Chapter 1

Introduction to History
Definition, Issues, Sources, and Methodology Learning
Objectives:
 To understand the meaning of history as an academic discipline
and to be familiar with the underlying philosophy and
methodology of the discipline.
 To apply the knowledge in historical methodology and philosophy
in assessing and analyzing existing historical narratives.
 To examine and assess critically the value of historical evidences
and sources.
 To appreciate the importance of history in the social and national
life of the Philippines.
This chapter introduces history as a discipline and as a narrative. It
presents the definition of the history, which transcends the common
definition of history as the study of the past. This chapter also discusses
several issues in history that consequently opens up for the theoretical
aspects of the discipline. The distinction between primary and secondary
sources is also discussed in relation to the historical subject matter being
studied and the historical methodology employed by the historian.
Ultimately, this chapter also tackles the task of the historian as the
arbiter of facts and evidences in making his interpretation and forming
historical narrative.

Definition and Subject Matter

History has always been known as the study of the past. Students
of general education often dread the subject for its notoriety in requiring
them to memorize dates, places, names, and events from distant eras.
This low appreciation of the discipline may be rooted from the shallow
understanding of history's relevance to their lives and to their respective
contexts. While the popular definition of history as the study of the past
is not wrong, it does not give justice to the complexity of the subject and
wqwqwww importance to human civilization.
History was derived from the Greek word historia which means
"knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation." History as a
discipline existed for around 2,400 years and is as old as mathematics
and philosophy. This term was then adapted to classical Latin where it
acquired a new definition. Historia became known as the account of the
past of a person or of a group of people through written documents and
historical evidences. That meaning stuck until the early parts of the
twentieth century. History became an important academic discipline. It
became the historian's duty to write about the lives of important
individuals like monarchs, heroes, saints, and nobilities. History was
also focused on writing about wars, revolutions, and other important
breakthroughs. It is thus important to ask: What counts as history?
Traditional historians lived with the mantra of "no document, no
history." It means that unless a written document can prove a certain
historical event, then it cannot be considered as a historical fact.
1. But as any other academic disciplines, history progressed and
opened up to the possibility of valid historical sources, which
were not limited to written documents, like government
records, chroniclers' accounts, or personal letters. Giving
premium to written documents essentially invalidates the
history of other civilizations that do not keep written records.
Some were keener on passing their history by word of mouth.
Others got their historical documents burned or destroyed in
the events of war or colonization. Restricting historical
evidence as exclusively written is also discrimination against
other social classes who were not recorded in paper.
Nobilities, monarchs, the elite, and even the middle class
would have their birth, education, marriage, and death as
matters of government and historical record. But what of
peasant families or indigenous groups who were not given
much thought about being registered to government records?
Does the absence of written documents about them mean that
they were people of no bybhgggggvx mg bb. M. nynnnnc
history or past? Did they even exist?
This loophole was recognized by historians who started using other
kinds of historical sources, which may not be in written form but were
just as valid. A few of these examples are oral traditions in forms of
epics and songs, artifacts, architecture, and memory. History thus
became more inclusive and started collaborating with other disciplines
as its auxiliary disciplines. With the aid of archaeologists, historians can
use artifacts from a bygone era to study ancient civilizations that were
formerly ignored in history because of lack of documents. Linguists can
also be helpful in tracing historical evolutions, past connections among
different groups, and flow of cultural influence by studying language
and the changes that it has undergone. Even scientists like biologists and
biochemists can help with the study of the past through analyzing
genetic and DNA patterns of human societies.

Questions and Issues in History

Indeed, history as a discipline has already turned into a complex
and dynamic inquiry. This dynamism inevitably produced various
perspectives on the discipline regarding different questions like: What is
history? Why study history? And history for whom? These questions can
be answered by historiography. In simple terms, historiography is the
history -of history. History and historiography should not be confused
with each other. The former's object of study is the past, the events that
happened in the past, and the causes of such events. The latter's object of
study, on the other hand, is history itself (i.e., How was a certain
historical text written? Who wrote it? What was the context of its
publication? What particular historical method 'was employed? What
were the sources used?). Thus, historiography lets the students have a
better understanding of history. They do not only get to learn historical
facts, but they are also provided with the understanding of the facts' and
the historian's contexts. The methods employed by the historian and the
theory. And perspective, which guided him, will also be analyzed.
Historiography is important for someone who studies history because it
teaches the student to be critical in the lessons of history presented to
him.
History has played various roles in the past. States use history to
unite a nation. It can be used as a tool to legitimize regimes and forge a
sense of Collective identity through collective memory. Lessons from
the past can be used to make sense of the present. Learning of past
mistakes can help people to not repeat them. Being reminded of a great
past can inspire people to keep their good practices to move forward.

