▪

HISTORY defined...
is both facts and interpretation
refers to the historian’s reconstruction of the past
is about our knowledge of past events especially those
beyond living memory based on:

a). written records

b). oral traditions that must
c). Physical evidences /artifacts be interpreted

( Teodoro Agoncillo)

History is an accurate record and interpretation of the past

using a lot of historical imagination

Louis Reichenthal Gottschalk

Fortiori- the experience of a generation long dead

“history was not simply a chronicle of events, but could and

should encompass the methodology and insights of other
disciplines.”

Martha Howell & Walter Prevenier

Asserted that each generation of historians develops its

own perspective and that our understanding of the past is
constantly reshaped by the historian and the world he or she
inhabits.
 Provided an overview of the techniques historians must
master in order to reconstruct the past

Focused on the basics of source criticism- guide in extract

meaning from written and unwritten sources

Focus:

Anonymous masses of individuals

project “peoples’ history ”

basics of source criticism

Without facts, the historian is restless and futile, and

without the historian, facts are dead and meaningless

RELEVANCE AND IMPORTANCE OF HISTORY

WHY DO WE NEED TO STUDY HISTORY?

It is our scientific guide to understanding the present

and the future.
It raises our historical consciousness so as to develop
a commitment for the deprived and oppressed
enables us to exercise the faculty of criticism through
intelligent reading
 To learn what man did in the past to gain insights into the
nature of our present difficulties by projecting people’s history
to learn lessons from the past by giving us the proper
perspectives so that we may act correctly in the future
To liberate us from outmoded western concepts and values
History has the power to change and mold
It contributes to our national memory and national identity
❖ History can be influential and shaping human affairs.
❖ History is a guide on making judgments.
❖ History provides informed perspective about the world.
❖ History provides a better understanding about the present
situation.

Basic Rule :
Use history to understand ourselves better

Do away with images of our past that made us bitter,

resentful and desperate but rather help us and see ourselves
in the following light: as leading actors & actresses, as
creators and originators of our own ethnic identity and be at
the center of events and not merely pawns of powerful
roups”
- D.Apilado
Remember:

All interpretations are valid, unique, distinct, and good

for particular historical situation
Interpretations serves as tools for discernment
Conclusions in history are not final. Everything is rewritten
by every generation using the same document but
interpretation varies according to time.

HOW SHOULD WE WRITE, TEACH OR STUDY

HISTORY?

FIRST SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

History must be written, taught or studied for its own sake. This
is premised on the principle that History is an intellectual pursuit
of truth.

SECOND SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Study the past in the light of the present.

- use the past as the key to understand the present and
look into the future
RENATO CONSTANTINO

As a historian, one has to make a stand. There is a need for

a nationalist framework of analysis to redress the imbalances
in colonial historiography

to judge historical events on the basis on whether they

benefited the majority or merely the selfish ends of the
colonizers and politicians.

Absolute objectivity is impossible because of the

subjectivity of the colonial historians who wanted to
mask their real motives.

❑ show the Filipinos not merely as a victims of colonial

oppression but as a member of society and culture capable of
acting and asserting one’s identity under adverse conditions.

TEODORO AGONCILLO

In historical imagination, data are the bones of history. The

flesh and blood is supplied by the historian’s imagination
(imaginative understanding).

As for the methodology, write with lucidity, creatively and with

literary freshness, with logical reasoning.
Review facts with feelings and passion and use data carefully,
judiciously.
 Be descriptive but analytical. Bring discussion to the
realm of value judgment.
Be original, contribute something new.

