Review of Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar

Journal of Business Ethics (2021) 173:229–231 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04851-y

BOOK REVIEW

Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 2020, 368 pp., ISBN: 978-0316496421

Azish Filabi1

Received: 31 March 2021 / Accepted: 27 May 2021 / Published online: 6 July 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2021

In the wake of the racial justice protests of 2020, corpo- path traversed by Walt Whitman in Song of Myself, Akhtar rate leaders have joined civil society’s call for social justice appears to say, “I am large, I contain multitudes” (Whitman, and economic equality. The Wall Street Journal reported in 1855). December 2020 that corporate America committed $35 Bil- In an approximately 350 page book, Akhtar’s novel dem- lion toward racial equity programs including a combination onstrates that the multitudes we carry in ourselves can con- of initiatives to improve diversity within companies, improve tradict, overwhelm, expand and contract based on where access to fnancial services in underserved communities, and you call home, and whether your homeland reciprocally support for Black business owners (Weber Wall Street Jour- embraces you. The story follows the life of a hyphenated nal, 2020). Will this be enough? For years, business ethi- American seeking to be, and ideally be seen as, just Ameri- cists have examined whether corporate social responsibility can. Born in Staten Island, NY, the son of immigrants to is sufcient to address social ills, and if moral leaders can the U.S. from Pakistan, the character Ayad Akhtar shares pave a path through amoral markets, at best, and at times many autobiographical details of the author, Ayad Akhtar immoral markets. Homeland Elegies presents an opportunity the Pulitzer-prize winning writer, while the story is a work to refect on these commitments and consider the cultural of fction. evolution necessary to support the transition toward a more Several of Akhtar’s characters embody a money-wor- inclusive economy and society. shiped America that unsurprisingly (in hindsight) elected The central narrative thread is the relationship between Trump, who represents the culmination of a fake-it-till-you- Ayad and his father, a heart surgeon who is a doctor to celeb- make-it ethos of American business culture. Akhtar presents rities, including Donald Trump during his real estate mogul, Trump not only as a metaphor (“…greed and corruption so reality television show days. From there, the novel presents naked and endemic it could only be made sense of as the numerous themes and characters, such as the elusive Ameri- outsize expression of our own deepest desires…”) but also can Dream, how money and fnance fuel power in modern- more simply, as a refection of voter preference, as a man day U.S., and how an American of South Asian Muslim who “…felt the national mood, and his particular genius was descent seeks to belong in a world post-9/11. a need for attention…”. For Ayad Akhtar, the narrator of Homeland Elegies, Akhtar’s characters ofer narratives about the experiences home is the United States. Home is also Pakistan. Home of communities of color in the U.S. Their perspective on the includes his parents, whose life and circumstances have led politics of business, and the business of politics, is particu- him to New York and Wisconsin. In all these places and rela- larly relevant in the early 2020s as leaders seek to defne tionships, Ayad brings us perspectives as an insider, sharing the role of business in addressing racial justice. One such details of the texture and cadence of life in those environ- character is Mike Jacobs, a Black lawyer and agent to the ments, his own and that of others close to him. Home exists stars in Hollywood whose predilection for Republican can- on multiple continents and in multiple mindsets; tracing a didates puzzles Ayad. For Jacobs, the dominant ideology in American history is that “Everything was about getting rich. * Azish Filabi At least Republicans were honest about it.” This character [email protected] connects the economic policies of the 1970s, and in particular Robert Bork’s views on competition law, to the struggles 1 The American College of Financial Services, King of minority communities today. of Prussia, Prussia, PA, USA

