READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Assignment No. 1

1. Give one definition of history as an academic discipline.

• Critical and methodical examination, study, interpretation, and recording of

the past
• Conducted by historians who take time to research, interpret, and put past
events into context in a recorded fashion
• Claim to truth of history: based in part on the fact that all the persons or
events it describes really existed or occurred at some time in the past
• History is the substance of what historians create, a narrative analyzing and
explaining events that happened in the past, based on records from the
pertinent era or later, or based upon the recollections of people still living at
the time they were interviewed to preserve those recollections

2. What is historiography? Why is historiography important for students who study

history?

• Definition:
o Writing of history based on critical examination of authentic sources
and materials and writing the synthesis of those details into a
narrative
o method used by historians to do what they do
o It is a step-by-step, rational and evidence-based empirical process,
closely akin to “the scientific method,” teaching the appropriate ways
to collect, sort, analyze, compare, understand, and write about
historical materials. The how of writing of history
o The study of how history was written, by whom, and why it was
recorded as such
o the study of how history is written and how our historical
understanding changes over time
o theory and history of historical writing
o the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an
academic discipline
• Importance:
o gives us a way to re-interpret the biases of a historian's perspective
in a more equitable manner
o allows us to understand the wide range of historical interpretations
and how differing perspectives have shaped the representations of
historical fact
o helps us understand that societal, political, economic, and other
issues may alter the recording of history over time
3. Briefly discuss the following schools of historiography.
a. Positivism
• the belief that historians should pursue the objective truth of the past by
allowing historical sources to "speak for themselves", without additional
interpretation
• Positivists believe that historians should not pass judgment on the past
events in the light of their own values and beliefs.
• Should be objective and logical
• a belief that we should not go beyond the boundaries of what can be
observed

b. Postcolonialism
• a study of the effects of colonialism on cultures and societies.
• is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic
legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human
control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More
specifically, it is a critical theory analysis of the history, culture, literature,
and discourse of (usually European) imperial power.
• On a simple level, through anthropological study, it may seek to build a
better understanding of colonial life—based on the assumption that the
colonial rulers are unreliable narrators—from the point of view of the
colonized people. On a deeper level, postcolonialism examines the
social and political power relationships that sustain colonialism and
neocolonialism, including the social, political and cultural narratives
surrounding the colonizer and the colonized.
• it highlights the impact that colonial and imperial histories still have in
shaping a colonial way of thinking about the world and how Western
forms of knowledge and power marginalise the non-Western world.

c. Annales School of History

• a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed
by French historians in the 20th century to stress long-term social
history.
• named after its scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et
sociale
•
• The goal of the Annales was to undo the work of the Sorbonnistes, to
turn French historians away from the narrowly political and diplomatic
toward the new vistas in social and economic history.
• Annales history further challenged the reductionism of the Marxists and
the structuralism of the social sciences, its main competitors at the
vanguard of postwar historiography. It aimed at a “total history” that
relied heavily on quantification and also yielded dazzling microstudies of
villages and regions
4. Briefly discuss Pantayong Pananaw as a new guiding philosophy for writing and
teaching Philippine history.
• Also called as “Bagong Kasaysayan” or “New History”
• Pantayo = Pang tayo/Pang atin/For Us
• Pananaw = Perspekibo/Perspective
• Discourse within the indigenous tradition developed by Zeus Salazar
• A “For-Us Perspective” or “A-From-Us-For-Us Perspective”
• Discourse is carried on by and among Filipinos, without the inclusion or
interference of outside participants or dominant perspective who are
unwelcoming to Filipino interests
• defined as a method of acknowledging the history and development of
the nation based on the “internal interconnectedness and linking of
characteristics, values, knowledge, wisdom, aspirations, practices,
behavior, and experiences as a unified whole” — a unity that is framed
by and expressed in a single language
• offers a viable alternative to (Western) positivist social science.
• dialogue that consists of both active (speakers) and passive (listeners)
subjects in their own discourses.