Louis Reichenthal Gottschalk

Establish the relation of historical research methods to life and

learning

Martha Howell and Walter Prevenier

explore the methods employed by historians to establish the

reliability of materials:
• how they choose
• authenticate
• decode
• compare and, finally, interpret those source

Traditional method
- - of historical research gather and examines
documents from libraries/archives to form a pool of evidences for
analytical narrative
PRIMARY SOURCES

- documents, physical objects, oral /video accounts

made by individuals or a group present at the time and
place being described
- KEY function: to give facts

Initially, historical documents are:

➢Handwritten ✓ books ✓Advertisements
➢Printed ✓Newspapers ✓Photographs
➢Drawn ✓Journals ✓Government
➢Designed ✓Maps reports ✓Legal
➢Composed materials ✓Paintings documents
✓Architectural ✓Memoirs
perspectives ✓Conference/
seminar
proceedings
 Second type of historical primary documents
(unwritten) include:

✓Archeological records like: fossils (human and

animal remains) and artifacts/ relics

Third type of historical documents (unwritten) include:

✓Oral and video accounts

Complementarity of Sources

Oral sources can complement written sources and can give us

clues on the socio-political, economic and cultural contexts at
play in a specific period being studied.

Oral sources can be trusted so long as they can be verified

through external evidence of another kind ( language, material,
non-material culture)
 ▪

Interviewing as a method in oral history must be handled

skillfully. Interviews must be analyzed with extreme care against
threats of biases

CHALLENGES AND DAUNTING TASKS

One basic challenge relative to primary sources:

❑ ability to read and understand texts in foreign

languages

Filipino historians’ preference for the English

translation of Spanish texts

Emma Blair and James Robertson’s 55-volume The

Philippine Island, 1493-1898
Antonio Pigafetta’s Primo Viaggio intorno al
mundo(1524)

Filipino historians prefer English translation of

Spanish texts

Miguel Loarca’s Relacion delas Yslas

Filipinas( 1582)
Juan de Plasencia’s Relacon delas Islas Philipinas
(1592)

❑ ability to discern the cultural context and the historical value

of primary sources ( reflected western
frames and colonial biases)
“ savages, pagans, wild, and uncivilized “
❑ ability to uncover“myths” and “misconceptions” about
Filipino cultural identity propagated by Spanish and American
colonizers

SECONDARY SOURCES

- are the materials made by people long after the events being
described had taken place
-KEY function: to provide valuable interpretations of historical
events
Works of Teodoro Agoncillo and Renato Constantino
are good examples of authoritative secondary sources

HISTORICAL CRITICISM

-Requires a meticulous reading of the document to know its

origin
-Two levels: External and Internal criticism

EXTERNAL CRITICISM (Contextual Analysis)

-answers concerns and questions pertinent to the

authenticity of historical source
-Identify who composed the material -Locating
when and where it was produced
-Establish the material’s evidential value
 INTERNAL CRITICISM (Content Analysis)

-Deals with credibility and reliability of the content of

the material
-Understand the substance and message
-Examine the author’s frame the intent and meaning
of the narrative

Locating Primary Sources

National Library and National Archive

- Major repositories of documentary sources

NATIONAL LIBRARY

-houses complete microfilm copies of the Philippine

Revolutionary records, rare Filipiniana Serials, Historical Data
Papers

Private museums and archives

- Ayala Museum in Ayala, Lopez Museum in Pasig city

- Religious archival holdings- Augustinians,Dominicans,Jesuits
and Recollects
 ▪

Outside Philippines:
-Archivo General de Indias
-in Sevilla, Spain-holds major
-bulk of Spanish document
US Library of Congress, Houghton’s Library (Harvard
U),Bently Historical Library (U. of Michigan)

Open Access Online Archives on Filipino History and

Culture:

❑Digital Filipiniana collection of (U. of Michigan)

❑Chicago Field Museum at University of Illinois –houses
Dean Worcester’s photograph collections

WHAT PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN ENCOUNTERED IN WRITING,

TEACHING, AND THE STUDY OF HISTORY?

WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF DISTORTIONS?

COLONIAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

SPANISH CHRONICLERS
rationalized the primacy of colonization
described Filipinos as uncivilized and with no history
-> challenged Filipino intellectuals like Rizal to rectify
cultural prejudices
 AMERICAN colonial historiography
BENEVOLENT ASSIMILATION- effectively erased from
Filipinos’ memories the atrocities they committed against
Filipinos during the “Filipino-American” War
(e.g. Balangiga Massacre)
❑ ingenuously used education to miseducate Filipinos
❑Used as a tool to control their subjects and increase
political and economic power of the elite few

Early writers of Philippine history were ethnocentric and

tend to disregard native customs and values that do not
conform to their colonialists tastes.

