Readings in Philippine History

Lesson 1:
Introduction to History
Two Meanings of History

History is everything that happened in the past.

History is an account of the past. In short, history is
both the past and the study of the past.

Traditional approach to History

Who, what when, where = basic facts

leads to memorization; lack of appreciation

usually political; centered in nation’s capital; big people and big events;

wars what is important: why

history vs. chronicleE

History as story: Carlos Quirino, Nick Joaquin, Ambeth

Ocampo “No document, no history”: Gregorio Zaide, Nicolas

Zafra et al Historical interpretation: Teodoro Agoncillo

History as discourse: Rey Ileto; Vincent Rafael

 Textbooks

all above pre-digested, processed - secondary or tertiary

sources Readings in Philippine History - primary sources

•Letters •Clothes
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ir
•Literary pieces •Paintings, murals
•Periodicals, Serials •Edifices, Churches
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•Written (published during theetc
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•Government period concerned) s

s documents •Memorabilia
•Speeches
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•Unwritten c

•Memoirs
yr

•Artifacts r
u
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•Textbooks •News Reports
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•Journals •Commentaries
o

•Pictures S

yr

dn

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• Who was Pigafetta? Why did he write
this? • What did he focus on?

• What did he not write about? (compare with

other contemprary sources)

• How valuable is this work?

Primary sources in the internet
 US National Archives

• audio-visual resources

Secondary Internet Source/s

 Historical thinking as a
method • Instead of teaching facts, teach skill,
method • emphasis on primary sources

• ability to analyze and interpret sources, place in

context and come up with
interpretations/conclusions and test them

• student learning
• as in craftsmen teaching apprentice in guilds
Asking questions and
 working with primary
sources
• Historical thinking - “set of literary skills for evaluating and analyzing
primary source documents to construct a meaningful account of the
past”

• Not spoonfeeding basic data, but teaching students how to

read, evaluate and interpret primary sources.

• Historians know as part of their craft to evaluate sources: who wrote

it? When? For what purpose? How reliable? what does it reveal
about the writer and his/her times? what can one extract from the
source?

• How to teach this to students so they can discover for themselves?

examining and analyzing the records and
survivals of the past
• External Criticism- checking the sources’
authenticity • Internal Criticism- checking the sources’
validity

Historiography – imaginative
reconstruction of the past from the
data derived