Introduction To History

INTRODUCTION
TO HISTORY
DEFINITION, ISSUES, SOURCES, AND METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY
1ST SEMESTER, AY 2023-2024
HOW IS HISTORY DEFINED?

DEFINITION AND SUBJECT MATTER
• History has always been known as the study of the past.
• History was derived from the Greek word “historia” which
means knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation.
• (Classical Latin) Historia became known as the account of the
past of a person or of a group of people through written
documents and historical evidences.
• History was focused on writing about the lives of important
individuals like monarchs, heroes, saints, and nobilities, and
also about wars, revolutions, and other important
breakthroughs.

PAST VERSUS HISTORY
• The past itself is not a narrative. In its entirety, it is as chaotic,
uncoordinated, and complex as life. History is about making
sense of that mess, finding or creating patterns and meanings and
stories from the maelstrom. (Arnold, John H 2000:13)
• The past is therefore a permanent dimension of the human

consciousness, an inevitable component of the institutions, values
and other patterns of human society. The problem for historians is
to analyse the nature of this ‘sense of past’ in society and to trace
its changes and transformations. (Hobsbawm, Eric 1997:10)

PAST VERSUS HISTORY
• History is not the past, any more than biology is life, or physics,
matter. History is the distillation of evidence surviving from the
past. Where there is no evidence, there is no history. Much of the
past is not knowable in this way, and about those areas the historian
must learn to confess ignorance. (Handlin, Oscar:1979, 405-406)
• A historian, I assume, is someone who develops, in one way or

another, what Becker called the “artificial extension of social
memory” – by recovering, through the evidences of the past,
aspects of what happened. (Bailyn 1991:8)

PAST VERSUS HISTORY
• We need to interpret the past, not simply present it. Finding a

large context for the story is an attempt to say not just ‘what
happened’ but what it meant. (Arnold 2000:8) There is a
necessary tension here: history is ‘true’ in that it must agree with
the evidence, the facts that it calls upon; or else, it must show why
those ‘facts’ are wrong, and need reworking. At the same time, it
is a ‘story’, in that it is an interpretation, placing those facts within
a wider context or narrative. (Arnold 2000:13)

PAST VERSUS HISTORY
• [History] does not recreate the past. The historian does not
recapture the bygone event. No amount of imagination will enable
the scholar to describe exactly what happened to Caesar in the
Senate or to decide whether Mrs. Williams actually lost two
hundred pounds by an act of faith. History deals only with
evidence from the past, with the residue of bygone events. But it
can pass judgment upon documentation and upon observers’
reports of what they thought they saw. (Handlin 1979:412)
WHAT COUNTS AS HISTORY

CHALLENGE TO THE DEFINITION
“ NO DOCUMENT, NO HISTORY
“NO DOCUMENT, NO HISTORY?”

PROBLEMS WITH THE TRADITIONAL DEFINITION
• History of other civilizations do not keep written records

• Some pass their history through word of mouth
• Discriminatory
QUESTIONS AND ISSUES

DEFINITIONAL CHALLENGES
complex & difference in

dynamic perspectives
inquiry
HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY

DEFINITIONAL CHALLENGES
HISTORY
concerned about the past, events
that happened in the past, and the
causes of such events.
Interested in history itself, the

writing of history
HISTORIOGRAPHY
HISTORY
COMMON BELIEFS AND SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
- States use history to unite a nation.
- History as a tool to legitimize regimes and forge a sense of collective
identity through collective memory.
- POSITIVISM, as a school of though requires empirical and observable
evidence before one can claim that a particular knowledge is true.
- POSTCOLONIALISM, grapples the idea of creating nations’ identities
and understanding their societies against the shadows of their
colonial past.
HISTORY
COMMON BELIEFS AND SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
- As a narrative, any history that has been taught

and written is always intended for a certain
group of audience.
- “History is always written by the victors.”
ABSOLUTE HISTORICAL TRUTH?

CAN THIS BE POSSIBLE WITH HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY?
- “Facts cannot speak for themselves” so it is the

historian’s job not just to seek historical
evidences and facts but also to interpret them.
- The historian is not a blank paper.
HISTORY AS AN ACADEMIC AND SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY?
techniques and rules on

the proper treatment and
HISTORICAL
usage of historical data
METHODOLOGY acquired through various
historical evidences and
sources.
THANK YOU!

Introduction To History

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Introduction To History

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

INTRODUCTION

HOW IS HISTORY DEFINED?

HOW IS HISTORY DEFINED?

• The past is therefore a permanent dimension of the human

HOW IS HISTORY DEFINED?

• A historian, I assume, is someone who develops, in one way or

HOW IS HISTORY DEFINED?

• We need to interpret the past, not simply present it. Finding a

HOW IS HISTORY DEFINED?

WHAT COUNTS AS HISTORY

“NO DOCUMENT, NO HISTORY?”

• History of other civilizations do not keep written records

QUESTIONS AND ISSUES

complex & difference in

HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY

Interested in history itself, the

- As a narrative, any history that has been taught

ABSOLUTE HISTORICAL TRUTH?

- “Facts cannot speak for themselves” so it is the

HISTORY AS AN ACADEMIC AND SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY?

techniques and rules on

You might also like