Guides for writing and teaching Philippine history:

• Original language of Filipinos and other indigenous groups in the
Philippines must be used in writing Philippine History
o Pantayo believes that foreigners and foreign languages do not
effectively capture or convey the message, local ideas, symbols,
definitions, and feelings of the Filipino psyche
• Pantayong Pananaw supports/in favor of the use of
unconventional/nontraditional type of sources
• Pantayong Pananaw states that historians must also make use of
unconventional sources that are untainted by any foreign biases (since
they represent the foreigners' perspectives and worldviews)
• Filipino historians using the Pantayong Pananaw perspective usually
use least likely sources such as revolutionary songs, soldiers' letters,
poems, plays, games, and sculptures.
• Pantayong Pananaw has also crossed the field of Philippine history and
is now frequently cited by sociologists, linguists and other social
scientists to explain and define the Filipino psychology in sociology,
anthropology and other social science disciplines.

5. Is history an objective discipline? Explain briefly.

• Objectivity holds that any historical writing should be:
o based on solid facts, devoid of sentiments, biases and prejudice
irrespective of tribes, gender, race, sex, and nation
o do not influenced by personal feelings or opinions
o lack of favoritism toward one side or another
o freedom from bias
 • For me, it’s both. Objective because fact is fact, what happened in the
past still happened regardless of what is your opinion of it. But to study
the past, it also needs a bit of subjectivity to connect the dots, to make
one firm conclusion, and to prove that thing is a fact, because not all
evidence of history is already present and are at times destroyed or not
finished, or some people may have interpreted exaggeratedly or
differently depending on what evidence is available to whom and when.
• It needs a bit of subjectivity, but people must also not reject the idea of
objectivity while searching for the truth. We should use objectivity in a
process of comparison with interpretations. If there are more evidence
that will come, people must give up their former beliefs to make a new
account that better fits empirical data.
• Also, all interpretations of historians, might have, at least a small part or
element of subjectivity that will enter along the process of investigations.
Also, not everyone will have all the evidence all of the time, and opinions
about what the facts are, and especially what they mean, is going to
change depending on what evidence is available to whom and when.
So, subjectivity is inevitable.
• Final Answer: For me it’s both objective and subjective. Objective
because fact is a fact, what happened in the past still happened
regardless of what is your opinion of it. But to study the past, it also
needs a bit of subjectivity to connect the dots and to make one firm
conclusion, and I think, the past interpretations of historians might have,
at least a small part or element of subjectivity that entered along the
process of investigations. It is because not all evidence of history is
already present. Some evidence po are destroyed or not finished.
Parang yung subjectivity po is unavoidable. But still, objective pa rin siya
since most historians po do not reject the idea of objectivity while
searching for the truth. They still use objectivity along the process of
investigations. And I think historians give up their former beliefs naman
po kapag may bagong evidence na dumarating to make a new account
that better fits empirical data.

6. Distinguish primary sources from secondary sources. Give two examples of each
category.
• Primary Sources
o Definition:
▪ Firsthand evidence or testimony without any interpretation
or commentary
▪ Displays original thinking, discovery, or information
▪ Most direct evidence of a time or event created by people
that were actually there at the time or event
▪ History: raw materials or foundation of historical research
and writing from the past that historians collect and then
cobble together in their works of historiography
o Examples:
 ▪ Diaries
▪ Journals
▪ speeches
▪ Photographs
▪ Newspaper articles
▪ Government documents
▪ Original artwork
▪ Letters
▪ newspaper
• Secondary Sources
o Definition:
▪ offer an analysis or restatement of primary sources
▪ works which summarize, interpret, reorganize, or
otherwise provide an added value to a primary source
▪ History: books and articles produced by historians like
historiography based in primary sources
o Examples:
▪ Historiographies
▪ Textbooks
▪ Commentaries
▪ Scholarly articles or books

