In this article, Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy and Emma Maughan explore epistemic tensions within an Indigenous teacher preparation program where students question Western systems for creating, producing, reproducing, and valuing knowledge. Grounding their argument in a rich understanding of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, the authors advocate for an approach to training Indigenous teachers that recognizes the power of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, considers diverse knowledge systems equally, and equips teachers to make connections between various schooling practices and knowledge systems. Through the “story of the bean,” in which an Indigenous student teacher reconceptualizes a science lesson from a more holistic perspective, the authors illustrate the wealth of understanding and insight that Indigenous teachers bring to the education of Indigenous students, and they depict the possibilities for pre-service teaching programs in which university staff honor the inherent value of Indigenous perspectives.

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Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He is Borderlands Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Arizona State University and Visiting President’s Professor of Education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Most recently his research has been focused on exploring the role of Indigenous Knowledge systems in the academic experiences of Indigenous student, staff, and faculty. His research has appeared in journals such as Anthropology and Educational Quarterly, Journal of Black Studies, Review of Educational Research, Review of Research in Education, and The Urban Review.

Emma Maughan is an adjunct professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Utah State University. Previously she worked as a research associate at the Center for the Study of Empowered Students of Color, University of Utah. Her research interests include epistemologies and knowledge systems, writing in the university, American Indian education, and race in education. She is the recent coauthor of a chapter in Structure and Agency in the Neoliberal University and an article scheduled to appear in the Review of Research in Education.