READINGS IN PHILIPPINE

HISTORY
 COURSE DESCRIPTION

“PHILIPPINE HISTORY VIEWED FROM

THE LENS OF SELECTED PRIMARY
SOURCES IN DIFFERENT PERIODS,
ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATIONS.”
WHAT IS THE FOCUS OF THE COURSE?

• THE FOCUS OF THE COURSE IS TO

DEVELOP HISTORIOGRAPHICAL
SKILLS CONNECTED TO CONTEXT
AND CONTENT ANALYSIS, APPLYING
BOTH ANALYTICAL STRATEGIES IN
THEMES AND TOPICS ACROSS THE
PHILIPPINE PAST.
• PRIMARY SOURCES WILL BE THE
ULTIMATE BRIDGE BETWEEN THE
PAST AND THE PRESENT, ALLOWING
SPACES FOR STUDENTS TO SIMPLY
NOT PARROT FACTS ABOUT THE
PAST BUT TO GAIN KNOWLEDGE
THAT CAN BE USED IN PROPOSING
SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF
TODAY.
 ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK
• THIS BOOK IS DIVIDED INTO FIVE
CHAPTERS:
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY:
DEFINITION, ISSUES, SOURCES, AND
METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER 2: CONTENT AND CONTEXTUAL
ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PRIMARY
SOURCES IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
• CHAPTER 3: PHILIPPINE HISTORY:
SPACES FOR CONFLICT AND
CONTROVERSIES

• CHAPTER 4: SOCIAL, POLITICAL,

ECONOMIC, AND CONFLICT ISSUES IN
PHILIPPINE HISTORY

• CHAPTER 5: DOING HISTORY: A GUIDE

FOR STUDENTS
 CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY:
DEFINITION, ISSUES, SOURCES, AND
METHODOLOGY
 HISTORY
• WAS DERIVED FROM THE GREEK WORD
HISTORIA WHICH MEANS “ KNOWLEDGE
ACQUIRED THROUGH INQUIRY OR
INVESTIGATION.”
• IS A DISCIPLINE EXISTED FOR AROUND
2,400 YEARS AND IS AS OLD AS
MATHEMATICS AND PHILOSOPHY.
 HISTORIA

• BECAME KNOWN AS THE ACCOUNT

OF THE PAST OF A PERSON OR A
GROUP OF PEOPLE THROUGH
WRITTEN DOCUMENTS AND
HISTORICAL EVIDENCES.
 HISTORY AND ITS RELATION TO
OTHER FIELDS OF DISCIPLINE

• ARCHAEOLOGY- WITH THE AID OF

ARCHAEOLOGISTS, HISTORIANS CAN
USE ARTIFACTS FROM A BYGONE ERA TO
STUDY ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS THAT
WERE FORMERLY IGNORED IN HISTORY
BECAUSE OF LACK OF DOCUMENTS.
• LINGUISTIC-LINGUISTS CAN ALSO BE
HELPFUL IN TRACING HISTORICAL
EVOLUTIONS, PAST CONNECTIONS
AMONG DIFFERENT GROUPS, AND
FLOW OF CULTURAL INFLUENCE BY
STUDYING LANGUAGE AND THE
CHANGES THAT IT IS HAS UNDERGONE.
• EVEN SCIENTISTS LIKE BIOLOGISTS AND
BIOCHEMISTS CAN HELP WITH THE
STUDY OF THE PAST THROUGH
ANALYZING GENETIC AND DNA
PATTERNS OF HUMAN SOCIETIES.
 QUESTIONS AND ISSUES IN HISTORY

• WHAT IS HISTORY?

• WHY STUDY HISTORY?

• AND HISTORY FOR WHOM?

 HISTORIOGRAPHY

• IS THE HISTORY OF HISTORY.

