Susan Cowan Susan Cowan i(A73245 works by) (a.k.a. Susan Annis Cowan)
Born: Established: Greenock,
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Scotland,
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
;
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 1962
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Works By

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1 Connecting with India Susan Cowan , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Wanderings in India : Australian Perspectives 2012; (p. 138-148)

'Geographical isolation and innate curiosity have long motivated Australians to leave their shores and travel far and wide to broaden their horizons and experience cultural and social differences with countries established long before explorers began to map Australia. As well as responding to the touristic impulse, there is also the patriotic one of planting Australia’s name abroad, particularly in times of war. This essay looks at the writings of some of the travellers who converged on India, long before the hippy trail of the 1970s, through a historical lens, and compares these writings with a sample of those written later in the 20th century and the shifts in their perceptions and social and cultural awareness which evolved in modern times. India, which had long been purely a brief stopover on the P&O route for Australians, became a desirable place in its own right in the late 20th century, a mysterious subcontinent that signified high adventure and the exoticism of the other.' (Introduction)

1 Exiles in Babylon : Scots in Australia Susan Cowan , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: 'What Countrey's This? And Whither Are We Gone?' : Papers Presented at the Twelfth International Conference on the Literature of Region and Nation (Aberdeen University, 30th July - 2nd August 2008) 2010; (p. 185-195)
1 3 y separately published work icon Of Sadhus and Spinners : Australian Encounters with India Bruce Bennett (editor), S. K. Sareen (editor), Susan Cowan (editor), Asha Kanwar (editor), Noida Pymble : HarperCollins Australia , 2009 Z1615496 2009 anthology short story prose extract 'Despite a shared history of British imperialism, and commonalities like the English language, a democratic polity and a craze for cricket, Australians and Indians know very little about each other of sadhus and spinners attempts to correct this with a range of stories that trace the chequered history of interactions between the two nations from John Langs The Mohammedan mother (1859) to Yasmine Gooneratnes masterpiece (2002), the stories in this anthology bring to the fore a variety of literary responses to Indo-Australian encounters there are stories here of Australian visitors to India and stories about and by Indians-immigrants or temporary visitors-in Australia thoughtful, exploratory and often just wide-eyed in its observation of strange new worlds, the anthology provides insights into an array of fascinating cross-cultural encounters.' (Publication summary)
1 The Caledonian Diaspora in Australia: A Foot in Each Camp Susan Cowan , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Nation in Imagination : Essays on Nationalism, Sub-Nationalisms and Narration 2007; (p. 139-149)
Susan Cowan 'traces some ways in which the writing and music of the Scots evolved imaginatively in response to the landscape of their adopted nation, without the people themselves relinquishing their old attachments'.
1 Glimpses of India -- A Military Dekko Susan Cowan , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Explorations in Australian Literature 2006; (p. 42-50)
Susan Cowan addresses the work of three Australian writers 'who converged on India where they lived and wrote long before the hippy trial of the 70s'. Cowan chooses to focus on the 'military angle' due to her 'personal exposure to the military environment'.
1 Contributing Caledonian Culture: A Legacy of the Scottish Diaspora Susan Cowan , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , no. 76 2003; (p. 87-95, notes 238-240)
Cowan argues that 'a sample of the literature written by the Scots since the arrival of the First Fleet shows the powerful contribution of its people to Australian cultural life, particularly to its enrichment of Australian literature'. Supporting her case, Cowan cites such writers as Thomas Watling, John Dunmore Lang, Catherine Helen Spence, Catherine Martin, Will Ogilvie, Alexander Forbes, W. H. Lang, Frederick Howard and Les Murray.
1 3 y separately published work icon Resistance and Reconciliation : Writing in the Commonwealth Bruce Bennett (editor), Susan Cowan (editor), Jacqueline Lo (editor), Satendra Nandan (editor), Jennifer Webb (editor), Canberra : Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies , 2003 Z1016546 2003 anthology criticism Twenty-seven essays which 'raise important questions about race, class, gender, religion, politics and aesthetics in the lives of individuals and societies' and focus 'on writing as an act of resistance ... and also as a possible agent of reconciliation.' (Introduction, p.xi)
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