Readings in

Philippine History
 Meaning of History
 Sources of History
 Historical Criticism
 Colonial Historiography
 Philippine Historiography After World War II
 Characteristics of Contemporary Philippine
Historiography
 “In order to know the destiny of
the people, it is necessary to open
the book of its past.”
- Jose Rizal (The Philippines A Century Hence)
 study of past events presented in chronological
order and with explanation

 sanaysay na may saysay

 kwento na may kwenta
 “If you talk to a man in a language he
understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to
him in his language that goes to his heart?”
-Nelson Mandela
 (Artist/Teacher/Encoder-Audience/Student/Decoder)
 Historians - Individuals who write about history

 Historiography - the practice of historical writing

 Lesson
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a. Documents
b. Archaeological Records
Fossils

artifacts
c. Oral and Video Accounts
 Primary Sources ( materials produced by people
or groups directly involved in the event;
participants/eyewitnesses to the event)
 Secondary Sources (testimony of anyone who is
not an eyewitness; books, articles, and scholarly
journals)
 Historians 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 a historical 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.
 In order for a source to be used as evidence
in history, basic matters about its form and
content must be settled
 1. External Criticism
 2. Internal Criticism
 The problem of authenticity
 To spot fabricated, forged, faked
documents
 To distinguish a hoax or misrepresentation
 1.Determine the date of the document to see
whether they are anachronistic
e.g. pencils did not exist before the 16th
Century
 2.Determine the author
e.g. handwriting, signature, seal
3. Anachronistic style
e.g. idiom, ortography, punctuation
4. Anachronistic reference to events
e.g. too early, too late, too remote
5.Provenance or custody
e.g. determines its genuineness
6. Semantics – determining the meaning of a text or word
7.Hermeneutics –determining ambiguities
The Problem of Credibility
Relevant particulars in the document – is it
credible?
Verisimilar – as close as what really happened
from a critical examination of best available
sources
1.Identification of the author
e.g. to determine his reliability; mental processes, personal attitudes
2.Determination of the approximate date
e.g. handwriting, signature, seal
3. Ability to tell the truth
e.g. nearness to the event, competence of witness, degree of attention
4. Willingness to tell the truth
e.g. to determine if the author consciously or unconsciously tells falsehoods
5. Corroboration
i.e. historical facts – particulars which rest upon the independent testimony of
two or more reliable witnesses
 Historians

External Criticism Primary

Sources
(D,AR,OV)
Internal Criticism

Secondary
Historiography Sources
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 period of darkness or backwardness
 period of advancement or enlightenment

 Spaniards - “barbaric” lifeways

 Americans - “civilized 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”
spanhistoriography.pdf
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PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

 Teodoro Agoncillo
 pioneered nationalist historiography
in the country by highlighting the role
of the Filipino reformists and
revolutionaries from 1872
 “lost history”
PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

 Renato Constantino

 “people’s history”
PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

 Zeus Salazar

 “Pantayong Pananaw”
PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

 Reynaldo Ileto

 “history from below”

PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

 Samuel Tan

 mainstreamed the role and relevance of

Filipino Muslims in the country’s national
history
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 Characteristics of Contemporary Philippine
Historiography

 Colonial Histories
 Emphasis on Lowland Christianized Filipinos
 Political Narratives
 Patriarchal Orientation
 Elite-centric Perspectives

Philippine Contemporary History.ppt

 Link it!

Search the internet for online archives and libraries on Philippine

history and culture. Explore ways of getting historical information
from varied digital sources. Present your findings in a powerpoint
presentation with profiles of web sites detailing their collection of
sources and providing important information on how to access
their files.
 Bring it on!

1. What are the benefits of using primary sources?

2. Why do you think most history textbooks are secondary
sources?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of accessing
online primary sources?
4. What are the challenges of understanding our country’s past
mindful of the problems that characterize the writing of our
national history?
 Level up!

1. You work as part of a research team at the National Historical

Commission of the Philippines. The team is composed of four to five
researchers who will take part in an annual conference of Filipino
historians aimed to analyze the country’s national symbols utilizing
primary sources. Your group should be able to explain the meaning of the
different symbols and colors of the Philippine flag by showing excerpts of
the English translation of the country’s declarations of independence
originally written in Spanish. Then you are to compare and contrast the
past and present meanings that we attach to the symbols and colors of
the Philippine flag. Your presentation will be graded based on accuracy of
information and flow of presentation.
 Level up!

2. You work at a broadcasting company. Your station manager has

selected you to annotate for a video highlighting the recollection of
veterans during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos.
You have to conduct an interview or a series of interviews with an
individual or group of individuals who were witnesses to the
changes in Philippine society between 1965 and 1986. Write your
script for a three-minute video presentation. Your presentation will
be graded based on its content, creativity, and impact.
 Level up!

3. You have been assigned to write a brief history about your family,
organization, school, or village. The objective of the project is to
examine the available primary documents such as letters, minutes
of the meeting, pictures, and other memorabilia that you can use
in making a historical account. It is important to identify and
explain the turning points or highlights of your historical narrative.
Your paper will be graded based on extensiveness of the primary
documents to be utilized and organization of the historical
account.