Meaning and Relevance of History

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 • History is the recorded experience of the human race, and man

HISTORY can profit from experience in any field of knowledge

• Systematic account of phenomena

Without history, we
shall be in hourly History is both humanities
danger of being
deceived by ignorant and social sciences
braggarts, who not
frequently hail as a
new discovery what
men and believed History cannot be
many thousand of
years ago (Gotthold
reconstructed fully
Ephraim)

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

WHY STUDY HISTORY
Curiosity about the past of one’s family or locality

Urge to explain to one self the origins of one’s culture

Patriotism

Understand social background

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 • History is the recorded experience of the human race, and man

HISTORY can profit from experience in any field of knowledge

• Systematic account of phenomena

• Historian is both, guardian of

historical heritage and narrator of
human culture
• His responsibility shifts from the obligation to acquire a
complete knowledge of the irrecoverable past by means of the
surviving evidence to that of recreating a verisimilar image of
as much of the past as the evidence makes recoverable

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

From Reliable Sources

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

PRIMARY VERSUS SECONDARY

• Testimony of the witness, or of a

witness by any other of the senses
PRIMARY
• Produce a contemporary of the
events it narrates

SECONDARY • Testimony who is not an eyewitness

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 • Materials from which historians construct meanings
SOURCE • An object of the past or testimony concerning the past
which historians depend in the depiction of the past

Kinds of Sources
intentional
Relics / remains

Testimonies unintentional

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

SOURCE TYPOLOGIES: UNWRITTEN
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
ORAL EVIDENCE
EVIDENCE
Articles from daily
life, artistic Tales, folk songs,
creations, roads, protest songs,
bridges, coins, popular rituals
paintings

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 ARTIFACTS AS SOURCES OF HISTORY
• Results of events in history
• written or not; they are raw materials out of which history can be written (Gottschalk)

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
 Sinikap sabihin ni ina
Para sa iyo mahal kong anak
Kumain ka sa aking dulang
Dibdib ko ‘tong mabango
Doon ika’y mabasa
Tulad ng bulaklak

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

SOURCE TYPOLOGIES: WRITTEN
NARRATIVE DIPLOMATIC/JUDICIAL SOCIAL DOCUMENTS

Products of record-
Written to impart a keeping; contains
Legal instrument
particular message economic, social, political
and judicial import

Municipal accounts, tax

e.g. scientific tract, novel, Ordinances, statutes,
rolls, registry, lists of
film, biography, judgments of courts
leaders

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
Select subject for analysis

Collection of probable sources

Examination of credibility of sources

Extraction of credible particulars from the source

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

HOW TO IDENTIFY RELIABILITY OF SOURCES
Jan Vansina
HISTORIANS
Is the narrator a witness?
must verify via
Does the narrative come to the researcher via
external
a social institution?

Does the narrative coherent with the language,

evidence.
style, ritual and norms of the period?

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

HISTORIANS MUST CONSIDER
Conditions under
The ways a given
which a source was
produced
Historical source was created, Content of
why and how it was
(historiographical
context)
context preserved text

Author Institution
Publisher audience
and issues al location

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

RELIABILITY OF SOURCES ( Louis Gottschalk)
the closer the time of making a
document was to the event it records, the better it is likely to be for
historical purposes
the more serious the author's intention to make a mere record,
the more dependable his document as a historical source
the fewer the number for whose eyes the document was meant
(i.e., the greater its confidential nature), the more "naked" its contents are
likely to be
Testimony of an experienced or expert is more reliable than a casual
writer

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

AUTHENTICITY OF SOURCES

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 WHY
DOCUMENTS
ARE BOLSTER FALSE
SALE OR MONEY
FABRICATED? CLAIM AS TITLE

POLITICAL MISLEAD
PROPAGANDA CONTEMPORARIES

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 TEST OF AUTHENTICITY

Making best Examines Best guess

materials to see Use of
guess of the who the
whether they technical
date of the are not possible
tools
document ‘anachronistic’* author

* Chronological inconsistencies

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

CLIO’S LABORATORY
PALEOGRAPHY DIPLOMATICS STATISTICS ARCHAEOLOGY

Allied geology,
chemistry,
Science of Marriage, birth
physics, biology,
charters, records of
Study of
terminological populations,
handwriting
conventions economic
and formulas growth Use of scientific
tools