There were indiscriminate recording of events basically

because colonial chroniclers were not trained as socio-
anthropologists.

POST-WAR PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY

What is the status of Philippine historiography after World War

2?

Spurred the emergence of Filipino scholars who

challenged the narrow view of colonial narratives

developed historical writing from the viewpoint of

nationalist framework
 HISTORICAL ICONS

➢ Teodoro Agoncillo pioneered nationalist historiography in

1950’s
➢ highlighted role of Filipino reformists and revolutionists
( Works: Revolt of the Masses: the
story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan )

Renato Constantino
➢ “people’s history”
➢ did not accept Agoncillo’s observations about “lost history”
referring to historical events before 1872

Zeus Salazar- “pantayo pananaw”

as an approach to understand the past from our own cultural
frame and language.

Emphasized the value of our Austronesian roots

Reynaldo Ileto – known for his “history from below” with

his PASYON AT REBOLUSYON:Popular Movements in the
Philippines 1840-1910.
-used alternative historical -sources like FOLK SONGS -and
PRAYERS.

CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY

And CONTENTIOUS ISSUES
Characteristics of Philippine Historiography

❑ dominated by political narratives

❑ influenced by colonial histories
❑ elite-centric perspective
❑ Patriarchal orientation
❑ continuous to emphasize lowland Christianized Filipinos
❑ Manila-centric
❑ not familiar with stories of pre- colonial past
❑ misrepresent ancient Filipinos as savages or uncivilized

Filipino historians were captives of colonial

historiography who viewed/interpreted our history from the
eyes of the colonizers.

❑ portrayed Spanish and Americans as liberators of Filipinos

from cultural backwardness.
❑ Historians are fallible, capable of error, with personal
biases, political beliefs, economic status, and idiosyncrasies.
➢Historians could excessively focus on his/her own
viewpoint
has omissions or data-gaps relative to local History.
Local histories have not gained academic importance or
official recognition.
 History is gender blind

CONTENTIOUS ISSUES....

❑Venue of the first Christian mass

❑Agoncillo’s leader-centric description of the Revolution, who
implied that the revolution stopped after Aguinaldo left Phil for
Hongkong
❑Constantino disputedAgoncillo’s two-phase scheme of the
revolution
❑ the question of who deserves to be named as national hero

PRACTICAL RELEVANCE OF HISTORY

CONCLUSION

❖History is not the lifeless study of the dead past.

❑ Learning how historians think and sharpening the analytical

and communication skills are essentials for success in college
and professional life.
❑ The methods of history are not especially complicated and
confusing... still doing history is not altogether easy.
 DIFFERENT SOURCES OF HISTORY
(Adapted from Emma Groeneveld)

History (from the Greek ἱστορία, meaning ‘a learning or knowing

by inquiry’) can be broadly taken to indicate the past in general
but is usually defined as the study of the past from the point at
which there were written sources onwards.

A primary source is first-hand material that stems (roughly) from

the time period that one wants to examine, whereas a
secondary source is an additional step removed from that
period – a 'second-hand' work that is the result of
reconstructing and interpreting the past using the primary
material, such as textbooks, articles, and, of course, websites
such as this one.

A. PRIMARY SOURCES

we cannot simply assume that everything they tell us (or

everything we think they tell us) is true, or that we are
automatically able to interpret their contents and context
correctly.
cross-examine different sources on
the same topic to see whether any
kind of consensus rolls out.
Akai www.iqgk#raqfHyq.r.
• What type of source is it? What does its form tell us? Is it
a neatly engraved inscription, an undecorated, heavily used
bit of earthenware, or a roughly scribbled letter on cheap
paper?

• Who created the source? How did they gather the

necessary information? Were they an eyewitness, or did
they rely on researching other sources or on the stories of
people who had witnessed the event? Could they be
biased?

• With which goal was the source created? Did the creator
want to tell a truthful story or, for instance, influence others
through propaganda? How reliable does that make it?