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Bork was a judge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the the fctional Riaz Rind Philanthropic Trust, where he seeks D.C. Circuit from 1982 to 1988, as well as an author and law opportunities to “change conversations and improv[e] lives.” professor, among other appointments. His 1978 book, The The conversations and lives Rind wants to improve are Antitrust Paradox, was cited by U.S. Supreme Court’s 1979 those of Muslims living in America, which have been par- Reiter v. Sonotone Corp decision, which helped establish ticularly challenged since 9/11. As Rind and Ayad chat over consumer welfare as the dominant metric of U.S. competi- a drink prior to a gala Rind hosted for a Suf Islam order in tion law (Bork, 1978). The precedent established was that New York City, the billionaire describes his philosophy of most competitive businesses strategies are fair game as long using media to promote the best of the Muslims living in as a company’s goal is to lower prices for consumers. To that the U.S. Rind explains: “Do what they do. They [the white end, the free market system has allowed companies to grow, majority] push the minority of their best in our faces and acquire, cut costs, and outsource, if the consumer benefts then pretend that’s the whole picture. We need to do the through reduced prices. same. Shove the best of our minority down their throats.” Akhtar’s focus on monopoly power is timely. Congress Ayad later discovers, however, that Rind had been fund- and the Federal Trade Commission began in late 2020 to ing his foundation through an elaborate scheme that sounds reconsider, and potentially replace this dominant view, chal- familiar to episodes from the GFC. (Spoiler alert) Rind’s lenging the orthodoxy that the focus on consumer welfare is hedge fund targeted municipalities with sales of junk debt solely equivalent to low prices. Big tech companies are the on which the bankers took out short positions (to protect primary focus of these initial anticipated reforms, although themselves against a downside risk). The complex transac- pharmaceuticals are also in focus. Scholars like Professor tions hearken back to the Jeferson County, Alabama interest Tim Wu (2018) suggest that technology has spurred a new rate swap scandal revealed around 2009, which eventually gilded age, and that the existing antitrust framework has not put that municipality in bankruptcy (Taiibi, 2010), as well created a level playing feld. as the short-selling practices for which many Wall Street The House Subcommittee on Antitrust published in banks were criticized, that helped fuel the GFC. In this case, 2020 a report titled Investigation of Competition in Digital Rind was targeting municipalities that had blocked Muslim Markets, summarizing its inquiry into the causes and con- communities from constructing new mosques in those dis- sequences of online competition. The report studies how tricts. He used the sale of junk debt, and subsequent fscal Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook’s domination in dig- fallout, as retaliation for those discriminatory acts that were ital markets has created barriers to entry not only in online otherwise left unaddressed by the criminal justice system. marketplaces, but have also spurred a general decline in What Jacobs and Rind represent is minority communities innovation and entrepreneurship. Their list of recommenda- who are playing by the unspoken rules of capitalism at its tions includes that Congress reassert the “the original intent extremes. They seek to get ahead fnancially, but also to use and broad goals of the antitrust laws by clarifying that they business prominence to gain respect in a world where money are designed to protect not just consumers, but also work- talks. In a conversation with Zakeeya, a federal investiga- ers, entrepreneurs, independent businesses, open markets, a tor, about Rind’s deals, Ayad expresses his disbelief at the fair economy, and democratic ideals.” Mike Jacobs would potential illegality of the transactions: “I mean, honestly, be pleased with the Subcommittee’s conclusions, for if all what you’re describing doesn’t really sound any worse than small businesses have difculty competing with corporate what Goldman was doing in 2010.” giants, then it stands that minority-owned businesses will be “Your friend’s no Goldman Sachs….wrong color,” even more disadvantaged. Zakeeya responds. For Akhtar, as well as for those who study culture and Rind had aspired to exhibit the best of the Muslim popu- commerce, what’s at stake is how immigrants and communi- lation living in the U.S. In doing so, he seems to have emu- ties of color can aspire to the American Dream without giv- lated the worst of the majority. ing in to the corrupting infuence of money in the process. Capitalism appears in the novel almost as if it too is a Another character from the novel, Riaz Rind, a hedge character in the story, infuencing people in their chosen fund founder and philanthropist, unapologetically takes paths, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. The advantage of loopholes in the fnancial system to amass bil- opportunities presented by business, not unlike those pre- lions. He does well by doing good, applauded by the media sent in the U.S. today, test the moral conviction of Akhtar’s for his “compassionate fnance” approach after buying dis- characters, pushing them to act in accordance with what they tressed mortgages in the aftermath of the Global Financial believe it means to be American. The author leaves the path Crisis of 2008 (“GFC”), and later selling those repackaged for ethical leadership open for those who may choose to loans as securities to municipalities to fnance infrastruc- take it. ture projects. Rind donates his fortunes to his foundation,

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Some may feel optimistic about business ethics in light Funding No funding was received to assist with the preparation of of the recent consensus that stakeholder capitalism has beat this manuscript. shareholder capitalism (at least on paper) and that policy- Declarations makers today seem to have a clear-eyed view of the ills of capitalism. As the gears of democracy continue to grind, Conflict of interest The author has no confict of interest to declare that perhaps our lawmakers and corporate leaders are hearing are relevant to the content of this article. people’s woes in considering systemic reform, such as antitrust and competition law. Ethcial approval Submission to Journal of Business Ethics, Books (and I also see optimism in Ayad Akhtar, the author, and his more) section Ayad Akhtar, Homeland Elegies (2020). ability to express, criticize and ultimately, be heard about his views on his homeland. In the novel’s coda, Ayad, the character, is on stage at a college campus talking about his latest References book. During the question and answer session, an audience member confronts him, lamenting that the focus of Ayad’s Lauren Weber. (2020). Companies have promised $35 billion toward work is criticism of America. “I mean, if you don’t like it racial equity. Where is the money going? (Wall Street Journal) Matt Taibii. (2010). Looting Main Street How the nation’s biggest here,…I don’t really understand why you don’t just leave….” banks are ripping of American cities with the same predatory “I’m here because I was born and raised here. For better, deals that brought down Greece. “Rolling Stone Magazine” for worse—and it’s always a bit of both—I don’t want to Robert Bork. (1978). The Antitrust Paradox be anywhere else…America is my home,” Ayad responds. Subcommittee on antitrust, commercial and administrative law, Major- Investigation of competi- Homeland Elegies ity Staf Report and Recommendations. Akhtar likely did not write for a busi- tion in digital markets (2020). ness ethics audience, but the work speaks to a diverse set Tim Wu, The Curse of Bigness in the New Gilded Age (2018). of readers seeking to contextualize the sociopolitical news Walt Whitman. (1855). Song of Myself, 51. Leaves of Grass. of our time. Even researchers who spend much of their day Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to connecting the dots among disparate data points will enjoy jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional afliations. how Akhtar connects stories among seemingly disparate characters. Fiction provides an opportunity to refect on the human impact of economic policies, and this novel’s narrative style makes it exceedingly relatable.

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