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

ADDITIONAL TECHINICAL TOOLS
Sigillography Chronology Codicology Papyrology

Epigraphy Heraldry Numismatics Linguistics

Genealogy Proposography

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

ADDITIONAL TECHINICAL TOOLS
Sigillography Study of seals
Chronology Study of different ways of keeping and marking time
Codicology Study of handwritten books
Papyrology Study of writing papyrus
Epigraphy Study of texts written on stone or metal
Heraldry Study of coat of arms
Numismatics Study of coins
Linguistics Study of grammars, vocabularies
Genealogy Study of family relationship
Proposography Use of biographical materials to construct group portraits

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
 • Chronologist clarifies the various calendars that have
been in the use in different places at different times
and makes it possible to translate dating from one
CHRONOLOGY calendar into the others

Julian Gregorian
Calendar Calendar
• Julian Calendar, named after Julius Ceasar, supposed to start at winter solstice but
started January 1 as what tradition was. It spread because of the Roman Empire.
• Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar in the 16th century
• Recalculation of dates; e.g. Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 is still referred as OCTOBER
REVOLUTION but commemorated November 7

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Challenges in Analysis

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 ▪ Semantics
Challenges in
▪ Two or more different text
Analysis of the same document
▪ problem in understanding
and appreciating behavior
in contemporary setting

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

THE MECHANISM OF COMMUNICATION:
THREE PHASES
• By people
MESSENGER who walked DANGERS OF ‘SHORT-CIRCUITING’
and ran with
news OF INFORMATION FLOWS
• Tales told orally can
PACK • Courier easily change in the
system using
ANIMALS animals
telling
• Message delivered
electronically can be
• Telegraph, literally distorted
MECHANICAL telephone, fax,
radio, tv, • Listener or reader can
MEDIA • World as ‘global
misinterpret what is
village’
reported

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 CHALLENGES SOLUTIONS

• Few events actually recorded

• People who produced • microfilms
STORING originally collected
documents did not think they
• Creations of
storage centers
INFORMATION were worth saving
• Archives frequently destroyed
from documents
in catastrophe, fire, war
• Many institutions and that have lost
individuals do not seek
aggressive to preserve official use but
records cannot vet
• Quality of materials on which
records are kept
• There is too much to collect,
archivist overwhelmed by
task deciding what to save,
what to discard

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF SOURCES

Source must be
comprehensible at the Source must be
Source must be
most basic level of carefully located in
checked of authenticity
language, handwriting, place and time
vocabulary

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

EXTERNAL CRITICISM VERSUS INTERNAL CRITICISM

EXTERNAL INTERNAL
lower criticism higher criticism
Meaning and trustworthiness of the
Checks genuineness of document
the document Value and worth of its content
AUTHORSHIP AND CIRCUMSTANCE: time, Questions author’s motive, competence
place and purpose and accuracy

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

SOURCE CRITICISM
GENEALOGY • Original, copy of an original, copy of copy
GENESIS • Where source was produced, by whom
ORIGINALITY • If documents are products of intellectual tradition
INTERPRETATION • Deciphering intended meaning
AUTHORIAL
• With what authority does the author speak
AUTHORITY

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

SOURCE CRITICISM

• Psychological state of the author, selectivity of report,

COMPETENCE OF
prejudices, outside influences especially those of higher
OBSERVER
authorities

• People lie hence the need to study life of individual; check

TRUSTWORTHINESS
for inconsistencies, lapses, suppressions in the story of the
OF THE OBSERVER
document tells

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 • relevant particular within the
WHAT IS document rather than the document
HISTORICAL as a whole
FACT? • CREDIBLE: is not what happened but
that it is close to what actually
particular derived happened as we learn from critical
direct or indirectly examination of the best available
from historical
documents and sources
regarded as • FIND RELEVANT PARTICULARS, then,
credible after
careful testing in SEPARATE CREDIBLE FROM
accordance with INCREDIBLE
canon of historical
method
MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Meet the document.
Observe its parts.
Try to make sense of it.
Use it as historical evidence.

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

ARTICLE I
You shall not kill, neither shall you steal, neither shall you do harm to the aged, lest you incur the danger of death. All those
who infringe this order shall be condemned to death by being drowned in the river, or in boiling water.