• HISTORY- THE OBJECT OF STUDY IS THE
PAST, THE EVENTS THAT HAPPENED IN
THE PAST, AND THE CAUSES OF SUCH
EVENTS.
• HISTORIOGRAPHY- THE OBJECT OF STUDY, ON
THE OTHER HAND IS HISTORY ITSELF (i.e.,HOW
WAS A CERTAIN HISTORICAL TEXT WRITTEN ?
WHO WROTE IT? WHAT WAS THE CONTEXT OF
ITS PUBLICATION? WHAT PARTICULAR
HISTORICAL METHOD WAS EMPLOYED ? WHAT
WERE THE SOURCES USED?)
• HISTORIOGRAPHY-IS IMPORTANT FOR
SOMEONE WHO STUDIES HISTORY BECAUSE IT
TEACHES THE STUDENT TO BE CRITICAL IN THE
LESSONS OF HISTORY PRESENTED TO HIM.
 POSITIVISM
• IS THE SCHOOL OF THOUGHT THAT
EMERGED BETWEEN THE EIGHTEENTH
AND NINETEENTH CENTURY. THIS
THOUGHT REQUIRES EMPIRICAL AND
OBSERVABLE EVIDENCE BEFORE ONE
CAN CLAIM THAT A PARTICULAR
KNOWLEDGE IS TRUE.
 POSTCOLONIALISM
• IS A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT THAT
EMERGED IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH
CENTURY WHEN FORMERLY COLONIZED
NATIONS GRAPPLED WITH THE IDEA OF
CREATING THEIR IDENTITIES AND
UNDERSTANDING THEIR SOCIETIES
AGAINST THE SHADOWS OF THEIR
COLONIAL PAST.
 HISTORY AND THE HISTORIAN
• HISTORIAN- IS A PERSON OF HIS OWN
WHO IS INFLUENCED BY HIS OWN
CONTEXT, ENVIRONMENT, IDEOLOGY,
EDUCATION, AND INFLUENCES, AMONG
OTHERS.
• IT IS THE JOB OF THE HISTORIAN TO GIVE
MEANING TO THESE FACTS AND ORGANIZE
THEM INTO A TIMELINE, ESTABLISH
CAUSES, AND WRITE HISTORY.
 HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY
• COMPRISES CERTAIN TECHNIQUES
AND RULES THAT HISTORIANS
FOLLOW IN ORDER TO PROPERLY
UTILIZE SOURCES AND HISTORICAL
EVIDENCES IN WRITING HISTORY.
 THE ANNALES SCHOOL OF
HISTORY
• IS A SCHOOL OF HISTORY BORN IN
FRANCE THAT CHALLENGED THE
CANONS OF HISTORY. THIS SCHOOL OF
THOUGHT DID AWAY WITH THE
COMMON HISTORICAL SUBJECTS THAT
WERE ALMOST ALWAYS RELATED TO THE
CONDUCT OF STATES AND MONARCHS.
 HISTORICAL SOURCES
• THE HISTORIAN’S MOST IMPORTANT
RESEARCH TOOLS.
• CAN BE CLASSIFIED BETWEEN PRIMARY
AND SECONDARY SOURCES.
• THE CLASSIFICATION OF SOURCES
BETWEEN THESE TWO CATEGORIES
DEPENDS ON THE HISTORICAL SUBJECT
BEING STUDIED.
 CLASSIFY THE FOLLOWING INTO
PRIMARY, SECONDARY OR TERTIARY
SOURCES
• INTERVIEWS • ART OBJECTS
• SURVEYS • BOOK OR MOVIE
• PERFORMANCE REVIEWS
• BIOGRAPHY • ESSAY OR A
• DISSERTATION TREATY
• LETTERS • EYEWITNESS
ACCOUNTS
 PRIMARY SOURCES
• ARE THOSE SOURCES PRODUCED AT THE SAME
TIME AS THE EVENT, PERIOD, OR SUBJECT BEING
STUDIED.
• FOR EXAMPLE, IF A HISTORIAN WISHES TO STUDY
THE COMMONWEALTH CONSTITUTION
CONVENTION OF 1935, HIS PRIMARY SOURCES CAN
INCLUDE THE MINUTES OF THE CONVENTION,
NEWSPAPER, CLIPPINGS, PHIL. COMMISSION
REPORTS OF U.S. COMMISSIONERS, RECORDS OF
THE CONVENTION, THE DRAFT OF THE
CONSTITUTION, AND EVEN PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE
EVENT.
 OTHER EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY
SOURCES
• HISTORICAL & LEGAL DOCUMENTS
• EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
• RESULT OF EXPERIMENTS
• STATISTICAL DATA
• PIECES OF CREATIVE WRITING
• AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDINGS
SPEECHES
• ART OBJECTS
• INTERVIEWS
• SURVEYS
• FIELDWORK
• INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS VIA
EMAIL, BLOGS
• NEWS GROUPS
• PERFORMANCE
• POEM
 SECONDARY SOURCES
• ARE THOSE SOURCES, WHICH WERE
PRODUCED BY AN AUTHOR WHO USED
PRIMARY SOURCES TO PRODUCE THE
MATERIAL. IN OTHER WORDS,
SECONDARY SOURCES ARE HISTORICAL
SOURCES, WHICH STUDIED A CERTAIN
