Jack Jacobs
DPhil Student - University College
Research Topic: The Sword or the Spirit: Global Lives in Non-Violence amid the Violent 20th Century
Supervisor: Faisal Devji and Ruth Harris
Associated with the Centre for Intellectual History, Oxford.
I am currently pursuing a DPhil in Intellectual History (2024—), generously supported by the Beit Research Scholarship in Global and Imperial History.
My research examines why and how Western intellectuals engaged with the possibilities (and limitations) of Gandhian non-violence before the rise of total politics as the world-problem of the 1930s. I am particularly interested in how thinkers like George Orwell, Simone Weil adapted, critiqued, and reinterpreted Gandhi’s ideas in the 1930s, during World War Two, and into the early Cold War.
Before beginning my doctoral studies, I completed an MSt in Intellectual History at Oxford in 2024, fully funded by a Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship. My thesis examined the influence of Edmund Burke’s moral and political thought on Gandhi’s own approach to imperial reform. Prior to Oxford, I served as the Yindyamarra Research Fellow at Yindyamarra Nguluway in Australia, where I advocated for the recognition of First Nations people and made political and intellectual contributions to the national dialogue then taking place around constitutional reform. I have also worked as a policy researcher at the Australian Human Rights Commission on a landmark culture review aimed at preventing sexual misconduct in the Australian Federal Parliament, and on similar culture reviews of university colleges and schools.
I hold a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Philosophy from the University of Sydney, where my honours year was supported by a University of Sydney Honours Scholarship. My thesis focussed on the political thought Burke produced in the act of reforming the East India Company.
Beyond academic life, I host “In Conversation with Jack Jacobs,” exploring the intersection of intellectual history and contemporary politics. Previous guests include: David Bromwich, John Dunn, Linda Colley, Sylvana Tomaselli, Michael Ignatieff, Iain McGilchrist, Richard Bourke, and Uday Mehta.
I am a writer and journalist and regularly contribute to literary and political magazines worldwide. I share my ongoing work—including my podcast interviews—on my Substack.
I also serve as a Junior Dean at Univ.
Research keywords:
global intellectual history, history of political thought, political theory, non-violence, morality and politics, reform, imperialism, anticolonialism, democracy, self-knowledge, liberalism, conservatism
Previous programmes:
- MSt in Intellectual History, 2023-4 (University of Oxford, Oriel College), distinction.
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Philosophy, 2017-2021 (University of Sydney), First Class Honours
