READING IN PHILIPPINES HISTORY

“ In order to know the destiny of the people, it is necessary to open the book of its past.”
-Jose Rizal

MEANING OF HISTORY
 Study of past events presented in chronological order and with explanation. “HIS
STORY”
 Sanaysay na may saysay
 Kwento na may kwenta
HISTORIAN – individuals who write about history
HISTORIAGRAPHY – the practice of historical writing
SOURCES OF HISTORY
a) DOCUMENTS
b) ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDS
 FOSSILS
 ARTIFACTS
C) ORAL AND VIDEO ACCOUNTS
GENERAL KINDS OF HISTORICAL SOURCES
 PRIMARY SOURCES
 SECONDARY SOURCES
HOW HISTORY IS MADE?
 Historian attempt to understand the past
 Historians attempt to understand the past based on evidence
 Historical evidence that comes directly from society is called PRIMARY SOURCE
 Historians interpret the primary source to decide what they actually tell us about the
past
 Interpretation. The process of deciding on the meaning of ahistorical source
 Based on these interpretations, historians attempt to create a narrative ( a story) about
what happened in the past
 Historical narratives and interpretations are known as SECONDARY SOURCES.
COLONIAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

 Period of darkness or backwardess

 Period of advancement or enlightenment
 SPANIARDS – “barbaric “lifeways
 AMERICANS- “civic lifestyle”
 JOSE RIZAL- annotated Antonio de Morga’s
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
 Filipinos perception about their colonial past;
Maltreated by the “wicked spain” and rescued by the “benevolent America”

PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

TEODORO AGONCILLO
 Pioneered nationalist historiography in the country by highlighting the role of the
Filipino reformist and revolutionaries from 1872
 “lost history”
RENATO CONSTANTINO
 “people’s history”
ZEUS SALAZAR
 “Pantayong Pananaw”
RENATO IIETO
  “History from below”
SAMUEL TAN
 Mainstreamed the role and relevance of Filipino Muslims in the country’s national
history
CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY
 Colonial Histories
 Emphasis of Lowland Christianized Filipinos
 Political Narratives
 Patriarchal Orientation
 Elite-centric Perspective
PRIMARY SOURCES
THESE ARE CONSIDERED AS A CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS OF AN EVENT, PERSONALLY
WRITTEN OR NARRATED BY AN INDIVIDUALPERSON WHO DIRECTLY EXPERIENCED OR
PARTICIPATED IN THE SAID EVENT.
EX: PHOTOGRAPHS, VOICE, VIDEO RECORDINGS THAT CAPTURED THE CERTAIN EVENT:
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION, SPEECHES, INTERVIEWS, DIARY, AND LETTERS
SECONDARY SOURCES
SERVE AS INTERPRETATIONS OR READINGS OF PRIMARY SOURCES, USUALLY, THE
AUTHOR OF A PIECE INCORPORATES HIS OR HER PERSONAL INSIGHTS AND
INTERPRETATIONS, THUS DETACHING THE ORIGINAL VALUE OF THE COMPONENT OF
THE SUBJECT BEING IN DISCUSSED.
EX: ARTICLES, BOOK REVIEWS, CONFERENCE PAPERS, DOCUMENTARIES,
EXTERNAL CRITICISM
SOMETIMES CALLED AS “LOWER CRITICISMS”. IT FOCUSES ON THE GENUINENESS OF
THE DOCUMENT BY CHECKING THE FORM AND APPEARANCE AND MORE PARTICULARLY
THE QUESTON OF AUTHORSHIP AND TEXTUAL CIRCUMTANCES, SUCH AS TIME, PLACE,
AND PURPOSE. IT VERIFIES DOCUMENTS BY ITS AUNTHENTICITY IN PHYSUCAL
CHARACTERISTICS AND CONSISTENCY WHEN IT WAS PRODUCED AND THE MATERIALS
USED FOR EVIDENCE.
INTERNAL CRITICISM
SOMETIMES CALLED “HIGHER CRITICISMS”. IT FOCUSES ON THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF
THE CONTENTS OF THE DOCUMENT. ITB LOOKS AT THE TRUTHFULNESS AND
FACTUALITY OF THE EVIDENCE BY LOOKING AT THE AUTHOR OF THE SOURCE, ITS
CONTEXT, THE AGENDA BEHIND THE CREATION, THE KNOWLEDGE WHICH INFORMED
IT, AND ITS INTENDED PURPOSE.
HOW TO EVALUATE THE AUTHENTICITY OF PRIMARY SOURCES?
Gilbert Garraghan (1950)
1. DATE
When it was produced?
2. LOCALIZATION
Where did it originate?
3. AUTHORSHIP
Who wrote it?
4. ANALYSIS
What pre existing material served basis for its production?
5. INTEGRITY
What was its original form?
6. CREDIBILITY
What is the evidential value of its content?
WHEN TO USE SECONDARY SOURCES?
Louis Gottschalk (1969)
  Deriving the setting wherein contemporary evidence will fit in the grand narrative
history
 Getting leads to other bibliography data
 Acquiring quotations or citations from contemporary or other sources
 Deriving interpretations with a view of testing and improving them but not accepting
them as outright truth.
THREE PRECONDITIONS: SOURCE AS AN EVIDENCE IN HISTORICAL ARGUMENT
Martha Howell & Walter Prevenier (2001)
 It must be comprehensible at the most basic level of vocabulary, language, and
handwriting
 The source must be carefully located in accordance with place and time
 The authenticity of the source must always be checked and counter checked before
being accepted as a credible source in any historical findings
SEVEN FACTORS OF INTERNAL CRITERIA
1. GENEALOGY – Refers to the development of the document, the document may be
original, a copy, or a copy of the copy.
2. GENESIS – it includes the situations and the authorities during the document’s
production.
3. ORIGINALITY – includes the nature of the document whether it is an eye/ear witness
account or merely passing of existing information.
4. INTERPRETATION – pertains to deducing meaning of the document
5. AUTHORIAL AUNTHORITY – refers to the relationship between to the document’s
subject matter and its author
6. COMPETENCE – refers to the author’s capabilities and qualifications to critically
comprehend and report information.
7. TRUSTWORTHINESS – refers to the author’s integrity whether he or she fabricates
or reports truthfully.
CONCLUSION
In general, the reliability of primary sources is assessed on how these sources are
directly related and closely connected to the time of the events they pertain to. On
the other hand , the reliability of secondary sources depends on the elapsed time
from the date of the event to the date of their creation. More likely, the farther the
date of creation from the actual event, the more reliable the source is. This is
because as time passes, more materials are likely to be made available. With this,
those who engage in historical research have the opportunity to exhaust all available
materials in order to come up with extensive outputs.