HISTORICAL SUBJECT.
 EXAMPLE OF SECONDARY SOURCES
• ON THE SUBJECT OF THE PHILIPPINE
REVOLUTION OF 1896, STUDENTS CAN READ
TEODORO AGONCILLO’S REVOLT OF THE
MASSES: THE STORY OF BONIFACIO AND THE
KATIPUNAN PUBLISHED ORIGINALLY IN 1956.
THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION HAPPENED IN
THE LAST YEARS OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY WHILE AGONCILLO PUBLISHED HIS
WORK IN 1956, WHICH MAKES THE REVOLT
OF THE MASSES A SECONDARY SOURCE.
 OTHER EXAMPLE OF SECONDARY
SOURCES
• ARTICLES IN NEWSPAPERS OR POPULAR
MAGAZINES
• BOOK OR MOVIE REVIEWS
• ARTICLES, FOUND IN SCHOLARLY JOURNALS
THAT DISCUSS OR EVALUATE SOMEONE ELSE’S
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
• BIOGRAPHY
• DISSERTATION
• ESSAY OR A TREATY
WHEN IS A PRIMARY SOURCE A
SECONDARY SOURCE?
• PS AND SS OFTEN DEPENDS UPON THE TOPIC
AND ITS USE.
• A BIOLOGY TEXTBOOK WOULD BE CONSIDERED
A SECONDARY SOURCE IF IN THE FIELD OF
BIOLOGY, SINCE IT DESCRIBES AND INTERPRETS
THE SCIENCE BUT MAKES NO ORIGINAL
CONTRIBUTION TO IT.
• ON THE OTHER HAND, IF THE TOPIC IS SCIENCE
EDUCATION AND THE HISTORY OF TEXTBOOKS,
TEXTBOOKS COULD BE USED A PRIMARY
SOURCES TO LOOK AT HOW THEY HAVE
CHANGED OVER TIME.
 TERTIARY SOURCES
• ARE SOURCES THAT IDENTIFY AND LOCATE
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES. THESE
CAN INCUDE BIBLIOGRAPHIES, INDEXES,
ABSTRACTS, ENCYCLOPEDIAS, AND OTHER
REFERENCE RESOURCES, AVAILABLE IN
MULTIPLE FORMATS, i.e. SOME ARE ONLINE,
OTHERS ONLY IN PRINT.
HISTORIANS AND STUDENTS OF HISTORY NEED
TO THOROUGHLY SCRUTINIZE THESE SOURCES
TO AVOID DECEPTION AND TO COME UP WITH
THE HISTORICAL TRUTH
• EXTERNAL CRITICISM- IS THE PRACTICE OF
VERIFYING THE AUTHENTICITY OF EVIDENCE
BY EXAMINING ITS PHYSICAL
CHARACTERISTICS; CONSISTENCY WITH THE
HISTORICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF THE TIME
WHEN IT WAS PRODUCED; AND THE
MATERIALS USED FOR THE EVIDENCE.
EXAMPLES OF THE THINGS THAT WILL
BE EXAMINED WHEN CONDUCTING
EXTERNAL CRITICISM OF A
DOCUMENT INCLUDE:
• THE QUALITY OF THE PAPER
• THE TYPE OF THE INK
• THE LANGUAGE AND WORDS USED
IN THE MATERIAL, AMONG OTHERS.
 INTERNAL CRITICISM
• IS THE EXAMINATION OF THE TRUTHFULNESS
OF THE EVIDENCE. IT LOOKS AT THE CONTENT
OF THE SOURCE AND EXAMINES THE
CIRCUMSTANCE OF ITS PRODUCTION. IT LOOKS
AT THE TRUTHFULNESS AND FACTUALITY OF
THE EVIDENCE BY LOOKING AT THE AUTHOR
OF THE SOURCE, ITS CONTEXT, THE AGENDA
BEHIND ITS CREATION, THE KNOWLEDGE
WHICH INFORMED IT, AND ITS INTENDED
PURPOSE, AMONG OTHERS.
 EXAMPLE OF INTERNAL CRITICISM
• JAPANESE REPORTS AND DECLARATIONS
DURING THE PERIOD OF THE WAR SHOULD NOT
BE TAKEN AS A HISTORICAL FACT HASTILY.
• INTERNAL CRITICISM ENTAILS THAT THE
HISTORIAN ACKNOWLEDGE AND ANALYZE HOW
MUCH REPORTS CAN BE MANIPULATED TO BE
USED AS WAR PROPAGANDA.
• WITHOUT THOROUGH CRITICISMS OF
HISTORICAL EVIDENCES, HISTORICAL
DECEPTIONS AND LIES WILL BE HIGHLY
PROBABLE.
 PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY
• UNDERWENT SEVERAL CHANGES SINCE THE
PRECOLONIAL PERIOD UNTIL THE PRESENT.
ANCIENT FILIPINOS NARRATED THEIR
HISTORY THROUGH COMMUNAL SONGS AND
EPICS THAT THEY PASSED ORALLY FROM A
GENERATION TO ANOTHER. WHEN THE
SPANIARDS CAME, THEIR CHRONICLERS
STARTED RECORDING THEIR OBSERVATIONS
THROUGH WRITTEN ACCOUNTS.
ANY QUESTION?
 EXPECTED OUTPUT
▪ IN NOT MORE THAN 100 WORDS, WRITE
YOUR
INSIGHTS/IMPRESSION/LEARNINGS ON
THIS LESSON.