Readings in Philippine History - Chapter 1 Vocabulary
Course Overview and Learning Outcomes
Chapter 1: Introduction to History — Definition, Issues, Sources, and Methodology
Lesson 1: Definition and Subject Matter of History
Etymological and Historical Evolution of History
What is History?: The study of the past.
Etymology: Derived from the Greek word Historia, meaning "knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation".
Latin Adaptation: Transitioned into Latin as an account of the past of a person or group of people through written documents and historical evidence.
Traditional Scope: From Latin adaptation until the early twentieth century, historians focused primarily on writing about important individuals (monarchs, saints, nobility) and major structural disruptions (wars, revolutions, breakthroughs).
The Traditional Historical Paradigm
Mantra: "No document, no history".
Core Premise: An event is only considered a historical fact if proven by a written document.
Limitations: Excludes civilizations and marginalized groups without written record-keeping systems, such as peasant families and Indigenous Groups who were not registered in official government archives.
Expansion of Valid Historical Sources
Oral Data and Oral Sources: Testimonies handed down by word of mouth from one generation to another over time.
Definition of Oral Tradition (Jan Vansina): All testimonies concerning the past that are transmitted from one generation to another.
Forms of Non-Written Sources: Oral epics, songs, artifacts, architecture, and memory.
Auxiliary Disciplines
Archaeology: Employs artifacts from bygone eras to reconstruct ancient civilizations omitted due to a lack of written records.
Linguistics: Traces historical evolution, cross-group connections, and cultural influence flows by analyzing language structure and transformations.
Biology and Biochemistry: Analyzes genetic markers and DNA patterns of human societies to trace historical populations.
Lesson 2: Questions, Issues, Historiography, and Ideological Frameworks
Historiography Defined
Core Concept: Historiography is the history of history.
Distinction Between History and Historiography:
History: Focuses on the past itself—the events that occurred and their direct causes.
Historiography: Focuses on the study of history itself, asking: How was a text written? Who wrote it? What was the context of publication? What methodology was used? What sources were selected?
Function: Teaches students to critically evaluate historical narratives and understand the historian's personal and contextual framework.
Roles of History in Society
State Level: Serves to unite nations, legitimize political regimes, and forge a collective identity through shared national memory.
Predictive and Corrective Value: Provides lessons from past mistakes to prevent their repetition and highlights past achievements to inspire progress.
Schools of Historical Thought
Positivism:
Period: Emerged between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Core Tenets: Demands empirical, observable evidence to establish truth; requires objective paths to conclusions.
Historical Application: Source of the mantra "no document, no history". Demands written primary documents and expects complete objectivity and impartiality from the historian.
Post-Colonialism:
Period: Emerged in the early twentieth century as formerly colonized nations formed post-colonial identities.
Dual Focus:
To tell national history that highlights local identity free from colonial discourse.
To criticize the methods, effects, and foundational ideas of colonialism.
Function: Serves as a direct reaction and alternative to colonial history.
Intentionality and Audience in Historical Writing
Ilustrado Narratives: Written by Jose Rizal, Isabelo de los Reyes, and Pedro Paterno for a Spanish audience to demonstrate Filipino intellect and culture.
American Colonial Narratives: Portrayed Filipinos as uncivilized for an American audience to justify colonization as a civilizing mission (the "white man's burden").
Revising Victor-Centric History: World War II historical narratives in the Philippines traditionally depict the United States as the hero and the Imperial Japanese Army as the oppressor. Thorough historical investigation reveals nuanced realities beyond simplified hero-versus-villain binaries.
Lesson 3: History and the Role of Historians
Objectivity and Representation
Nature of Historical Truth: Direct and exact accounts of the past are impossible because the past cannot be directly revisited.
Representation: Historians access the past solely through representations provided by sources and evidence.
The Duty of the Historian
Interpretive Role: Recognizing that "facts cannot speak for themselves," the historian seeks out facts, assigns meaning, arranges them in timelines, identifies causal chains, and constructs historical narratives.
Subjectivity: Historians are not neutral vessels; they are shaped by their personal context, environment, ideology, education, and social influences.
Lesson 4: Historical Methodology and Source Criticism
Historical Methodology Standard
Rules and procedures followed by historians to analyze sources, resolve conflicting accounts, and handle eyewitness/oral testimonies as valid evidence.
Classification of Historical Sources
Primary Sources:
Definition: Materials produced at the exact time of the event, period, or subject under study.
Examples (1935 Constitutional Convention): Convention minutes, newspaper clippings, U.S. Commissioners' Philippine Commission reports, official convention records, draft Constitution, photographs, eyewitness accounts, memoirs of delegates, archival documents, artifacts, memorabilia, letters, censuses, and government records.
Secondary Sources:
Definition: Materials produced by an author who utilized primary sources to analyze a historical topic.
Example: Teodoro Agoncillo's Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan (published in 1956) analyzing the Philippine Revolution of 1896.
Rule of Source Classification: Classification as primary or secondary depends strictly on the specific subject of research, not merely on the creation date or source genre.
Historical Criticism Methods
External Criticism:
Purpose: Tests authenticity by examining physical characteristics, material composition, and consistency with the time period of origin.
Tested Elements: Paper type, ink composition, language structures, and vocabulary.
Internal Criticism:
Purpose: Tests truthfulness and factual accuracy by examining content and circumstances of production.
Tested Elements: Author credentials, context, underlying agenda, informing knowledge, and target purpose.
Application: Japanese wartime reports and declarations must be critically examined rather than accepted outright as historical facts.
Significance: Prevents false conclusions, historical deceptions, and systemic lies.
Documented Deceptions in Philippine History
The Code of Kalantiao:
Description: Alleged precolonial legal code found in the epic Maragtas, attributed to Datu Kalantiao. Sold to the National Library and regarded as authentic until 1968.
Debunking: American historian William Henry Scott proved it to be a hoax due to severe anachronisms and lack of supporting evidence in precolonial records.
Ferdinand Marcos' War Record Claims:
Description: Claims of being a decorated World War II soldier leading a guerrilla unit called "Ang Maharlika", supported by physical war medals.
Debunking: Historians disproved the claim by cross-checking against official United States war records.
Evolution of Philippine Historiography
Precolonial Stage: History was transmitted through oral traditions, including communal songs and epics.
Spanish Colonial Stage (Bipartite View): Spanish chroniclers recorded history in writing, framing it as a bipartite narrative: precolonial history was viewed as a dark period, while Spanish rule and Christianity brought light.
Early Nationalist Stage (Tripartite View): Early nationalists countered the Spanish narrative by proposing a three-part structure: precolonial age as a luminous period, Spanish colonization as an era of darkness, and the future removal of colonizers as the return of light.
Pantayong Pananaw Framework:
Developer: Introduced by Filipino historian Zeus Salazar.
Core Concept: Translated as the "for us-from us perspective". Focuses on internal conversations and discourse among Filipinos about their own history, conducted in a language understood by all.