Southbound

Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change. By Anjali Enjeti. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press.

Paperback 230 pp. $11.00.

Anjali Enjeti is an award-winning essayist who writes about politics, social justice, and reform. Her work has appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Al Jazeera, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and others. Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change is a collection of essays. Her debut novel, The Parted Earth, was released in 2021. She teaches creative writing at Reinhardt University’s MFA program.  

Enjeti is passionate about politics, race, social justice, and reform. These topics shape the contents of her essays: the journey of her life which creates the threads that form the structure of her ideas in Southbound. Her work with the democratic party and founding partnership with the Georgia chapter of They See Blue demonstrates what she stands for, and how her passion for activism has yielded her well-earned success. The stories and essays composed during different stages of her life take the reader with her through a journey of passion, hope, and inspiration. 

The title of the book, set against a soft blue cover, immediately catches the eye of the reader. What does it mean? Does it reflect the beginning or the destination of a journey? Could it point to a negative or positive emotion? The author might say it all of these and more. There are three sections to Southbound, each containing between five and ten essays, with twenty essays in total. The first-person narrative style draws the reader in emotionally and convincingly. While many are personal tales about the author’s childhood, some are memories of her adult life, and others were composed to convey the way she (and similar people) feels about social and political issues.

Because the essays aren’t chronological, the reader can skip around to different sections without feeling as though they’ve missed something important. The first part of the book contains essays about identity. Therein, Enjeti examines what early identity meant to her, feeling lonely and different. “In fifth grade,” she writes “most of my classmates had never seen a brown person before” (8). She was discovering who she was by interacting with and observing the culture around her. A culture drastically different from hers.  

As the book progresses, Enjeti focuses on inheritance. Not hers alone, but the value of inheritance as a societal concept. How those who come before you will define you and how the legacy you leave for others will shape future generations. In her chapter called “Recipe for a Person,” she talks about the significance of her name as a part of her identity. “The compromise my parents made when I was budding in my mother’s womb set the stage for my life. It’s an analogy for what it means to blend multiple heritages into one being” (60). Her name is what takes her places and what blends both sides of her family together.  

The last section ties everything together. Enjeti uses her concepts of identity and inheritance to produce and create what she believes is a path to social change and reform. She explains her passion for making a difference in the world that raised her, and ultimately how her influence can create changes she wants for her children. She calls on all minorities and others who feel voiceless to step up and to speak up and advocate for social reform. She instructs individuals on how to make a difference and let themselves be heard.  

 While this book was more political than what I usually read, I felt there were some key themes and ideas that every reader could take away. Overall, it was inspiring and hopeful. I would encourage people to read this as an incentive to tell their own stories, to learn from the stories of others, and to learn more about positive social and political change.  

Southbound is intended to demonstrate that by sharing one’s struggles and accomplishments the world can be changed, one story, one essay, and one book at a time. I recommend this book to any readers who enjoy stories about social justice, exploring cultural diversity, and marginalized people. I also would encourage people that have similar passions they would like to share with others to learn from Enjeti’s experiences and author their own voices in print.

— Kaylee Westra