• What is the context in which the source was created? To

understand a source, it helps to know something about the
society and immediate context in which it was made. A
Christian source written while Christianity was still a
persecuted religion differs from one after Christianity was
made the official religion. Compare it with other sources
from the same period/that concern the same subject to
help you assess how reliable the source may be and help
you interpret its content.

• What is the content of the source and how do we interpret

it? What does it tell us and what does it not tell us? What
are its limitations? What sorts of questions could this
source answer?
 T.is#p**8.wk.
1. Written sources

contemporary letters, eyewitness accounts,

official documents, political declarations
and decrees, administrative texts, and
histories and biographies written in the
period that is to be studied.

unmatched level of detail presented by written sources in

general is an obvious goldmine to the greedy historian.
-
can lead to unexpected discoveries,
astonishing fact that the Phoenicians
already sailed around Cape of Good Hope (South
Africa) in open boats as early as 600 BCE.
Herodotus, the ‘father of history’, writes in
his Histories – a work recounting the events of the
Greco-Persian Wars (499-479 BCE) – that South of
the equator, the sun would indeed have been on the
sailors' right-hand side while sailing westward
around the Cape – a detail the sailors could not have
known if they had not actually witnessed it, so it
appears to be true.
first hurdle with written sources is their transmission;

materials such as papyrus, parchment, and paper do

not have infinite lifespans, so the sources we have in front of
us right now have usually been copied, reviewed, edited, even
translated, at some point in time, and may include mistakes or
deliberate changes. This puts a thin barrier between us and
the original text.

Secondly

authors may not be reliable, may have been biased, or

may have had certain intentions that jeopardise the
source's objectivity

Forgery is unfortunately also not entirely outside the

realm of possibilities, as the Donatio Constantini (the
Donation of Constantine) makes painfully clear.

Who created the source and what was his or her

background?

What do we know of the context in which the source

was created?

Did the creator have a specific goal or a specific

audience?
 Thirdly

it is important to check whether the author was

actually around for the events they are writing
about.

• Was the author a contemporary and/or an

eyewitness?
• If no: where did they get their information and how
reliable was that information? It could have come
from documents, eyewitnesses, or other sources
available to them.
• If yes: did they personally witness the event they are
describing? How accurate is their memory? Being
alive at the same time as Empress Wu from Song
China, for instance, does not automatically mean you
were in a position to see which clothes she wore on a
specific Monday morning.

2. Epigraphy

refers to the study of inscriptions engraved upon

various surfaces such as stone, metal, wood, clay
tablets, or even wax, which may vary hugely in
length from mere abbreviated words and
administrative tablets to depicting entire official
decrees.
 inscriptions tend to be pretty durable because
of the nature of the materials that were used,
although whether or not the inscription has
been exposed to the elements makes a bit of a
difference.

publicly visible, catching the eye like a big neon

sign, their content shared with as many people
as possible.

Sometimes inscriptions even turn out to be

forged, or have been moved and are no
longer in their original locations.

Who created or commissioned the inscription?

What is the goal of the inscription?

Perhaps it was created to inform, to record, to
glorify, or to influence public opinion.

Can it be dated (by things like the context, monument, or

the language), and does the date match the content of the
inscription?
 3. Settlements, buildings, & monuments

daily lives of people become visible through

the remains of their houses and the buildings
they made use of, such as courts of law,
bakeries, or schools.

Monuments, also not unusually flashing

inscriptions at its audience, can reveal the
messages their normally powerful creators
cried out to the world through their
architecture and imagery.

How do we accurately reconstruct the remains

(physically or on paper)?
puzzle process may require some
guesswork and may result in mistakes
being made.
• What is the function of the structure?
• How do we interpret what it may tell us about a
culture?

4. Artefacts
 man-made things of archaeological interest, often
from a cultural context. Examples are pottery,
utensils, tools and jewellery, which can alert us to
daily lives, style and culture; art – including statues
– which can be both public and private and reflects
the society in some way; and coins, which are more
political - often standardised, they proclaim a visible
message that tends to serve as propaganda to
bolster a ruler’s image.

• What was its use or purpose?

