Take a Ride Into the Contact Zone

After reading Bizzell's "Contact Zones," I thought about the curriculum for English majors. A lot of the curriculum involves British literature, Medieval literature, Renaissance literature, and American literature written from an Anglo-American perspective. Yes, there are some classes that discuss transnational issues, novels written by minorities, gays or lesbians, feminists, but such classes lag behind (in quantity) the more popular forms of literature mentioned above. This might not be the case at every school, but in general I think it's true. Though Bizzell doesn't make these claims directly, I feel as though they are underlying themes to her description of the the old system of English studies. There should be more emphasis on the multicultural reality of America in English studies. As it is, the contact zone, "where social spaces," and "cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths is not inclusive enough" in the academy (166). Though change is occurring in English studies, I don't believe it's at a point yet (and I'm basing this on the criteria for an English degree at universities, at least at CSUDH and CSULB) where the idea of inclusiveness does justice to the multicultural aspect of America. Again, Bizzell isn't making these claims directly, at least not as blatantly as her belief that "English studies" should be organized "not in terms of literary or chronological periods, nor essentialized racial or gender categories, but rather in terms of historically defined contact zones, moments when different groups within the society contend for the power to interpret what is going on" (165). I believe a more comprehensive study of the multicultural aspect of America is necessary to accomplish her goal.