POSITIVISM is the school of thought that emerged between the

eighteenth and nineteenth century. This thought requires empirical
and observable evidence before one can claim that a particular
knowledge is true. Positivism also entails an objective means of
arriving at a conclusion. In the discipline of history, the mantra "no
document, no history' stems from this very same truth, where
historians were required to show written primary documents in
order to write a particular historical narrative. Positivist historians
are also expected to be objective and impartial not just in their
arguments but also on their conduct of historical research.
 As a narrative, any history that has been taught and written is
always intended for a certain group of audience. When the ilustrados,
like Jose Rizal, Isabelo de los Reyes, and Pedro Paterno wrote history,
they intended it for the Spaniards so that they would realize that
Filipinos are people of their own intellect and culture. When American
historians depicted the Filipino people as uncivilized in their
publications, they intended that narrative for their fellow Americans to
justify their colonization of the islands. They wanted the colonization to
appear not as a means of undermining the Philippines' sovereignty, but
as a civilizing mission to fulfill what they called as the "white man's
burden." The same is true for nations which prescribe official versions of
their history like North Korea, the Nazi Germany during the war period,
and Thailand. The same was attempted by Marcos in the Philippines
during the 1970s.
One of the problems confronted by history is the accusation that
the history is always written by victors. This connotes that the narrative
of the past is always written from the bias of the powerful and the more
dominant player. For instance, the history of the Second World War in
the Philippines always depicts the United States as the hero and the
Imperial Japanese Army as the oppressors. Filipinos who collaborated
with the Japanese were lumped in the category of traitors or
collaborators. However, a more thorough historical investigation will
reveal a more nuanced account of the history of that period instead of a
simplified narrative as a story of hero versus villain.

POSTCOLONIALISM is a school of thought, that emerged in the

earwoiomzed nations grappled with the idea of creating their
identifies and understanding their societies against the shadows of
their colornial past. Postcolonial history looks at two things in
writing history: first is to tell the history of their nation that will
highlight their identity free from that of colonial discourse and
knowledge, and second is to criticize the methods, effects, and idea
of colonialism. Postcolonial history is therefore a reaction and an
alternative to the colonial history that colonial powers created and
taught to their subjects.
 History and the Historian
If history is written with agenda or is heavily influenced by the
historian, is it possible to come up with an absolute historical truth? Is
history an objective discipline? If it is not, is it still worthwhile to study
history? These questions have haunted historians for many generations.
Indeed, an exact and accurate account of the past is impossible for the
very simple reason that we cannot go back to •the past. We cannot
access the past directly as our subject matter. Historians only get to
access representation of the past through historical sources and
evidences.
'Therefore, it is the historian's job not just to seek historical
evidences and facts but also to interpret these facts. "Facts cannot speak
for themselves." It is the job of the historian to give, meaning to these
facts and organize them into a timeline, establish causes, and write
history. Meanwhile, the historian is not a blank paper Mho mechanically
interprets and analyzes present historical fact. He is a person of his own
who is influenced by his own context; environment, ideology, education,
and influences, among others. In that sense, his interpretation of the
historical fact is affected by his context and circumstances. His
objectivity will inevitably influence the process of his historical
research: the-methodology that he will use, the facts that he shall select
and deem relevant, his interpretation, and even the form of his writings.
Thus, in one way or another, history is always subjective. If that is so,
can history still be considered as an academic and scientific inquiry?
Historical research requires rigor. Despite the fact that historians
cannot ascertain absolute objectivity, the study of history remains
scientific because of the rigor_of research and methodology that hi-
toriansamploy. Historical methodology comprises certain techniques and
rules that historians follow in order to properly utilize sources and
historical evidences in writing history. Certain rules apply in cases of
conflicting accounts in different sources, and on how to properly treat
eyewitness accounts and oral sources as valid historical evidence. In
doing so, historical claims done by historians and the arguments that
they forward in their historical writings, while may be influenced by the
historian's inclinations, can still be validated by using reliable evidences
and employing correct and meticulous historical methodology.
 The Annales School of History is a school of history born in France
that challenged the canons of history. This school of thought did
away with the common historical subjects that were almost always
related to the conduct of states and monarchs. Annales scholars like
Lucien Febvre, Marc Bloch, Fernand Braudel, and Jacques Le Goff
studied other subjects in a historical manner. They were concerned
with social history and studied longer historical periods. For
example, Annales scholars studied the history of peasantry, the
history of medicine, or even the history of environment. The history
from below was pioneered by the same scholars. They advocated
that the people and classes who were not reflected in the history of
the society in the grand manner be provided with space in the
records of mankind. In doing this, Annales thinkers married history
with other disciplines like geography, anthropology, archaeology,
and linguistics.

