The curriculum of the American Studies Program at The School of Strategic and Global Studies of the University of Indonesia comprises among others conversations on American Philosophy, American Democracy, American Culture, American Politics, American Media and American Foreign Policy. An overall perspective of the discourse is to obtain the knowledge and the competence to critically analyze and abstract the role and influence of the United States in contemporary global as well as local affairs. However, in today’s multi-media culture, concerns arise whether the curriculum is still appropriate to fulfill the above goals. Our paper discusses these issues in looking at what to include in an American Studies curriculum that would address its local stakeholders needs and wants, including Indonesia’s vision of Higher Education, which is “to support the competitiveness of the nation.” (DIKTI,2015) In the American Studies context, a tension though might arise when the issues important to American Studies scholars in the USA, which we content are reflected in the themes of the American Studies Association’s 2017 and 2018 Annual Meetings, “Pedagogies of Dissent” and “State of Emergence” respectively, are blended into one local, i.e. Indonesian curriculum. We will explore the global, the main issues in the two above ASA conference themes reflecting “the contemporary theorization of American Studies scholars” and the local, American Studies curriculum’s stakeholders’ concerns. The results it is hoped will provide a discourse to be discussed among stakeholders of the American Studies curriculum in general, and this conference in particular.