vm1138

I have a Master's already, and after two years in the "real world" I'm ready to go back for my Ph.D. But I'm trying to balance my personal interests with employability. I don't want to pick a dead-end field. It's hard enough to find work, I don't need to put up extra barriers to success. I'm inclined to go with South Asian history, as it seems to be a field of rising importance, but I'm not sure if it will be "in demand" for years yet. My background is in American history, and while I find it less intellectually stimulating, it's comfortable and I know more about it than any other field. But the latest AHA jobs report showed that Americanists have the hardest time finding jobs as professors. But they stand better odds (supposedly) of finding non-academic work. I also have an interest in Empire history and colonialism, but am not sure how much demand there is for that field. I also imagined I could find a way to combine South Asian history in with imperial and colonial history. The lack of actual substantive data regarding job placement and specialties is frustrating. The best I can hope for is anecdotal information but I'd appreciate any input anyone here has on what fields are in demand between American history (19th Century or later), Imperial and Colonial history, South Asian history, or some combination of MIddle East and African history. I have experience in all these fields, so none of them are totally new to me, and I'm interested in all of them.