For example, if a historian chooses to use an oral account as his

data in studying the ethnic history of the Ifugaos in the Cordilleras
during the American Occupation, he needs to validate the claims of his
informant through comparing and corroborating it with written sources.
Therefore, while bias is inevitable, the historian can balance this out by
relying to evidences that back up his claim. In this sense, the historian
need not let his bias blind his judgment and such bias is only acceptable
if he maintains his rigor as a researcher.

Historical Sources
With the past as history's subject matter, the historian's most
important research tools are historical sources. In general, historical
sources can be classified between primary and secondary sources. The
classification of sources between these two categories depends on the
historical subject being studied. Primary sources are those sources
produced at the same time as the event, period, or subject being studied.
For example, if a historian wishes to study the Commonwealth
Constitution Convention of 1935, his primary sources can include the
minutes of the convention, newspaper clippings, Philippine Commission
reports of the U.S. Commissioners, records of the convention, the draft
of the Constitution, and even photographs of the event. Eyewitness
accounts of convention delegates and their memoirs can also be used as
primary sources. The same goes with other subjects of historical study.
Archival documents, artifacts, memorabilia, letters, census, and
government records, among others are the most common examples of
primary sources.
On the other hand, secondary sources are those sources, which
were produced by an author who used primary sources to produce the
material. In other words, secondary sources are historical sources, which
studied a certain historical subject. For example, on the subject of the
Philippine Revolution of 1896, students can read Teodoro Agoncillo's
Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan
published originally in 1956. The Philippine Revolution happened in the
last years of the nineteenth century while Agoncillo published his work
in 1956, which makes the Revolt of the Masses a secondary source.
More than this, in writing the book, Agoncillo used primary sources with
his research like documents of the Katipunan, interview with the
veterans of the Revolution, and correspondence between and among
Katipuneros.
However, a student should not be confused about what counts as a
primary or a secondary source. As mentioned above, the classification of
sources between primary and secondary depends not on the period when
the source was produced or the type of the source but on the subject of
the historical research. For example, a textbook is usually classified as a
secondary source, a tertiary source even. However, this classification is
usual but not automatic. If a historian chooses to write the history of
education in the 1980s, he can utilize textbooks used in that period as a
primary source. If a historian wishes to study the historiography of the
Filipino-American War for example, he can use works of different
authors on the topic as his primary source as well.
Both primary and secondary sources are useful in writing and
learning history. However, historians and students of history need to
thoroughly scrutinize these historical sources to avoid deception and to
come up with the historical truth. The historian should be able to
conduct an external and internal criticism of the source, especially
primary sources which can age in centuries. External criticism is the
practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence by examining its
physical characteristics; consistency with the historical characteristic of
the time when it was produced; and the materials used for the evidence.
Examples of the things that will be examined when conducting external
criticism of a document include the quality of the paper, the type of the
ink, and the language and words used in the material, among others.

Internal criticism, on the other hand, is the examination of

the truthfulness of the evidence. It looks at the content of the source and
examines the circumstance of its production. Internal criticism looks at
the truthfulness and factuality of the evidence by looking at the author of
the source, its context, the agenda behind its creation, the knowledge
which informed it, and its intended purpose, among others. For example,
Japanese reports and declarations during the period of the war should not
be taken as a historical fact hastily. Internal criticism entails that the
historian acknowledge and analyze how such reports can be manipulated
to be used as war propaganda. Validating historical sources is important
because the use of unverified, falsified, and untruthful historical sources
can lead to equally false conclusions. Without thorough criticisms of
historical evidences, historical deceptions and lies will be highly
probable.
One of the most scandalous cases of deception in Philippine
history is the hoax Code of Kalantiaw. The code was a set of rules
contained in an epic, Maragtas, which was allegedly written by a certain
Datu Kalantiaw. The document was sold to the National Library and was
regarded as an important precolonial document until 1968, when
American historian William Henry Scott debunked the authenticity of
the code due to anachronism and lack of evidence to prove that the code
existed in the precolonial Philippine society. Ferdinand Marcos also
claimed that he was a decorated World War Il soldier who led a guerilla
unit called Ang Maharlika. This was widely believed by students of
history and Marcos had war medals to show. This claim, however, was
disproven when historians counterchecked Marcos's claims with the war
records of the United States. These cases prove how deceptions can
propagate without rigorous historical research.
The task of the historian is to look at the available historical
sources and select the most relevant and meaningful for history and for
the subject matter that he is studying. History, like other academic
discipline, has come a long way but still has a lot of remaining tasks to
do. It does not claim to render absolute and exact judgment because as
long as questions are continuously asked, and as long as time unfolds,
the study of history can never be complete. The task of the historian is to
organize the past that is being created so that it can offer lessons for
nations, societies, and civilization. It is the historian's job to seek for the
meaning of recovering the past to let