7. Differentiate between external criticism and internal criticism.

a. External Criticism or Lower Criticism
• Authenticity or validity of a document with some sort of historical
significance, once it has been determined to be genuine by external
environment or factors
• It is important because we need to verify if the source is biased or not
• The material is raw, unaltered, and exists exactly as the author left it
• To test the authenticity of the document:
o Who produced the document? (authorship/ personality/
character/ position)
o When was it produced? (period/date/time)
o Where was it produced? (location/place)
o Does the language conform to language used during the period?

b. Internal Criticism or Higher Criticism

• Once a document has been determined to be genuine (external
criticism), researchers will determine or evaluate the credibility of the
document whether the content is accurate, believable, and consistent.
• Always done after the source has been subjected to external criticism

8. What is sociological imagination?

• Ability to connect personal challenges to larger social issues
 • “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be
understood without understanding both.” – C Wright Mills
• term used in the field of sociology to describe a framework for
understanding social reality that places personal experiences within a
broader social and historical context.
• Personal troubles involve an individual’s private problems in relation to
others.
• Public/social issues are forces which are outside of the personal control
of an individual (pervasive poverty, racism, sexism, etc). Personal
troubles can become social issues once they’re pervasive enough (once
a problem is faced by majority)
• Studying history was an important element in sociological imagination.
Learning history can help us view our lives within the context of others,
based on past experiences. That provides us a better basis for
understanding our own actions, and the actions of our community as a
result of systems used throughout history, which can be valuable in
viewing our own lives and in explaining the world to others.
• In summary, sociological imagination is an ability to see the context
which shapes your individual decision making, as well as the decisions
made by others. But the reason why it’s useful is because it allows us to
better identify and question various aspects of society, as opposed to
passively living within it. Essentially, someone who can exercise
sociological imagination is better equipped to make smarter personal
choices
• Has 3 components:
o Tracing the interconnection between individual’s behavioral
patterns and the larger social forces
o Learning to identify the system generated behavior of human
beings
o Identifying the social forces which are shaping the individual’s
behavior

9. Major Sociological and Anthropological Perspectives

• Sociology – the study of the development, structure, and functioning of
human society; focuses more on group behavior and relations with social
structures and institutions; studies the ways groups of people interact with
each other and how their behavior is influenced by social structures,
categories (age, gender, sexuality), and institutions.
o Sociological Perspective – an approach to understanding human
behavior by placing it within its broader social context.
• Anthropology – the study of human societies and cultures and their
development; The study of what makes us human; studies human behavior
at the individual level
o Anthropological Perspective – understanding humankind in terms of
the dynamic interrelationships of all aspects of human existence
a. structural-functionalism
• a sociological theory that explains why society functions the way it
does by emphasizing on the relationships between the various social
institutions that make up society
• one of the key ideas in Structural Functionalism is that society is
made-up of groups or institutions, which are cohesive, share
common norms, and have a definitive culture. Another key
characteristic of Structural Functionalism is that it views society as
constantly striving to be at a state of equilibrium, which suggests
there is an inherent drive within human societies to cohere or stick
together.
• It asserts that our lives are guided by social structures, which are
relatively stable patterns of social behavior.
• Social structures give shape to our lives - for example, in families,
the community, and through religious organizations. And certain
rituals, such as a handshake or complex religious ceremonies, give
structure to our everyday lives. Each social structure has social
functions, or consequences for the operation of society as a whole.
• main points: maintenance of social stability, collective functioning,
and social evolution
• https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Sociological_Theory/Structural_Functi
onalism