• What might it tell us about the society’s structure
and culture?

5. Bones

Studying bones yields clues regarding health, gender,

age, size, diet, etc. Retrieval of ancient DNA – though
not exactly a walk in the park – is also possible.

The context in which bones are found as well as the

point in time they came from help to fill information
regarding their societies.

This is already valuable in support of historical

sources, as, for instance, mass graves of victims of
the black death support the image created by the
written record, but for the prehistoric side of
things, bones are truly indispensable in helping us
fill in the blanks.
 • Is the dating scientifically and/or archaeologically accurate?
Could there be contamination, could sediments have shifted
or could the bones have been moved?
• How should the context in which the bones were found be
interpreted? What does the context tell you about the bones
themselves?

B. SECONDARY SOURCES

the people writing the secondary material are just as

bound to their own contexts as the ancients they are
studying.

must be wary of possible bias and goals, as well

as of the accuracy – it is all too easy to draw
conclusions that support your hypothesis.

Possibility of hand-picked source that

supports the theory

To prevent being misled, it is important to always study

more than one secondary sources.

Compare different books and articles on the

subject you are researching, and, after assessing
each source's reliability, strengths and weaknesses,
try to get as complete a view as possible of the
topic.
• Has the author been trained in the right field, and does
he or she have decent credit in the academic world?
Reading reviews can be of great assistance here.

• Where was the source published and could that impact

the contents at all? Also, when it comes to articles,
some journals have better reputations than others.

• When was the source published? Times change. A

textbook written in the 1960s CE may not have had
access to all the information we have right now and may
be colored by the time’s prevailing ideas about how to
approach the study of history.

• What is the scope of the source? Social histories paint

a different picture than military ones, so be sure to
choose sources that correspond with the questions you
yourself want to answer.

• Which sources has the author used and how critical

has he or she been? It is important the author has
documented his or her use of sources, so you can
examine them yourself if need be. Keep an eye out for
selective use of sources; an author should not simply
choose the sources that fit their hypothesis but should
take the full range of primary information into
account.
materials to be questioned

35
textbooks and course books to independent
books, articles (including scientific ones,
whose accuracy may be hard to judge by a
non-scientist), and websites – but be sure to
pick ones that show source lists and authors’
names. As long as you stay critical, there is a
wealth of information at your disposal.
❑ Philippine History viewed from various lens of selected
primary sources (eyewitnesses’ accounts ) from periods,
analyses and interpretations

❑ Each students are expected to analyze selected

readings contextually and in terms of content

❑ End goal is for students to understand and appreciate

our rich past by deriving insights from those who were
actually present at the time of the event.

Primary Sources – are eye-witness’ accounts

➢Written – reports,
➢correspondence, speeches, proceedings, memorials or
anyprintable narratives, blotter
➢Oral - derived from interviews
➢Cultural- preserved evidences of human cultures (artifacts)

Secondary Sources - accounts by individuals based on valid

information from eyewitnesses
 Module II

❑Contextual analysis and Content analysis of selected

primary sources;

A. CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS:

➢ involved in the identification of the historical importance of

the text;
➢ Search for the author’s background scholastic
preparation, motives , authority on the subject, published
work
➢ Search Historical background of the document (When and
Where it was published)

B. CONTENT ANALYSIS:

➢ Examine the author’s main argument or thesis

➢Compare points of view
➢Identify biases
➢Evaluate author’s claims based on evidences presented at
the time
Learning Outcome of Module II:

1.Identify credible and authentic primary sources that

could be used in reconstructing and analysing the history
of the Filipino people from pre-colonial times to the
present

2. Analyze the context, content, and perspective of

selected primary sources and determine how they affected
the history of the Filipino people;

3.Develop critical and analytical skills as students are

exposed to primary sources;

Things to do: Research for the

1. Background of the author

2. Historical background of the document
3. Content presentation and
4. Analysis of the important historical information
found in the document
5. Contribution and relevance of the document in
understanding the grand narrative of Phil. history
6. Learning experiences
Primary Sources

are immediate, first-hand accounts of a topic, from

people who had a direct connection with it. Primary sources
can include:

Texts of laws and other original documents.

