comparative analysing methods to discover students and teachers notions of worthwhile knowledge, and to compare the interviewees views with the observations with regard to the educational practices at the institute.

The study elucidates the relations between indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge in the context of IB teacher education institute. Indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge are considered to form legitimate cultural capital for different contexts. Non-indigenous knowledge is seen as legitimate cultural capital for the students to participate in the dominant society. Indigenous knowledge is regarded legitimate cultural capital for the students to participate in their home communities where they will be working after graduation. Both the students and the teacher educators claim that the students are expected to be connoisseurs of indigenous knowledge and to carry on indigenous traditional values and ways of life in their future role as teachers and leaders in the indigenous communities. Nevertheless, indigenous knowledge still plays only a minor role in the educational practices of the teacher education institute, while non-indigenous knowledge continues to prevail.