GE 2: READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
LESSON 1 – INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY: DEFINITION, ISSUES, SOURCES, AND METHODOLOGY
HISTORY
Study of the past
Greek word HISTORIA which means knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation.
Existed 2400 years (as a discipline) and as old as Mathematics and Philosophy.
Adapted to classical Latin (new definition) – account of the past of a person or group of people
through written document and historical evidences,
Focused on writing about wars, revolutions, and other important breakthrough.
HISTORIAN’S DUTY – Write about the lives of important individual like monarchs, heroes, saints, and
nobilities.
TRADITIONAL HISTORIAN’S MANTRA – “no document, no history” which means unless written
document can prove a certain historical event, then it cannot be considered as a historical fact.
Valid historical sources were not limited to written document like government records, chronicle’s
account, or personal letter.
Some use the word of mouth
Restricting historical evidence as exclusively written is DISCRIMINATION of other social classes who
are not recorded in paper.
Other VALID historical evidences – oral traditions in the form of songs, artifacts, architecture, and
memory.
HISTORY TO OTHER DISCIPLINES
Archeologist – Historians can use artifacts from a bygone era to study civilizations who were formerly
ignored in history because of lack of documents.
Linguist – Helpful in tracing historical evolutions, past connections among different groups and flow of
cultural influence by studying language.
Biologist/Biochemist – Help with the study of the past through analyzing genetic and DNA patterns
of human societies.
QUESTIONS AND ISSUES IN HISTORY
What is history?
Can be answered by HISTORIOGRAPHY – history of history
Why study history?
History from whom?
HISTORY – what happened in the past
HISTORIOGRAPHY – How was the historical text written?
- Who wrote it?
- What was the context of its publication?
HISTORIAN’S - What historical method was employed?
CONTEXTS - What were the sources used?
- What theory or perspective guided the historian?
ROLES OF HISTORY
States used history to unite a nation.
Can be used as a tool to legitimize regimes and forge a sense of collective identity through collective
memory.
Lessons of the past mistakes help people not to repeat it.
Being reminded of a great past can inspire people to keep their good practices to move forward.
ISSUES IN HISTORY
ACCUSATION – “history is written by victors”
Always written from the bias of the powerful and more dominant player.
HISTORY AND THE HISTORIANS
Historians can get only access to the past by historical sources and evidences.
“Facts cannot speak for themselves” – job of the historians to give meaning to these facts and
organize them into a timeline, establishes causes and write history.
HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY – comprise of certain techniques and rules of historians follow.
HISTORICAL SOURCES
A. PRIMARY SOUCES - sources produced as the same time as the event, period or subject being studied.
Example: A historian wishes to study commonwealth constitution convention of 1935. (He can use the
following as sources – minutes of the convention, newspaper clippings, PH commission reports of the US
commissioners, record of the convention, draft, photographs, eyewitness account.
Common examples of primary sources – archival document, artifacts, memorabilia, letters, census,
government records.
B. SECONDARY SOURCES – Sources which were produced by an author who use primary sources to
produce the material, historical sources which studied a certain historical subject.
Example: textbook (can also be tertiary source)
EXTERNAL CRITICISM – Practice of verifying the authenticity of the evidence by examining its physical
characteristics, consistency with historical characteristics of the time it was produced and the materials
used for the evidence.
Example: type of ink, language and words used in the material.
INTERNAL CRITICISM – Examination of the truthfulness and factuality of the evidence. It looks at the
content of the source and examines the circumstances of its production.
Example: Japanese reports and declarations during the period of the wars should not be taken as a
historical facts hastily, it needs internal criticism.
REPOSITORIES OF PRIMARY SOURCES
National Archives of the Philippines
National Library of the Philippines
National Historical Commission of the Philippines
National Museum of the Philippines
UP, DLSU, UST, ADMU Rizal Main Library, Library of Congress
National Archives and Records Administration
Archivo General De La Nacion
Archivo General De Indias
American Historical Commission
Lopez, Ayala Museum
