SOUTHBOUND:
ESSAYS ON IDENTITY, INHERITANCE, AND SOCIAL CHANGE
A move at age ten from a Detroit suburb to Chattanooga in 1984 thrusts Anjali Enjeti into what feels like a new world replete with Confederate flags, Bible verses, and whiteness. It is here that she learns how to get her bearings as a mixed-race brown girl in the Deep South and begins to understand how identity can inspire, inform, and shape a commitment to activism. Her own evolution is a bumpy one, and along the way Enjeti, racially targeted as a child, must wrestle with her own complicity in white supremacy and bigotry as an adult.
The twenty essays of her debut collection, Southbound, tackle white feminism at a national feminist organization, the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the South, voter suppression, gun violence and the gun sense movement, the whitewashing of southern literature, the 1982 racialized killing of Vincent Chin, social media’s role in political accountability, evangelical Christianity’s marriage to extremism, and the rise of nationalism worldwide.
In our current era of great political strife, this timely collection by Enjeti, a journalist and activist, paves the way for a path forward, one where identity drives coalition-building and social change.
PRAISE
“A nuanced and much-needed journey into exploring what it means to be American.” —Washington Post
“The book has overall cohesiveness thanks to the author’s tone: plainspoken, persistently self-questioning, and justifiably infuriated. A spirited, well-turned collection suffused with cleansing anger and hunger for change.” —Kirkus Starred Review
“This collection is a balm for anyone who knows a better world is possible but struggles to know the next right step. The answer, time and again in this collection, is community, and beginning, quite simply, by showing up.” — Errol Anderson, Charis Books & More
“Enjeti has a talent for not only choosing a description which aptly paints her state of mind; they also juxtapose concepts in exciting and original ways.” —Kiran Bhat, Ruminate
“I’ve never read a collection of essays that references and collects so many sources for its readers to continue their work. When I finished reading Southbound, I viewed it as a call to action that works at every level: from the novice activist to the leaders of international foundations, this book gives you resources to start a journey towards social justice activism, or to add to an already extensive repertoire.” —A. Poythress, The New Southern Fugitives
“2021 certainly feels ripe for a series of thoughtful and brutally honest meditations on what it will take for people of color to finally feel a sense of belonging in America. White folks — liberals and conservatives, Northerners and Southerners alike — would do well to hear her out.”—Chris Moody, Chattanooga Times Free Press
“Enjeti compellingly weaves personal accounts in with current events, statistics, research, and history. It isn’t the type of book to read in one setting, or even two, three, or four settings to avoid imploding. That’s not to say I couldn’t stomach what Enjeti was telling me, but I could only process the emotional rollercoaster Enjeti took me on in spells. With Southbound, no topic is off the table; these personal essays are powerhouses with a purpose.” —Dawn Major, Southern Literary Review
“Enjeti pens her most powerful prose in her unraveling of the ways in which heritage and identity shape activism, symbolically concluding with the fond restoration of her Avva’s (grandmother) cherished sari chest that reveals a jasmine flower upon completion of the artwork etched in it. The fragrance of white bloom sure spreads far and wide and lingers long, much like the insights imparted by the author. Fragrant. Far-reaching. Fulfilling.” —Jyothsna Hedge, NRI Pulse
“Anjali Enjeti’s Southbound is the conversation you’ve been meaning to have with a friend about changing the world for the better. Informed, thoughtful, and compassionate, Southbound is required reading for these times.” —Jessica Handler, author of The Magnetic Girl
“Southbound is a testament to Anjali Enjeti’s fierce eye and knack for landing uneasy truths.” —Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk
“Southbound is a potent tonic for our times-ambitious in its scope and refreshing in its candor. These are fiercely intelligent essays that examine the complexities of how power works on, through, and maybe even for us. Recommended reading for anyone interested in doing the same.” —Lacy Johnson, author of The Reckonings
“I have long been a fan of journalist and activist Anjali Enjeti’s work, and I am delighted that her essay collection Southbound delivers on her most admirable legacy. Enjeti does not shy away from investigating her own, her community’s, this country’s, and in fact the world’s casual acceptance of racism and xenophobia in all its many insidious forms. Plus, as a southerner and South Asian woman, Enjeti looks at anti-Blackness from several lenses and offers a model for not just how to acknowledge one’s own complicity in the endless atrocities of racism but also how to act and go beyond just the plush label of ally. This book had me in tears many times but the gift of its deep intelligence and candor, the pain and the passion in these pages, gave me a lot of hope for all of us in a pretty hopeless time. This is a book I hope every American reads.” —Porochista Khakpour, author of Brown Album: Essays on Exile & Identity