Introduction to Philippine

Historiography
(Sources and Discourses)
 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
( R.Constantino) is the recorded struggle of
the people for increasing freedom and for
newer and higher realization of human person
( 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.
 Martha Howell &
Walter Prevenier

 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
 Remember:

 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.
 2. TEODORO AGONCILLO

In historical imagination,
data are the bones of history. The
flesh and blood is supplied by the
historian’s imagination
(imaginative understanding).
 TEODORO AGONCILLO
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 sources
 HISTORIOGRAPHY

▪ Is the practice of historical writing

based on research
HISTORIOGRAPHY

▪ Traditional method of historical research

gather and examines documents from
libraries/archives to form a pool of
evidences for analytical narrative
 HISTORIOGRAPHY

▪ Modern method of historical research

- utilizes other research methods
used by related disciplines like
Archeology and Geography
 SOURCE TYPOLOGIES, THEIR EVOLUTION
AND COMPLEMENTARITY

Written Archaeological Oral New Sources

• narrative • articles from • tales and • photos

• diplomatic daily life sagas • films/movies
sources • artistic • folk songs • videos
• social creations and popular • ICT
documents • fortifications rituals generated
• artistic sources
performances
• interviews
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
➢Printed
➢Drawn
➢Designed
➢Composed
materials
Historical documents includes:

✓ books
✓Newspapers
✓Journals
✓Maps
✓Paintings
✓Architectural perspectives
Historical documents includes:
✓Advertisements
✓Photographs
✓Government reports
✓Legal documents
✓Memoirs
✓Conference/seminar
proceedings
Second type of historical primary
documents (unwritten) include:

✓Archeologicalrecords like:
fossils (human and animal
remains) and artifacts/ relics
Relics and Testimonies as
Sources
Sources are
objects that
Relics have been
Testimonies
left
Artifacts, by the Oral or
Ruins, past Written
Fragments,
Maitum Jar Head Fragment
Baluarte de N.S. de Guia | Intramuros
17th century
Baybayin
Document | AUST
Third type of historical documents
(unwritten) include:

✓Oral and video accounts

Complementarity of Sources

 Oralsources 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.
Complementarity of Sources

 Oralsources can be trusted so

long as they can be verified
through external evidence of
another kind ( language,
material, non-material culture).
Complementarity of Sources

 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)
Another daunting tasks:

❑ ability to discern the cultural

context and the historical value of
primary sources ( reflected western
frames and colonial biases)
“ savages, pagans, wild, and uncivilized “
Another daunting tasks:

❑ ability to uncover “myths” and

“misconceptions” about Filipino
cultural identity propagated by
Spanish and American colonizers
SECONDARY SOURCES
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
Historical Criticism

-Requiresa 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
EXTERNAL CRITICISM (Contextual
Analysis)
-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
INTERNAL CRITICISM (Content
Analysis)

-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:

❑DigitalFilipiniana 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)
American colonial historiography
❑ 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?
Philippine historiography after
WWII

▪Spurred the emergence of Filipino

scholars who challenged the narrow
view of colonial narratives
Philippine historiography after
WWII

▪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 )
HISTORICAL ICONS
Renato Constantino
➢ “people’s history”
➢ did not accept Agoncillo’s
observations about “lost history”
referring to historical events before 1872
.
HISTORICAL ICONS
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
HISTORICAL ICONS
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
Characteristics of Philippine
Historiography

❑ Patriarchal orientation

❑continuous to emphasize lowland

Christianized Filipinos
❑ Manila-centric
Characteristics of Philippine
Historiography

❑ 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.
Characteristics of Philippine
Historiography
❑ 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
MORE CONTENTIOUS
ISSUES …
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
CONTENTIOUS ISSUES….

❑Constantino disputed Agoncillo’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.
 CONCLUSION

❑ Learning how historians think and

sharpening the analytical and
communication skills are essentials for
success in college and professional life.
CONCLUSION

❑The methods of history are not

especially complicated and
confusing… still doing history is not
altogether easy.
End of discussion…
Prepared and revised by:
Prof. Oliva B. Parico
September 20, 2020

Department of Social Sciences

College of Arts & Sciences
CENTRAL LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija