INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY:

DEFINITION, ISSUES, SOURCES,

AND METHODOLOGY
KAY BATHALA H. SANTOS
WHAT IS HISTORY?
Is the interpretative and
Histor •Wise man;
judge imaginative study of surviving
records of the past, either
Historei written or unwritten, in
Historein •inquire
n
order to determine the
Historia
•knowledge
acquired
through
meaning and scope.
inquiry or
investigation

• the account of
the past of a
person or of a

Historia group of people

through written
documents and
historical
evidences
Why do we need to study Philippine History again?

Elementary High School College

• Basic Historical • Historical Details • Historical Analysis
Facts • How? • Why?
• What, Who, Where,
and When?
 Positivism: “no document,
WHAT no history”
unless a written document
COUNTS AS can prove a certain
historical event, then it
HISTORY? cannot be considered as
historical fact
 But as any other academic
disciplines, history progressed
WHAT and opened up to the possibility
of valid historical sources, which
COUNTS AS were not limited to written

HISTORY? documents, like government

records, chronicler’s accounts,
or personal letters.
  Loophole was recognized by
historians.
 They started using other kinds of
WHAT historical sources, which may not
be in written form but were just as
COUNTS AS valid.
-oral traditions in forms of
HISTORY? epics and songs
-artifacts
-architecture
-memory
 History thus became
WHAT more inclusive and
started collaborating
COUNTS AS with other disciplines
HISTORY? as its auxiliary
disciplines.
QUESTIONS AND ISSUES IN
HISTORY
QUESTIONS AND ISSUES IN HISTORY

What is history?
Why study history?
History for whom?
“HISTORIOGRAPHY”
The history of history
 HISTORY HISTORIOGRAPHY
Object of study: Object of study:
the past • history itself
• the events that • How was a certain
happened in the historical text written?
past and the • Who wrote it?
• What was the context of its
causes of such
publication?
events • What particular historical
method was employed?
• What were the sources
used?
 History played various roles in the past.
 States used history to unite a nation.
 A tool to legitimize regimes and forge a sense of collective
identity through collective memory.
 Lessons of 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 great past can inspire people to keep their
good practices to move forward.
 As a narrative, history that
has been taught and written
is always intended for a
certain group of audience.
PROBLEMS:

 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
HISTORY AND 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?
 Is it possible to have an exact and
accurate account of the past?
NO!!!
 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.
“Facts cannot speak
for themselves.”
HISTORIANS’ ➢Give meaning to these
JOB: SEEK facts
HISTORICAL
EVIDENCES AND
➢Organize them
FACTS AND ➢Establish causes
INTERPRET
THESE FACTS. ➢Write history
Historian is not a blank paper
who mechanically interprets and
analyzes present historical fact.
He is a person of his own.
A historian’s interpretation of the
historical fact is affected by his
context and circumstances.
His subjectivity will inevitably influence the
process of his historical research: the
methodology that he will use, the facts the
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.
 Can history still be
considered as an
academic and scientific
inquiry?
 Despite the fact that
historians cannot
ascertain absolute
objectivity, the study
YES!!! of history remains
scientific because of
the rigor of research
and methodology that
historians employ
 comprises certain
techniques and rules that
HISTORICAL historians follow in order to
METHODOLOGY properly utilize sources and
historical evidences in
writing history.
 Historical claims done 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.
 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
HISTORICAL SOURCES, WHAT ARE THEY?

– an object from the past or testimony

concerning the past on which historians depend
in order to create their own depiction of that
past.
CLASSIFICATION OF HISTORICAL
RESOURCES

1.Primary Sources
2.Secondary Sources
PRIMARY SOURCES

Primary sources enable the researcher to get as

close as possible to what actually happened during
an historical event or time period.
SECONDARY SOURCES

 Is something written about primary source.

 Secondary sources are written "after the fact" - that is, at a
later date.
 Usually the author of a secondary source will have studied
the primary sources of an historical period or event and
will then interpret the "evidence" found in these sources.
 You can think of secondary sources as second-hand
information.
WHY USE PRIMARY SOURCES?

 Primary sources provide a window into the past—unfiltered access to

the record of artistic, social, scientific and political thought and
achievement during the specific period under study, produced by people
who lived during that period
 these unique, often profoundly personal, documents and objects can give
a very real sense of what it was like to be alive during a long-past era.
WHY NOT USE PRIMARY SOURCES?

 Primary sources are often incomplete and have little context.

Students must use prior knowledge and work with multiple
primary sources to find patterns
 In analyzing primary sources, students move from concrete
observations and facts to questioning and making inferences
about the materials.
WHY USE SECONDARY SOURCES?

 Secondary sources can provide analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or

evaluation of the original information.
 Secondary sources are best for uncovering background or historical
information about a topic and broadening your understanding of a topic
by exposing you to others’ perspectives, interpretations, and conclusions
 Allows the reader to get expert views of events and often bring together
multiple primary sources relevant to the subject matter
WHY NOT USE SECONDARY SOURCES

 Their reliability and validity are open to question, and often they do not
provide exact information
 They do not represent first hand knowledge of a subject or event
 There are countless books, journals, magazine articles and web pages
that attempt to interpret the past and finding good secondary sources
can be an issue
EXTERNAL CRITICISM

-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.
-things examined in conducting external criticism of a document:
 the quality of the paper
 the type of ink
 and the language and words used in the material, among others.
 When
written?

Where was
written?

?
Authentic
Primary
Document
Why did it
survive?

Who was the real

author?
TEST OF AUTHENTICITY

 Determine the date of the document to see whether they are

anachronistic (a chronological misplacing of persons, events, or
customs in regard to each other)
 Determine the author e.g. handwriting, signature, seal
 Anachronistic style e.g. idiom, orthography, punctuation
TEST OF AUTHENTICITY

 Anachronistic reference to events e.g. too early, too late, too

remote
 Provenance or custody e.g. determines its genuineness
 Semantics – determining the meaning of a text or word
INTERNAL CRITICISM

-examination of the truthfulness of the evidence

-looks at the content of the source and examines the circumstance of its
production
-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.
TEST OF CREDIBILITY

 Identification of the author e.g. to determine his reliability; mental

processes, personal attitudes
 Determination of the approximate date e.g. handwriting, signature, seal
 Ability to tell the truth e.g. nearness to the event, competence of
witness, degree of attention
 Eyewitness or secondhand
account?

Why it was
written?

?
Meaning in
Primary Literal
meaning?
context Document
Internal
consistency

Connotations?