This volume contains a selection of papers read at the 2005 Basel conference on "Cultures in Contact". They suggest the directions in which the discipline(s) of English has/have recently been moving both with regard to the study of cultural contact and to disciplinary cultures. Focusing on specific issues, like mediation and contact zones, the papers cover a wide chronological, geographical and generic range: from dream-time to today, from China to Hollywood, and from autobiography to satire.