Lecture 1: An Introduction to History and Histiography

The Uses of History

1. Enables us to better understand the present (even if it does not provide solutions)

2. We can derive a sense of our identity

3. Helps us understand human nature and society

4. Helps develop an open mind and tolerance for views different from our own

5. Important to other disciplines

6. Can equip one with critical thinking and writing skills

7. History can be entertaining

Misuses of History

• Tampering with history

  • To make the past look better

  • To make the present look better by changing the circumstances that led to it

  • To legitimize the present

• How history could be abused

  • Danger of prejudice

  • Subordination to theory or ideology

  • Subjugation to politics or private interests

• Historical revisionism

  • Valid if used to rectify the past

  • Usually done to suit present interests, usually of those in power

What is History?

• Arthur Marwick (1936-2006)

  • “The bodies of knowledge about the past produced by historians, together with everything that is involved in the production, communication of, and teaching about that knowledge.”

  • “The past as we know it… Based on the interpretations of historians based on their critical study of the widest possible range of relevant sources, every effort having been made to challenge and avoid the perpetuation of myth.”

• Two meanings of History (Furay & Salevouris 2009)

  • As event/past

    • What actually happened in the past; a change in a given state of affairs at a particular time and place

    • Events take place in a historical field:

      • Actors (the doer of action; the source of change) / human agency - explains the past in linear cause and effect chains

      • Context - takes into account the role of social, economic and political processes and structures in which events take place

    • Historical events are events that are worth recording

      

    • Sources

      • Primary Sources

        • Created during the period being studied by an eyewitness or participant in an avent

        • Could also be written years after the event

        • Examples:

          • Letters, memoirs

          • Official reports, public/government records, newspaper articles

          • Photographs, videos, art, architecture, artifacts (archeological sources)

          • Oral histories

        • Issues:

          • Not necessarily reliable or accurate

          • Never intended to be made public

      • Secondary Sources

        • A study of a period in the past (or a particular event / events from that period) written long after the period

        • Based on primary and / or secondary sources

        • Examples:

          • Books

          • Journal articles

          • Essays / newspaper editorials

          • Conference paper

          • Social media posts

          • KAS 1 lectures

        • Some secondary sources may contain primary sources

      • Based on medium:

        • Written (text)

        • Non-written (image)

        • Oral

  • As narrative

    • A study of the past; makes use of a methodology (history as a social science)

    • A historian’s interpretation; a constuct

Historiography:

• What the historian does

  • Events —> Sources —> Evidence —> Facts —> Synthesis —> Interpretation —> Narrative

  • Can historians be objective?

The impossibility of objectivity and arriving at a single truth

• The writing of history is dependent upon the availability of sources

• The historian’s interpretation of the past, his selection of the significant and the relevant, evolves with the progressive emergence of new goals (Carr 1970). Interpretations are therefore tentative in quality.

• Events can have multiple causes and cannot be reduced to generalities

• One event could have many narratives

• Example:

  • GOMBURZA execution —> Propaganda Movement (Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar created a new social awareness about our colonial experience—> Andres Bonifacio and Philippine Evolution

  • But the Philippine revolution didn’t happen just because of gomburza, rather it happened due to many factors/causes

Monuments as Public History

• Why Marcos Should Not Be Buries at the Libingan ng mga Bayani?

  • Marcos did not command any guerilla unit which fought against the Japanese occupation just as he had claimed because that has been the justification for burying him in LMB, that he was a war hero

  • But in reality, he could have been labeled as a war criminal because he was arrested for collecting money under false pretense and was pretending to be the leader of a guerilla organization that actually did not exist

Facts gathered from past events which have to be interpreted to suit the present generation and they are affected by individual or institutional influences such as the preference of the sitting president or this political establishment or a particular huge corporation. This is also affected by the forces of society. What do the Filipino people want to hear? Who are the vested interests in power? What is the type of educational system is presenting these historical narratives?

Historiography: The historian’s interpretation

• Analysis will be based on the historian’s perspective (way of looking at the past). It is based on the historian’s point of view, which is influenced by the historian’s background (bias, religion, social class, education, language, nationality, ethnicity, gender, judgement of what is relevant or important, political affiliation interpretation)

• The historian excerpts and incorporates it, and recasts into that he considers a suitable style

Even if there can be differing narratives about the past…

• “A version of the past cannot be supprted by evidence is worthless.

• The narrative needs an evidence, hindi sa ‘tingin’

Packaging the historical narrative

• History could be written based on periodization, or its different branches (e.g. political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, environmental, etc)

• Commissioned histories - e.g., corporate history, biographies

• Identity history - an insider’s representation of a particular group (e.g., local history, women in history)

• Public History

  • Intended for education / appeal to a large audience

  • Usually determined by the government

  • Could potentially be used for propaganda

  • Presented in textbooks, popular media, public displays (e.g. museums and monuments)

Reconstructing the Past / Challenges of Arriving at the Truth

• The past can’t be recreated in its entirety

• There is no one true account

• Historians are not infallible; they are influenced by their personal bias, political beliefs, economic status, religion, etc.

• History is constantly open to revision.