READING 3

How do historians
think?
What makes historical
inquiry intellectually
exciting?
 If history is a representation of
society’s collective memory,
how could historians ensure that
historical facts are truthful and
depictive of the genuine story
and struggle of people?
 Learning objectives:
After reading the text, each student
will be able to:
1. Explain the tasks of historians and
the personal/professional qualities
needed to realize these tasks;
2. Distinguish the emphasis of
nationalist history from colonialist
and elitist approaches in
historiography
3. Identify Filipino historians and their
writings which were falsified and
distorted;
4. Discuss how attempts in writing a
‘nationalist’ history obstructed rather
than promoted national interest; and
5. Enumerate and discuss the
characteristics of a true “people’s
history”.
 Excerpt from “The
Historian’s Task in the
Philippines”
John N. Schumacher
1. What is the fundamental
task of a historian to his
country and his people?
 The task of historian is to
interpret the historical facts or
events truthfully. Thus, a
historian uses critical historical
method which requires basing
one’s interpretation and
assertions from facts found in
the documents.
2. As an academic discipline,
how does a historian make a
truthful historical account of
the past? How does this
relate with the scientific
method used in natural
sciences?
The historian is required to
based himself on
documentation and to draw
the evidence for is
assertions or interpretations
from the facts found in
documents.
Arriving at the “facts”
demands that the historian
should demonstrate in detail
how he bridges the gap
between the documentation
and the conclusions he
draws from it.
If that is so done that other
historians are able to verify this
process, we can speak of
scientific method through
reasoned disagreement may
exist on the evaluation of the
evidence or even its selection.
 3. Do you believe that
history is never truly
objective? Does this hold
true to news making?
 History can never be
‘objective’ because it is
always written from a
point of view of the writer.
However, this should not be taken
with skepticism believing that
history is a fiction. While historians
may interpret the past from various
perspectives and reasons, their
narratives must be based on all
available authentic and reliable
evidences.
 4. What brought the
emergence of nationalist
history in the Philippines?
Is nationalist history an
opposition to colonial-
based historiography?
 The gaps left by “colonial-
minded” historiography in the
Philippines has led Filipino
historians to make attempts
in writing history from
“nationalist” or nation-based
histories.
 5. What type of
“nationalist history”
obstructed the national
cause i.e., developing
national identity and
national consciousness?
Some Filipinos, who wrote
‘nationalist’ history,
obstructed rather than
promoted national
interest.
 These include the writing of Pedro
Paterno (Ancient Tagalog Civilization),
Jose Marco (Code of Kalantiaw and La
Loba Negra) and Diego Lope Povedano
(La Isla de Negros y las Costumbres de
los Visayos) and Jose Maria Pavon (Las
Antiguas Legendas de las Islas de
Negros) which are considered hoax and
historical distortions.
 6. Explain why the writings
of Padre Paterno, Jose
Marco, Diego Lope Povedano
and Jose Maria Pavon were
considered pseudohistory or
products of creative
imagination?
 READ PAGE 33,
UNDER
NATIONALIST HISTORY
 7. What is the difference in
emphasis between the
colonialist and elitist
approaches in
historiography? What factor/s
influence this emphasis?
a. Colonialist
– histories of the countries colonized during
their period of colonial rule
- the ideas and approaches commonly
associated with historians who were or are
characterized by a colonialist ideology.

b. Elitist – “Only the successful are

remembered. The blind alleys, the lost
causes, and the losers themselves are
forgotten.” – Thompson (1973)
 Such attempts to make history
“nationalist” as those of Paterno
and Marco, and their perpetuators,
are clearly futile. Reconstructing a
Filipino past, however glorious in
appearance, on false pretenses can
do nothing to build a sense of
national identity, much less offer
guidance for the present or the
future.
 it likewise finds inadequate
“objective” studies of recent
professional historians because
these allegedly do not involve
themselves in the total effort to
free the Filipino from his colonial
mentality.
 8. What are the
characteristics of a true
“people’s history”?
 A true “people’s history,” has the
following characteristics: (a) it sees
the Filipino people as the primary
agents in their history – not just
objects repressed by theocracy or
oppressed by exploitative colonial
policies;
 (b) It refuses to treat the people as
an abstraction manipulated by
deterministic forces such as religion
and imperialism;
(c) It tries to understand all aspects
of the experience of all the Filipino
people, as they themselves
understood it and;
 (d) It acknowledges what is
valuable as well as what is harmful
in the Filipino past.
9. Is “people’s history” a
liberating history? How
could “people’s history”
totally free the Filipinos
from their colonial
mentality?
 Yes. A true “people’s history,”
therefore, must see the Filipino
people as the primary agents in
their history – not just as objects
repressed by theocracy or
oppressed by exploitative colonial
policies.
It will expect to find that the Filipino people,
individually and collectively, have not
merely been acted upon, but have creatively
responded to the Spanish and American
colonial regimes; that they have assimilated
the good as well as the bad; that they have
been moved to action and to progress by
their creative interaction with other cultures
and not simply been the victims of cultural
imperialism.
 10. What are the
challenges of Filipino
historians in writing
Philippine history? How
could they address these
challenges?
 Filipino historians are called and
challenged to present the Filipino
past in all its variety. Not all of the
past will provide inspiration for a
better and more just society. But by
depicting the whole of reality,
history will make it possible to
reform and reshape every society
toward a better future.