ARTICLE II
You shall obey. Let all your debts with the headman be met punctually. He who does not obey shall receive for the first time
one hundred lashes. If the debt is large, he shall be condemned to thrust his hand in boiling water thrice. For the second
time, he shall be beaten to death.
ARTICLE III
Obey you: let no one have women that are very young nor more than he can support; nor be given to excessive lust. He who
does not comply with, obey, and observe this order shall be condemned to swim for three hours for the first time and for the
second time, to be beaten to death with sharp thorns.
ARTICLE IV
Observe and obey; let no one disturb the quiet of the graves. When passing by the caves and trees where they are, give
respect to them. He who does not observe this shall be killed by ants, or beaten to death with thorns.
ARTICLE V
You shall obey; he who exchanges for food, let it be always done in accordance with his word. He who does not comply, shall
be beaten for one hour, he who repeats the offense shall be exposed for one day among ants.
The fingers shall be cut-off: of all those who break idols of wood and clay in their alangans and temples; of those who
destroy the daggers of the tagalons, or break the drinking jars of the latter.

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

ARTICLE VI
You shall be obliged to revere sights that are held in respect, such as those of trees of recognized
worth and other sights. He who fails to comply shall pay with one month's work in gold or in
honey.
ARTICLE VII
These shall be put to death; he who kills trees of venerable appearance; who shoot arrows at
night at old men and women; he who enters the houses of the headmen without permission; he
who kills a shark or a streaked cayman.
ARTICLE VIII
Slavery for a doam (a certain period of time) shall be suffered by those who steal away the women
of the headmen; by him who keep ill-tempered dogs that bite the headmen; by him who burns
the fields of another.
ARTICLE IX
All these shall be beaten for two days: who sing while traveling by night; kill the Manaul; tear the
documents belonging to the headmen; are malicious liars; or who mock the dead.
ARTICLE X
It is decreed an obligation; that every mother teach secretly to her daughters matters pertaining
to lust and prepare them for womanhood; let not men be cruel nor punish their women when
they catch them in the act of adultery. Whoever shall disobey shall be killed by being cut to pieces
and thrown to the caymans.
MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
ARTICLE XI
These shall be burned: who by their strength or cunning have mocked at and escaped punishment or who
have killed young boys; or try to steal away the women of the elders.

ARTICLE XII
These shall be drowned: all who interfere with their superiors, or their owners or masters; all those who
abuse themselves through their lust; those who destroy their anitos (idols) by breaking them or throwing
them down.
ARTICLE XIII
All these shall be exposed to ants for half a day: who kill black cats during a new moon; or steal anything
from the chiefs or agorangs, however small the object may be.
ARTICLE XIV
These shall be made slave for life: who have beautiful daughters and deny them to the sons of chiefs, and
with bad faith hide them away.
ARTICLE XV
Concerning beliefs and superstitions; these shall be beaten: who eat the diseased flesh of beasts which
they hold in respect, or the herb which they consider good, who wound or kill the young of the Manaul,
or the white monkey.
ARTICLE XVI
The fingers shall be cut-off: of all those who break idols of wood and clay in their alangans and temples;
of those who destroy the daggers of the tagalons, or break the drinking jars of the latter.

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

assess text within the context of its historical and

cultural setting, and its textuality
Systematic study of social, political, economic,
philosophical, religious and aesthetic conditions
that were in a place at the time and place when
the text was created

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Historical context refers to the moods, attitudes, and conditions that
existed in a certain time. Context is the 'setting' for an event that
occurs, and it will have an impact on the relevance of the
event. Context is an important factor to consider when describing
something in history

Historical context refers to the time period in which a story occurs.

Both historical events (like wars) and time periods (like the Great
Depression) can influence a story.

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
 SUMMARY
❑ History is more than the chronology of events. History is the analysis of the events in
the past.
❑ History cannot be fully reconstructed. Historians must complete the gap.
❑Source is an object of the past or testimony concerning the past which historians
depend in the depiction of the past.
❑There are two kinds of sources: primary and secondary
❑Louis Gottschalk Reliability of Sources: TIME, INTENT, AUDIENCE and EXPERIENCE
❑External criticism value’s authorship: time and authenticity of the document
❑Internal criticism looks into the motive and accuracy of the writer.

MADGUMERA • DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY