SOC 101 NOTES
Herodotus.
History – has always been a subject dreaded
by students because of one thing.
- memorization
- many people think that history is
merely list of names, dates,
places and “important” events.
Why study History?
- an examination of the past can
tell us a great deal about how we
came to be who we are.
Historical methodology – is used by
historians to gather evidence of historical
events, assess the evidence, and interpret the
date indicates about historical event.
Historiography – the study of history writing
- refers to any historical writing
about a certain topic.
- writing about history
History – the study of the past as it relates to
humanity.
Herodotus – “Father of History”
- he is given credit for recording
information from all over but
criticized for using less than
reliable sources and sometimes
espousing what seems like
propaganda.
- most of his histories were stories
he picked up from travelers,
merchants and priests.
- Aristotle called him a “legend
monger”.
- 484? – 425? BC
Thucydides – He is seen as the “Father of
the Historical Method
- regarded as much better than
- Scientific historian
- His style was terse and skeptical
and his emphasis on getting his
facts straight makes him such a
rich source of moral guidance
and historical wisdom.
- regarded as the scientific
historian, relying on facts, dates,
events and personalities to
present the ‘factual’ narrative of
history.
Comments about History
Napoleon Bonaparte – history is written by
the winners
George Santayana – those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat
it.
George Orwell – the most effective way to
destroy people is to deny and obliterate their
own understanding of their history.
Confucious – study the past if you would
define the future.
Martin Luther King Jr – we are not makers
of history. We are made by history. Meaning
that he is either a molder of society of is
molded by society.
Robert Penn Warren – the lack of sense of
history is the damnation of the modern
world.
Karl Marx – history repeats itself, first as
tragedy, second as farce. How every
generation seems to think that they are
smarter than the previous ones, and yet, they
end up making the same mistakes,
sometimes with graver consequences.
Michael Crishton – if you don’t know
history, then you don’t know anything. You
are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a
tree.
Zeus Salazar – ang “kasaysayan” ay “mga
salaysay na may saysay”.
Teodoro Agoncillo – “Ama ng makabansang
pananaw sa pagsulat ng kasaysayan”
Renato Constantino – ang kasaysayan ay
hindi lamang para sa mayaman at mga kilala
sa lipunan ngunit para din ito sa mga
ordinaryong tao at mamamayan.
Jose Rizal – “Ang hindi marunong lumingon
sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa
paroroonan.
Context Analysis
- considers the time and place the
historical documents was written
as well as the situation or the
circumstances during the time.
Questions to consider when doing a context
analysis:
1. How authoritative is the
account/source?
2. How is it relevant today?
Understanding Sources
What are Sources?
- In his work, Understanding
History, Gottschalk (1950)
discussed the importance of
sources for the historian work.
- where these are archeological,
epigraphical, or numismatical
materials he has to depend
largely on museums.
- It is form historical sources that
are history is studied and
written.
- But in analyzing them, several
methodologies and theories were
used by historians to properly
study history and glean from the
sources what is, for them, a
proper writing history to
enhance and disseminate
national identit.
Primary Sources – are materials produced
by people or group directly involved in the
event or topic being studied.
8 examples of these primary sources
1. Photographs
2. Old sketches and drawings
3. Old maps
4. Cartoons for political expressions or
propaganda
5. Material evidence (cave drawings,
old syllabaries, and ancient writings.)
6. Statistical tables, graphs, and charts
7. Oral history or recordings
8. Published and unpublished primary
documents
Types of Primary Sources
Autobiography – an account of a person’s
life written by that person.
Memoir – is a history of record composed
from personal observation.
Diary – a form of autobiographical writing,
is a regular kept record of a diarist’s
activities and reflections, written primarily
for the writer’s use alone.
Personal letter – an informal composition
that usually concerns personal matters.
Correspondence – is a body of letters or Biographical works – is a description of a
communications, ex. Pen pal or email buddy. person’s life, including factual details as
well as stories from person’s life.
Interview – is a conversation where
questions are asked, and answers given. Periodicals – are newspapers, magazines and
scholarly journals.
Survey – is a list of questions aimed at
extracting specific data from a particular - some are print, some are
group of people. electronic and sometimes both.
Field research or Fieldwork – is the Film review/Book review – a form of
collection of information outside a criticism in which they are analyzed based
laboratory, library or workplace setting. on content and style.
Photographs and posters – are often Repositories of Primary Sources
considered as primary sources because it
Library – is a collection of sources of
illustrates past events as they happened and
information and similar resources accessible
people as they were at a particular time.
to a defined community for reference or
Speeches and oral histories – a form of borrowing.
communication in spoken language made by
Archive – is an accumulation of historical
speaker before an audience for a given
records or the physical place where they are
purpose.
located.
Work of art and literature – drawings,
Museum – is an institution that cares for
paintings, literature
(conserves) a collection of artifacts and
- has been made in order to be a other objects.
thing of beauty in itself or a
- these made available for public
symbolic statement of meaning.
viewing that may be permanent
Secondary Sources – these are books, or temporary.
articles and scholarly journals that had
Historical society – also called preservation
interpreted primary sources or had used
society, is an organizations dedicated to
them to discuss certain subjects if history.
preserving, collecting, researching and
- According to gottschalk, it is the interpreting historical information or items.
testimony of anyone who is not
an eyewitness – that is one who
was not present at the event of
which he tells.
Types of Secondary Sources
Bibliography – an annotated bibliography is
an organized list of sources.