Newspaper reports, by reporters who witnessed an event or

who quote people who did.

Speeches, diaries, letters and interviews - what the people

involved said or wrote.

Original research.

Datasets, survey data, such as census or economic

statistics. Photographs, video, or audio that capture an
event.

Raw Data

Artwork
Diary
Interview
Letters
Performance
Poem
Treaty
Secondary Sources

are one step removed from primary sources, though

they often quote or otherwise use primary sources. They can
cover the same topic, but add a layer of interpretation and
analysis.

Secondary sources can include:

Most books about a topic.

Analysis or interpretation of data.

Scholarly or other articles about a topic, especially by people

not directly involved.

Documentaries (though they often include photos or video

portions that can be considered primary sources).

Article critiquing the piece of art

Book about a specific subject
Biography
Dissertation
Review of play
Treatise on a particular genre of
poetry
Essay on a treaty
 When is a Primary Source a Secondary Source?

A biology textbook would be considered a secondary source if

in the field of biology, since it describes and interprets the
science but makes no original contribution to it.

On the other hand, if the topic is science education and the

history of textbooks, textbooks could be used a primary
sources to look at how they have changed over time.
Primary Sources
A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence
about an event, object, person, or work of art.

Primary sources provide the original materials on which

other research is based and enable students and
other researchers to get as close as possible to what
actually happened during a particular event or time
period.

Published materials can be viewed as primary resources if

they come from the time period that is
being discussed, and were written or produced by
someone with firsthand experience of the event.

Often primary sources reflect the individual viewpoint of a

participant or observer. Primary sources can be written
or non-written (sound, pictures, artifacts, etc.).

In scientific research, primary sources present original

thinking, report on discoveries, or share new information.

Examples of primary sources:

• Autobiographies and memoirs
• Diaries, personal letters, and correspondence
• Interviews, surveys, and fieldwork
• Internet communications on email, blogs, listservs, and
newsgroups
• Photographs, drawings, and posters
Works of art and literature
• Books, magazine and newspaper articles and ads published at
the time
• Public opinion polls
• Speeches and oral histories
• Original documents (birth certificates, property deeds, trial
transcripts)
• Research data, such as census statistics
• Official and unofficial records of organizations and government
agencies
• Artifacts of all kinds, such as tools, coins, clothing, furniture,
etc.
• Audio recordings, DVDs, and video recordings
• Government documents (reports, bills, proclamations,
hearings, etc.)
• Patents
• Technical reports
• Scientific journal articles reporting experimental research
results
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment
upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process
primary sources.

A secondary source is generally one or more steps removed

from the event or time period
and are written or produced after the fact with the benefit of
hindsight.

Secondary sources often lack the freshness and immediacy

of the original material. On occasion, secondary sources will
collect, organize, and repackage primary source information
to increase usability and speed of delivery, such as an online
encyclopedia. Like primary sources, secondary materials can
be written or non-written (sound, pictures,
movies, etc.).

Examples of secondary sources:

• Bibliographies
• Biographical works
• Reference books, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and
atlases
• Articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers after the
event
• Literature reviews and review articles (e.g., movie reviews,
book reviews)
• History books and other popular or scholarly books
• Works of criticism and interpretation
• Commentaries and treatises
• Textbooks
• Indexes and abstracts
the ability to distinguish between primary and secondary
source material is essential.

When evaluating primary or secondary sources, the following

questions might be asked to help ascertain the nature and
value of material being considered:

How does the author know these details (names, dates,

times)? Was the author present at the event or soon on the
scene?

Where does this information come from—personal experience,

eyewitness accounts, or reports written by others?

Are the author's conclusions based on a single piece of

evidence, or have many sources been taken into account (e.g.,
diary entries, along with third-party eyewitness accounts,
impressions of contemporaries, newspaper accounts)?

Ultimately, all source materials of whatever type must be

assessed critically and even the most scrupulous and
thorough work is viewed through the eyes of the writer/
interpreter. This must be taken into account when one is
attempting to arrive at the 'truth' of an event.