RPH.prelims

authenticity and credibility

two mental processes that historians follow before they formulate their arguments

Authenticity

related to genuineness of external criticism of a historical source

Authenticity

It answers questions related to the identity of the author in terms of personality, character, position and qualifications or disqualifications in writing the document

Authenticity

It also identifies when, where, and how the documents were written and how does the content relate (similar or different) with other documents as well as the evidential value of the source.

credibility

the trustworthiness of the contents of the source.

credibility

This kind of criticism focused on examining the believability of the contents of the source, the natural and plausible connection between the document and author and the consistency of the document with the author’s known level of gender, socio-economic background, intelligence, political advocacy, religion, and the like,

Historical criticism

a branch of criticism that investigates the origin of text or source in order to understand the word behind the text.

Historical criticism

primary goal of historical criticism is to discover the text primitive or original historical context and its literal sense.

Historical criticism

The secondary goal seeks establish a reconstruction of historical situation of the author and recipients of the text.

external criticism and internal criticism

These are two types of historical criticism

“authorial intent”

What did the author intend for this text to mean in his or her time and place?

External Criticism

looks for the obvious sign of forgery or misrepresentation.

External Criticism

tests the authenticity of the sources

External Criticism

it is interested in the writing styles of the eyewitness and his ignorance of the facts.

External Criticism

it is the first test the historian employ to ascertain sources validity

External Criticism

answers concern and questions pertinent to the authenticity of a historical source by identifying that composed the historical material, locating when and where the historical material was produced, and establishing the material’s evidential value.

a. The problem of authenticity
b. To spot fabricated, forged, faked documents
c. To distinguish a hoax or misrepresentation

elements for external criticisms

1. Determine the date of the document to see whether

2. Determine the author

3. Anachronistic style
4. anachronistic reference to events.
5. provenance or custody of the document.

Tests of Authenticity

Anachronism

means out of time or order, something that could not have been there at that particular time. It could be a person, thing or idea placed in a wrong time.

Determine the author

Obvious sign of forgery in include patch writing, hesitation as revealed by ink blobs, pauses in the writing, tremor causing poor line quality and erasures

idiom

an expression, word or phrase that has a figurative meaning conventionally understood by native speakers.

Orthography

a set of conventions for writing a language.

Provenance

the place of origin of earliest known history of documents

Semantics

the linguistic study of meaning

Hermeneutics

theory and methodology of interpretation.

ambiguities

word or expression that can be understood in two or more possible ways.

Internal Criticism

deals with the credibility and reliability of the
content of a given historical source.

Internal Criticism

This kind of criticism focuses on understanding the substance and message that the historical materials wants to convey by examining how the author frame the intent and meaning of a composed material

a. The Problem of Credibility
b. Relevant particulars in the document – is it credible?
c. Similar – as close as what really happened from a critical examination of best available sources

elements for internal criticisms

1. Identification of the author
2. Determination of the approximate date
3. Ability to tell the truth
4. willingness to tell the truth
5. look or corroboration

Tests of Credibility

Internal Criticism

looks for deeper or more intense study of sources

Internal Criticism

It refers to the accuracy of the content of a document.

Internal Criticism

It investigates the content or substance of a document and the author’s point of view

Internal Criticism

tests the credibility of the source.

identification of the author

It determines if the witness is reliable or if he is consistent by comparing his other works

identification of the author

in this steps historian also examine the mental processes of the witness, if he is capable of telling the truth, or if he is mentally challenge

identification of the author

we will look for his personal attitudes, if he is telling something beyond what he saw or bragging about it.

ability to tell the truth.

the closer a source is to the event which it purports to describe, the more one can trust it to give an accurate historical description of what actually happened Historian also look for the competence of the eyewitness.

willingness to tell the truth

If the eyewitness is coerced, forced or somebody threaten him to tell something then his account is not valid.

willingness to tell the truth

If the eyewitness wants to hide something for personal reason

look for corroboration.

This particular step rest upon the independent testimony of two or more reliable sources

Origin, Purpose,Value, Limitation (OPVL)

a technique for analyzing historical documents.

