Abstract
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.
Highlights
Reality shows that traditionally, universities have focused their attention on a limited set of specific stakeholders, in particular, professors, managers, funding administrators, donors, accreditation agencies and students. These groups may be among the most important participant actors within a university-level institution, an exclusive focus on these groups obscures other, and increasingly critical, circles. Their contention is in line with the aim of this paper to inquire into the demands and needs of the major stakeholders of an American Studies program’s curriculum content, in context to the local and global environment
Would “American Studies,” the pursuit of knowledge about America be only in the context of the USA? Or would the area of study be expanded to include North, Central, and South America? To answer these questions, we explored a limited number of various American Studies curricula in ‘global’ and ‘local’ contexts
The outcome shows that in studies that operate under the name of American Studies, different types of courses or programs were offered with various contents
Summary
In the last decade as we all realize, a phenomenal change has occurred in the world, due to, e.g., a worldwide financial crisis; a dramatic change in media production and distribution; an exponential and explosive growth in information and communication technology applications; mass migrations across continents, and global ideological tensions and confrontations. In all these issues, the presence and influence of America have been dominant. The question arises, should an American Studies program in Indonesia adopt the international conversation, or follow the local discourse in developing their curriculum?
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