This past academic year, Swarthmore debuted “Night Owls,” a series of late-night discussions on philosophical questions central to the lives of students and faculty. The Political Science Department and Philosophy Department sponsored the series, modeled after beloved faculty-led conversations of the same name at The University of Chicago.

At Swarthmore, Night Owls events began with a discussion between the invited speaker and Jonny Thakkar, assistant professor of political science, before an open Q&A with the audience. Held on Saturday nights, the events struck a chord with participants and attendees, who drew from their own experiences to enrich conversations.

In the final event of this year’s series, in late March, Thakkar welcomed Anna Stilz, professor of politics and human values at Princeton, for a discussion titled “Can a People Own Land?” The conversation examined the notion of the ‘state’ and the modern system of territorial sovereignty. 

“The idea of democracy is very deeply rooted in our imaginations,” said Stilz, the author of Territorial Sovereignty: A Philosophical Exploration and editor-in-chief of Philosophy and Public Affairs. “Growing up, I remember we had those colored maps, with each country having a hot pink or yellow color and space that was associated with it. 

“We think of states as having a territory that goes with them, and that’s how we fund them,” Stilz added. “But we didn’t always organize ourselves into territorial states.”
 
Looking back through history, Stilz pointed to other systems, such as organization based on kinship rather than territorial jurisdictions and feudalism. Examining why we have arrived at our current state system, Stilz theorized that the way states acquire territory has a large role to play. 

Thakkar and Stilz discussed alternative systems such as cosmopolitanism — the belief that all human beings exist within a single community — and radical reforms of the current state system, through policies such as compulsory open borders. 

After a brief break with cookies and coffee, Thakkar opened the floor up to questions, with Stilz responding to queries on territorial rights, immigration practices, and the idea of “possession” when it comes to land. She emphasized the importance of spatially situated practices and argued that they are essential for carrying out cultural, social, and economic activities, with dislocation having “significant consequences for individuals and communities.” 

In February, Thakkar was joined by Vincent Lloyd, author of Black Dignity: The Struggle Against Domination and director of the Villanova Center for Political Theology, to discuss “What Makes a Good Protest.” Discussion centered on various factors around protests, including whether they need concrete goals, how and when they can fail, and the nature of civil disobedience. 

Lloyd began by asserting that the targets of protests are often structures rather than individuals, and that protesters must be committed to experimentation in their methods. When organizing a protest, Lloyd says that, “We ought to realize that we’re seeing one problem here but there might be other problems linked to it.”

The event closed with a Q&A that delved into the struggle between short-term and long-term results, and broad coalition building versus more focused activism. Lloyd ended by highlighting the fine balance within protest and how each movement is unique in its approach. 

Other Night Owls topics included “Becoming a Politician” with Pennsylvania State Senator Nikil Saval, who shared insights on his journey into and experience in politics; “Why Bad Feelings Make Life Good” from Krista Thomason, associate professor of philosophy; the nature and value of pacifism from Sa’ed Atshan ’06, associate professor of peace & conflict studies and anthropology; and “Is Ambition Ugly?" from the originator of the Night Owls series at UChicago, philosopher Agnes Callard.