Professional Documents
Culture Documents
History Group 2
History Group 2
It concerns itself with providing a critical analysis of historical writings describing a particular civilization,
empire or society. Dominant power structures, political ideologies, personal biases, cultural trends and
social norms steer narratives, consequently making historical accounts lie at the mercy of those who
wrote them.
Oxford dictionary defines historiography as the study of history itself, ‘a history of history’. On a
more literal plane, however, historiography mainly focuses on ‘The representation of history in
verbal images and written discourse.’
Importance of Historiography:
Historiography gives us the tools to examine history in the context of the multitude of factors that
determine how history is recorded and reproduced. For example, it raises the question of
whether historians altered an empires history to suit those in power or if they moulded a
narrative of a ‘successful’ colonial state by excluding imperative information about indigenous
resistance. Historiography probes into the literature, examining gaps and understanding the
causes for it. For instance, a historian may study about how there was a significant omission of
socio-economic information in the historical accounts of a particular empire.
Historical writing, the major focus of historiography, is as much a product of its time as any other
historical development (Abonyi 2016), and can therefore serve as a lens into major trends and
developments in the history of civilization.
Historiography is also integral to the academic inquiry as it complements the study of history as
well as all other disciplines which study the history of said discipline. It provides a broader
framework to specialists in a variety of fields like economics, psychology, and sociology.
A sociologist could benefit greatly from historiographic accounts that focus on a particular social
group in a colonial state. For example, looking into American historiography as background
research for a study focusing on Native American tribes today, will be of great use.
Historians study facts and records that previous generations have left, to find out what kind of
lives they led and how they solved their problems.
Gregorio F. Zaide (May 25, 1907 – October 31, 1986) was a Filipino historian, author
and politician from the town of Pagsanjan, Laguna in the Philippines. A multi-awarded author, Zaide
wrote 67 books and more than 500 articles about history, he is known as the "Dean of
Filipino Historiographers." He was one of the founders of the International Association of Historians
of Asia (IAHA), and president of the Philippine Historical Association for three terms. As a politician,
he served as the mayor of his hometown of Pagsanjan from 1971 to 1975
Dr. Zaide, renowned historian has made significant contributions to philippine history. A hardworking
scholar he authored 67 books some of which became textbook in history for high schools and colleges in
the country. He has also written more than 500 articles in the history published in local foreign
periodicals.
Zaide was a prolific writer and historian writing about 67 books, which were adopted as textbooks for
high schools and colleges. He also authored more than 500 articles in history published in both
national and international newspapers and academic journals.
Among his contributions to Philippine history are the following books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorio_F._Zaide