History degrees

[Rhyfelwyr]

Chuchip, Its funny that you mention the combination of biology and history. History as we know it (and as I studied it in uni around 1980) is gradually being replaced by Big History and by the history of the human race from the perspective of evolutionary biology. IN the words of francis Fukuyama: Darwin replaces Hegel. And it's a fascinating turn of events. No matter what sort of job you hold after you get that degree, there is a wealth of new territory and ideas to be explored. If you are lucky enough to be able to write about it and make a living that way, as Panzer suggested, you will never have a dull moment.

I must second this.

When I was studying history, what I never found most intersting/challenging was never the particulars of any given period/kingdom/person/event etc. What I did find fascinating was trying to find a bigger picture to place all these things in, to understand them and get a bigger perspective and be able to look into the future.

Unfortunately when it comes to this, I've found its a classic case of "the more you know the more you don't know". Four years of undergraduate study is nowhere near enough to find such a grand historical narrative.

However I think I may have come to the roots of such a narrative when I was doing my dissertation. It was on the events which took place in mid-17th century Britain, with Cromwell, the Covenanters, etc. This in one topic which is renowned for the huge variety of historiography that lies behind it. So I went through all the different kinds and in the end I came to my own conclusion and got my own narrative on things which I feel was pretty comprehensive (cross-kingdom (England/Scotland) relationships, relationships within the factions in both kingdoms, their social roots of those factions, their expression in political theory etc).

So having done all this, I got my own narrative. And true to my form with me tossing all convention and sensibilities out the window and presenting everything in the most outrageous and uncompromising way possible, I call this 'national socialist' history.

For example, although there has been a move towards looking at the 'British' perspective of events (as opposed to Scottish/English differences), those historians have always pussyfooted around saying the differences between the kingdoms were still significant. So I put my foot down and said, no! This is British History (hence my title of 'The British Civil War'). I did similar things in unashamedly considering the socioeconomic aspect of things.

So you have a materialist perspective going on, but contained within the more abstract idea of the nation. Certainly I think such a view offers a very thorough explanation of the topic I was covering. Whether or not it can be applied more broadly is a whole other matter.

If anyone's interested I might make a monastry thread about this...

[Tuuvi]

Chuchip, Its funny that you mention the combination of biology and history. History as we know it (and as I studied it in uni around 1980) is gradually being replaced by Big History and by the history of the human race from the perspective of evolutionary biology. IN the words of francis Fukuyama: Darwin replaces Hegel. And it's a fascinating turn of events. No matter what sort of job you hold after you get that degree, there is a wealth of new territory and ideas to be explored. If you are lucky enough to be able to write about it and make a living that way, as Panzer suggested, you will never have a dull moment.

AII

You know this is music to my ears, because as well as biology I'm also fascinated by Archaeology, Anthropology, History, etc. I've been a little torn between which one I should choose, it's nice to know they can be applied to one another.

If anyone's interested I might make a monastry thread about this...

You should, this sounds pretty interesting to me.

[edyzmedieval]

To be fair, I was quite interested in a history degree last year so much so that I applied to top UK universities about this. 3 accepted me, 2 rejected me. But since then I took a gap year and considered my decision, and I thought, what will it bring me on the job market?

I'm trying to compete with many many other successful graduates and although it brings a good host of skills such as the ability to sift through information really well, it's somewhat restricted when it comes to the types of jobs you could look for.

Of course, I may be wrong, but I chose another degree instead for this year.