Origin, Purpose,Value, Limitation (OPVL)

It is used extensively in the International Baccalaureate curriculum and testing materials, and is incredibly helpful in teaching students to be critical observers and analytical thinkers.

Origin, Purpose,Value, Limitation (OPVL)

This is known as the Document Based Questions (DBQ

Origin

In order to analyze a source, you must first know what it is.

Origin

The more you do know about where a document is coming from, the easier it is to ascertain purpose, value and limitation.

Origin

This is where you would also identify if it is a primary or secondary source.

Primary Source

letter, journal, interview, speeches, photos, paintings, etc.

Primary Source

created by someone who is the “first person.”

Primary Source

have not been filtered through interpretation or

evaluation by others.

Secondary Source

materials that are written with the benefit of hindsight and materials that filter primary sources through interpretation or evaluation

primary document

can tell you about the original author’s perspective

secondary document

can tell you how the primary document was received during a specific time period or by a specific audience

Purpose

This is the point where you start the real evaluation of the piece and try to figure out the purpose for its creation.

Value

Putting on your historian hat, you must determine: Based on who wrote it (origin), when/where it came from, why it was created (purpose) and what the source says (content)...what value does this document have as a piece of information?

Limitation

at what point does this source cease to be of value to us as historians?

Value

This is where you show your expertise and put the source in context

evidence

the backbone upon which history stands

History

rest on the diligent research and by careful inquiry, historians could reconstruct the past and write them down in some form, so that we today can read their accounts, and at least know how these events appeared to men of the time (Barrows, 1905).

facts

constitute the “heart” of every historical writing.

History

one of the oldest disciplines in the world,

Herodotus

father of History

historiography

refers to the study of historians' methods and practices in writing history.

Positivism

Dictates that without documents, there is no history.

Annales School

Known for using geography for setting historical scene.

Marxist History

Often focuses on the clash between classes.

The New Social History

Dives into history from below everyday life.

Post-Colonialism

Manifests how the colonized fought the colonizers.

Cultural History

Incorporates anthropology and linguistics to enter the minds of the past.

Intellectual History

Discussed the history of ideas and other methods of writing history.

Political History

Concentrates on great events and people of the political landscape.

Dr. Zeus Salazar

historiography, is introduced by..

social memory

The popular knowledge of a particular society of the past

social memory

It continues to be an essential means of sustaining collective identity.

social memory

a very powerful force that shapes the Filipino society.

social memory

it is how a society remembers its past

social memory

a distorted historical narrative established to uphold and strengthen societies.

Historical awareness

requires an individual to judge and interpret the past based on its respective standards

Historical awareness

acquire strong sense of zeitgeist and historical process recognition

Tradition

An assumption that elements established in

Nostalgia

A backward-looking treatment of historical change - interpretation that historyevolved negatively.

Progress

Fundamental to modernity, it treats the past as an inferior element to the present.

politics

a major driver of propaganda

revisionist historiography

it generally abandons the application of scientific methods and confuses the borderline between legitimate evidence and fiction in the process of interpreting history.

historical revisionism

the manipulation certain historical events mainly for political events.

impartiality

This element compels historians to process their central question without distorting itsresults.

objectivity

guides historians to treat and process their historical data in the highest extent of impartiality.

Political History

It studies aspects of the past that deal with organization and power

.

Biography

It pertains to the narratives of individuals

.

Social History

It revolves around the narratives of the society as a whole such as the everyday life athome, workplace, and the community.

Economic History

It deals with earthly necessities

.

World History

it tels about the rise of societies, emergence of nations, until the age of globalization

Transnational History

It narrates events .

Local History

It deals with the narratives of the common people from the local scale

Total History

it is the interplay of all aspects of human civilization in the long and medium term

.

Big History

it suggest that historical events are following certain patterns

Cultural History

It deals with entering the minds of the populace in the creations of a historicalnarrative

primary source

―which are the life-blood of historical research,

primary source

any materials or objects; photographed, recorded, written, the object itself made or present during the exact period of a historical event.

primary source

author or the source of the specific material is a primary witness to the event.