Readings in

Philippine History
 Meaning of History
 Sources of History
 Locating Primary Sources
 Historical Criticism
 Colonial Historiography
 Philippine Historiography After World War II
 Characteristics of Contemporary Philippine
Historiography
 “In order to know the destiny of
the people, it is necessary to open
the book of its past.”
- Jose Rizal (The Philippines A Century Hence)
 study of past events presented in chronological
order and with explanation

 sanaysay na may saysay

 kwento na may kwenta
▪ Historians - Individuals who write about history

▪ Historiography - the practice of historical writing

Historiography
 Lesson
Navigator
Classified into two:
1. Primary Sources
2. Secondary Sources

Another type of classification are:

1. written and non-written
2. published or unpublished
3. textual, oral or visual sources
1. Primary Sources – testimony of an eyewitness

❑ they are either participants or witnesses

❑ It must have been produced by a contemporary

of the event it narrates (Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History)
Primary sources are characterized by their content,
regardless of whether they are available in original
format, in microfilm/microfiche, in digital format, or in
published format
(http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primaryso
urces/primarysources.html)
These sources range from eyewitness accounts, diaries,
letters, legal documents, and official documents
(government or private) and even photographs
2. Secondary Sources
 interpret and analyze primary sources. These
sources are one or more steps removed from the
event. (http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html)
 Examples of Secondary Sources
 History textbook
 Printed materials (serials, periodicals which
interprets previous research)
 Practical Example/Worksheet

Topic: Tejeros Convention

 Primary Source: Santiago Alvarez’ account
 Secondary Source: Teodoro Agoncillo’s Revolt of the
Masses
a. Documents
❑ Published materials
✓ Books, magazines, journals,
✓ Travelogue
✓ Transcription of Speech

❑ Unpublished materials - any handwritten or typed record that has not been printed
✓ Manuscript
✓ Archival materials
✓ Memoirs, diary
b. Archaeological Records
❑ Fossils
❑ Artifacts

c. Oral and Video Accounts

a. Documents
❑ Published materials
✓ Books, magazines, journals,
✓ Travelogue
✓ transcription of speech

❑ Unpublished materials - any handwritten or typed record

that has not been printed
✓ Manuscript
✓ Archival materials
✓ Memoirs, diary
b. Archaeological Records
Fossils

Artifacts
c. Oral and Video Accounts
 Four examples of primary sources related to visual
imagery are the following:

1. Maps
2. Photographs
3. Sketches, Drawings, Paintings
4. Cartoons
 Generally used to indicate locations as well as
topography

 Reveals how space and geography were being used

to emphasize trade routes, travel routes, structural
build up, etc.
17th Century Map of the
Taal Lake area in
Batangas
 Paintings and other art works are visual
representations based on the artist’s expression
or interpretation of events and ideas. These
become useful historical sources when we have to
know or understand the context of the period in
which they are made.
 Photographs reflect social conditions of historical
realities and everyday life.

 It also gives us visual ideas of places, historical

events as well as people.
The Manunggul Jar
- recovered at Manunggul Cave in
Palawan.
- an elaborately designed burial jar with
anthropomorphic figures on top of the
cover that represent souls sailing to the
afterworld in a death boat.
-The Manunggul jar was declared a
National Cultural Treasure.
Callao Man (67,000 years
old)
The latest discovery of what
is now considered the oldest
human fossil remains found
in the Philippines.
Discovered in 2007 at the
Callao Caves in Penablanca,
Cagayan Valley.
Photo shows the remains of
the foot bone found in the
cave excavations.
Calatagan, Batangas
Excavated by Dr. Robert Fox in 1958, the
burial site of Calatagan yielded 505 burials
and 521 associated ceramics, porcelains and
stoneware jars from China, Thailand, and
Vietnam, as well as hundreds of local
earthenware and iron tools.
The Asian tradeware ceramics of the site
date to the early to mid-Ming Dynasty
(14th-15th centuries AD).
Document written in
baybayin
19th century photograph showing women vendors in a public market .
 Quiapo Church
UST Main Building
In order for a source to be used as evidence in history,
basic matters about its form and content must be settled

▪ External Criticism

▪ Internal Criticism
What is External Criticism?

 The problem of authenticity

 To spot fabricated, forged, faked documents
 To distinguish a hoax or misrepresentation
1. Determine the date of the document to see whether
they are anachronistic
e.g. pencils did not exist before the 16th century
2. Determine the author
e.g. handwriting, signature, seal

(Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History)

3. Anachronistic style
e.g. idiom, ortography, punctuation

4. Anachronistic reference to events

e.g. too early, too. late, too remote

5. Provenance or custody
e.g. determines its genuineness
(Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History)
6. Semantics – determining the meaning of a text or word

7. Hermeneutics –determining ambiguities

(Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History)

❑ The Problem of Credibility
- Relevant particulars in the document – is it credible?
❑ Verisimilar – as close as what really happened from a
critical examination of best available sources

(Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History)

1. Identification of the author
e.g. to determine his reliability; mental processes, personal
attitudes

2. Determination of the approximate date

e.g. handwriting, signature, seal
(Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History)
3. Ability to tell the truth
e.g. nearness to the event, competence of witness, degree of
attention

4. Willingness to tell the truth

e.g. to determine if the author consciously or unconsciously tells
falsehoods

(Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History)

5. Corroboration
i.e. historical facts – particulars which rest upon
the independent testimony of two or more
reliable witnesses

(Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History)

 Historians attempt to understand the past
 Historians attempt to understand the past based
on evidence
 Historical evidence that comes directly from
society is called primary source.
 Historians interpret the primary source to
decide what they actually tell us about the past
 Interpretation: The process of deciding on
the meaning of a historical source
 Based on these interpretations, historians
attempt to create a narrative (a story)about
what happened in the past
 Historical narratives and interpretations are
known as secondary sources.
 Historians

External Criticism Primary

Sources
(D,AR,OV)
Internal Criticism

Secondary
Historiography Sources
 Lesson
Navigator
▪ period of darkness or backwardness
 period of advancement or enlightenment

 Spaniards - “barbaric” lifeways

 Americans - “civilized lifestyle”

 Jose Rizal - annotated Antonio de Morga’s

Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
▪ Filipinos perception about their colonial past:

maltreated by the “wicked Spain”

and
rescued by the “benevolent America”
 Lesson
Navigator
PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

▪ Teodoro Agoncillo
▪ pioneered nationalist historiography
in the country by highlighting the role
of the Filipino reformists and
revolutionaries from 1872
▪ “lost history”
PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

▪ Renato Constantino

▪ “people’s history”
PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

▪ Zeus Salazar

▪ “Pantayong Pananaw”
PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

▪ Reynaldo Ileto

▪ “history from below”

PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER WORLD WAR II

▪ Samuel Tan

▪ mainstreamed the role and relevance of

Filipino Muslims in the country’s national
history
 Lesson
Navigator
 Characteristics of Contemporary Philippine
Historiography

▪ Colonial Histories
▪ Emphasis on Lowland Christianized
Filipinos
▪ Political Narratives
▪ Patriarchal Orientation
▪ Elite-centric Perspectives