b. social conflict and Marxist anthropology

• Social Conflict Theory
o a Marxist-based social theory
o argues that individuals and groups (social classes) within
society interact on the basis of conflict rather than consensus.
- sociology
o assume that all societies have structural power divisions and
resource inequalities that lead to groups having conflicting
interests
o Conflict theory holds that social order is maintained by
domination and power, rather than by consensus and
conformity. - Anthropology
o occurs when two or more people oppose each other in social
interaction, and each exerts social power with reciprocity in an
effort to achieve incompatible goals but prevent the other from
attaining their own.
o A theory that emphasizes the role of coercion, conflict, and
power in society and that social inequality will inevitably occur
because of differing interests and values between groups,
particularly the competition for scarce resources.
o a macro-oriented paradigm in sociology that views society as
an arena of inequality that generates conflict and social
change. Key elements in this perspective are that society is
 structured in ways to benefit a few at the expense of the
majority, and factors such as race, sex, class, and age are
linked to social inequality.
o To a social conflict theorist, it is all about dominant group
versus minority group relations
• Marxist Anthropology
o based largely on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels
o focuses on the ways how material factors cause social
transformation
o the study of social class, class conflict, economics, production
and distribution, and their relationship to social change within
a community.
o an economic interpretation of history based primarily on the
works of Karl Marx and Frederich Engels
o an anthropological theory used to study different cultures
around the world
o Key Terms for Marxist Anthropology:
▪ Social class: the cultural arraignment of groups of
people within a society
▪ Peasants: agriculturalists integrated into the global
economy; agricultural labor force
▪ Capitalism: an economic system where the means of
production are privately owned and used to make a
private profit
▪ Production: the manufacture and distribution of goods
▪ Mode of Production: A set of social relations through
which labor is deployed by means of tools, skills, and
knowledge
▪ Ideology: Karl Marx used this term to describe a system
of beliefs that influences the outlook of individuals and
groups
▪ Materialism: a theory that matter is the only reality

c. symbolic interactionism and symbolic and interpretive anthropology

• Symbolic Interactionism
o a perspective that sees society as the product of shared
symbols, such as language. The social world is therefore
constructed by the meanings that individuals attach to
events and social interactions, and these symbols are
transmitted across the generations through language.
o assumes that people respond to elements of their
environments according to the subjective meanings they
attach to those elements, such as meanings being created
and modified through social interaction involving symbolic
communication with other people.
 o a theoretical framework in sociology that describes how
societies are created and maintained through the repeated
actions of individuals
o In simple terms, people in society understand their social
worlds through communication — the exchange of
meaning through language and symbols.
o pays attention to individuals’ subjective viewpoints and
how they make sense of the world from their own
perspective

o
o
• Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology
o the study of symbols in their social and cultural context
o states that symbols are learned and shared. This means
that most symbols can be recognized by the people in that
culture and often by people in other cultures. It also states
that symbols are vehicles of culture, meaning they hold
cultural meaning and significance. Symbols also transmit
meaning and communicate ways that people should view
the world and feel about the world.
o assumes that culture does not exist beyond individuals.
Rather, culture lies in individuals’ interpretations of events
and things around them. With a reference to socially
established signs and symbols, people shape the patterns
of their behaviors and give meanings to their experiences.
Therefore, the goal of Symbolic and Interpretive
Anthropology is to analyze how people give meanings to
their reality and how this reality is expressed by their
cultural symbols. The major accomplishment of symbolic
anthropology has been to turn anthropology towards
issues of culture and interpretation rather than grand
theories.

10. Anthropological viewpoint

a. cultural relativism
 • refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is
right or wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try to
understand cultural practices of other groups in its own cultural
context.
• attempts to counter ethnocentrism by promoting the
understanding of cultural practices unfamiliar to other cultures.
• Understanding cultural relativism enables one to escape the
unconscious bond of their culture which biases their perceptions
and reaction to the world. It also helps one to make sense of a
different culture.
• It can help to understand different cultures better and to learn
from them. It can also help to reduce tensions between different
groups. Cultural relativism is also important because it allows
people to accept different cultures while still respecting their
differences.
b. Ethnocentrism
• usual definition of the term is "thinking one's own group's ways
are superior to others" or "judging other groups as inferior to one's
own"
• evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions
originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture.
• Ethnocentrism is measuring or judging one's own culture against
another culture and can lead to judging someone else's culture
negatively.
• a term applied to the cultural or ethnic bias—whether conscious
or unconscious—in which an individual views the world from the
perspective of his or her own group, establishing the in-group as
archetypal and rating all other groups with reference to this ideal.
c. culture-specific
• encourage deep understanding of one cultural context through
detailed cultural knowledge.