Philippine historiography underwent several changes since the precolonial

period until the present. Ancient Filipinos narrated their history through
communal songs and epics that they passed orally from a generation to
another. When the Spaniards came, their chroniclers started recording their
observations through written accounts. The perspective of historical writing
and inquiry also shifted. The Spanish colonizers narrated the history of their
colony in a bipartite view. They saw the age before colonization as a dark
period in the history of the islands, until they brought light through Western
thought and Christianity. Early nationalists refuted this perspective and
argued the tripartite view. They saw the precolonial society as a luminous age
that ended with darkness when the colonizers captured their freedom. They
believed that the light would come again once the colonizers were evicted
from the Philippines. Filipino historian Zeus Salazar introduced the new
guiding philosophy for writing and teaching history: pantayongpananaw (for
us—from us perspective). This perspective highlights the importance of
facilitating an internal conversation and discourse among Filipinos about our
own history, using the language that is understood by everyone.

the people see the continuing relevance of provenance, memory,

remembering, and historical understanding for both the present and the
future.
 CHAPTER EXERCISE
A. DIRECTION: True or False. Write true if the statement is true.
Otherwise, write false in the space provided.
_____ 1. History is the study of the past.
_____2. Historical sources that were not written should not be used in
writing history.
_____3. The subject of historiography is history itself
_____4. History has no use for the present, thus, the saying "past is past"
is true.
_____5. History is limited to the story of a hero versus a villain.
_____6. Only primary sources may be used in writing history.
_____7. There are three types of sources: primary, secondary, and
tertiary sources.
_____ 8. External criticism is done by examining the physical
characteristics of a source.
_____9. Internal criticism is done by looking at a source's quality of
paper and type of ink, among others.
_____10. The historians are the only source of history.

B. DIRECTION: What Source? Read the following scenarios and

classify the sources discovered as primary, secondary, or tertiary
sources. Write your answer in the space provided.
1. Jose was exploring the library in his new school in Manila. He wanted
to study the history of Calamba, Laguna during the nineteenth century.
In one of the books, he saw an old photograph of a woman standing in
front of an old church, clipped among the pages. At the back of the
photo was a fine inscription that says: "Kalamba, 19 de Junio 1861. "

Is the photograph a primary, secondary, or a tertiary source?

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2. It was Lean's first day in his first year of college in a big university.
His excitement made him come to class unusually early and he found
their classroom empty. He explored the classroom and sat at the
teacher's table. He looked at the table drawer and saw a book entitled
U.G. An Underground Tale: The Journey of Edgar Jopson and the First
Quarter Storm Generation. He started reading the book and realized that
it was a biography of a student leader turned political activist during the
time of Ferdinand Marcos. The author used interviews with friends and
family of Jopson, and other primary documents related to his works and
life.

Is the book a primary, secondary, or a tertiary source?

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3. Lorena was a new teacher of AralingPanlipunan in a small

elementary school in Mauban, Quezon. Her colleagues gave her the new
textbook that she ought to use in class. Before the class started, Lorena
studied the textbook carefully. She noted that the authors used works by
other known historians in writing the textbook. She saw that the
bibliography included Teodoro Agoncillo's The Revolt of the Masses
and The Fateful Years: Japan's Adventure in the Philippines, 1941—45.
She also saw that the authors used Ma. Luisa Camagay's Working
Women of Manila During the 19th Century and many others.

Is the textbook a primary, secondary, or a tertiary source?

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4. Manuel visited the United States for a few months to see his relatives
who have lived there for decades. His uncle brought him on tours around
Illinois. Manuel visited the Field Museum of Natural History where a
golden image of a woman caught his eye. Manuel looked closer and read
that the image was called "The Golden Tara." It originated from Agusan
del Sur and was bought by the museum in 1922. It was believed to be
made prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines.

Is the sculture a primary, secondary, or tertiary source?

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5. Gregoria loved to travel around the country. She liked bringing with
her a travel brochure that informs her of the different sites worth visiting
in the area. Her travel brochure was usually produced by the tourism
department of the province. It shows pictures of destinations visited by
tourists and a few basic information about the place like the origin of the
name, the historical significance of the place, and some other
information acquired by the office's researchers and writers.

Is the travel brochure a primary, secondary, or a tertiary source?

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 C. My Primary Source. DIRECTION: Using the examples of a
primary source in this chapter, show a primary source that can be used in
the writing of your life history. Take a picture of it and write how it
qualifies as a primary source. (short bond paper)