u/fishwishtwish

Hi! I’m based in Australia and have a keen interest in family history and contextual history. Just wondering what job would that suit?

I’ve looked into genealogy courses but they don’t seem to really exist in Australia/aren’t recognised? Is there any countries where that is a proper university degree with job prospects? Or am I looking in the wrong place… I’d love to work in a place like NAA or a museum/gallery (or similar overseas).

I’ve also thought about Anthropology but no one’s been able to explain to me what that actual entails and the sort of job prospects out there that aren’t niche/extremely hard to get into.

Is it worth me studying either of those? Or both?
I just don’t wanna be stuck doing a job I don’t enjoy for the rest of my life and this is a field that I find interesting.

I’ve wanted to be a historian/archivist for as long as I can remember…

Does anyone have any experience/ideas/advice? Where would I start?

I’ve hit a bit of a brick wall with my Indonesian family ancestry recently, I can’t find much (if any at all) after my great grandfather.

My family said it’s probably because during the Indonesian independence many of the archives by the Dutch were destroyed along with some Indonesian documents. Is this true?

If it is, is the only way for me to find information about further ancestry through a DNA test? Or is there other archives I could look into?

I haven’t read a book in sooooo long so I don’t even know what book to start with, but I want read again, starting with something of interest to me but easy reading.

I love history, politics, philosophy and other humanities-related topics but I want something that I can read on the train, after work, before bed so I don’t have to fully concentrate to understand and isn’t super dense.

I love learning new things so if you have any suggestions that don’t fit this I’m happy to hear :)

Sorry if this doesn’t make sense or is a bit everywhere 😅

EDIT: thank you so much for the recommendations, I’ve ordered a bunch of books and am so excited !!
If anyone has any more suggestions for revolutionary history (any and all) or tudor history please let me know !!