READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

HISTORIOGRAPHY
AND ITS IMPORTANCE
Historiography and Its Importance

The term historiography is the craft of writing history. It is the art of

historical writing and communicating in writing what the historian thinks he
knows about the past.

Thus, when we speak of Chinese historiography, we refer to all or at

least the known written histories of China's people. Nigerian historiography
refers to the available historical works in Nigeria.

In another aspect, historiography is preoccupied with other men's

interpretation of history; it is studying other people's understanding of the
historical process and the historian's craft.

The historian's task is the trend of past events and the historian's
craft through the historical process.Simply put, his/her task is the discovery
of what happened in the past.

Historiography does not deal with specific histories; history does not seek
to discover what happened in the past nor account for past actions. However, it
looks into what others have said about history and how they have
interpreted the past. Therefore, historiography traces the trend of historical
thought in specific localities and the world at large.

History and historiography as intertwined concepts

Historiography is the subject matter of history. In other words, without

the study of the past called history, historiography would not exist. Thus,
historiography is derived from history, thereby showing its importance. In the
next portion of this study session, we shall examine the justifications for history
as an academic discipline and a worthwhile pursuit.

Importance of History

A. Knowledge of Society. History provides societies with knowledge about

themselves. A society can know itself only by acquiring knowledge of its
history. Society must know itself and understand its relationship with the past,
other societies, and other cultures. History meets this need; it makes people
aware of the character of their own time by providing them with information
about their past that they can study and compare with other peoples'
experiences.

B. Used in problem-solving. History is useful in meeting new situations and

solving the present's problems because a full understanding of human behavior
in the past allows us to solve present issues intelligently.

C. A bridge of all disciplines. As a mediating discipline, history is also useful

because everything has a history. Medicine, banking, legal practice, teaching
religion, commerce, etc., have history. Thus, history, as a discipline, covers a
wide range of issues. A nurse would find a knowledge of the history of nursing in
her locality useful, while military personnel can also find the history of the force
invaluable. Therefore, history becomes a meeting ground for different
disciplines, thereby making it fascinating.

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

 READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

Why Study History?

According to Peter Stearns (1998), we should study history because it is

essential to individuals and society and harbors beauty. We can discuss the
subject's real functions in many ways because of different historical talents and
paths to historical meaning. All definitions of history's utility, however, rely on two
fundamental facts.

1. History Helps Us Understand People and Societies

In the first place, history offers a storehouse of information about how people
and societies behave. Understanding the operations of people and communities
is difficult, although several disciplines attempt it. Exclusive reliance on current
data would needlessly handicap our efforts. How can we evaluate war if the
nation is at peace other than using historical materials? How can we understand
genius, the influence of technological innovation, or the role that beliefs play in
shaping family life if we do not use what we know about past experiences?
Several social scientists attempt to formulate laws or theories about human
behavior. However, even these recourses depend on historical information,
except for limited artificial cases in which scientists can do experiments to
determine how people act under certain circumstances. Significant aspects of a
society's operation, such as mass elections, missionary activities, or military
alliances, cannot be set up as precise experiments.

Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as a replacement for

experiments. Data from the past must serve as our most vital evidence in
determining why our society behaves within our current setting. History offers the
only extensive evidential base for the contemplation and analysis of how
societies function. People also need to have some sense of how societies work
simply to run their own lives.

2. History Helps Us Understand Change and How the Society We Live in

Came to Be

The second reason why history is inescapable as a subject of serious study

follows the first one closely. The past causes the present and the future. Any
time we want to know why something happened, that is, whether a shift in
political party dominance in the American Congress, a significant change in the
teenage suicide rate, or a war in the Balkans or the Middle East, we have to look
for factors that took shape earlier. Occasionally, recent history will explain a
significant development, but often we need to look further back to identify the
causes of change. Only through studying history do we grasp how things
change and begin comprehending the factors that cause these changes
and understand what elements of an institution or a society persist despite
change.

Importance of History in Our Own Lives

The two fundamental reasons for studying history underlie specific and
relatively diverse uses of history in our own lives. A well-told history is beautiful.
Many of the historians who most appeal to the general reading public know the
importance of dramatic and skillful writing and accuracy. Biography and military
history appeal in part because of the tales they contain. History as art and
entertainment serves a real purpose on aesthetic grounds and the level of human
understanding. Well-told stories reveal how people and societies have functioned
and prompt thoughts about the human experience in other times and places. The
same aesthetic and humanistic goals inspire people to immerse themselves in
reconstructing relatively remote pasts, far removed from the immediate, present-
day utility. Exploring what historians occasionally call the "pastness of the
past," that is, how people in distant ages constructed their lives, involves a

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

 READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

sense of beauty and excitement and ultimately another perspective on human life
and society.

1. History Contributes to Moral Understanding

History also provides a terrain for moral contemplation. Studying the

stories of individuals and situations in the past allows a history student to test
their moral sense and hone it against some real complexities that individuals
have faced in challenging settings. People who have weathered adversity not
only in works of fiction but in historical circumstances can inspire. "History is
teaching by example" describes this use of a study of the past, that is, a study
of certifiable heroes (i.e., the great men and women of history) who successfully
worked through moral dilemmas and ordinary people who provide lessons in
courage, diligence, or constructive protest.

2. History Provides Identity

History also helps provide identity, which is one reason all modern
nations encourage its teaching in some form. Historical data includes how
families, groups, institutions, and whole countries were formed and how
they have evolved while retaining cohesion. For many Americans, studying
one's family history is the most obvious use of history because it provides facts
about genealogy and (at a slightly more complex level) a basis for understanding
how the family has interacted with considerable historical change. Family identity
is established and confirmed. Many institutions, businesses, communities, and
social units, such as ethnic groups in the United States, use history for similar
identity purposes. Defining the group in the present pales compared with the
possibility of forming an identity based on a rich past. Nations also use identity
history and abuse it occasionally. Narratives that tell the national story,
emphasizing distinctive features of the national experience, are meant to provide
an understanding of national values and a commitment to national loyalty.

3. Studying History Is Essential for Good Citizenship

A study of history is essential for good citizenship. The need for good
citizenship is the most common justification for history in the school curricula.
The advocates of citizenship history also hope to promote national identity and
loyalty through a history spiced by vivid stories and lessons in individual success
and morality. However, the importance of history for citizenship goes beyond this
narrow goal and can even challenge it at some points.

The history that lays the foundation for genuine citizenship returns to the
essential uses of the study of the past. History provides data about the
emergence of national institutions, problems, and values because it is the only
significant storehouse of such data. History also offers evidence about how
nations have interacted with other societies, providing international and
comparative perspectives essential for responsible citizenship. Studying history
also helps us understand how recent, current, and prospective changes that
affect citizens' lives are emerging or may emerge and what causes are involved.
Studying history also encourages habits of mind that are vital for responsible
public behavior, whether as a national or community leader, an informed voter, a
petitioner, or a superficial observer.

What Skills Does a Student of History Develop?

What does a well-trained student of history, schooled to work on past

materials and case studies in social change, learn how to do? The list is
manageable, but it contains several overlapping categories.

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

 READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

Ability to Assess Evidence. The study of history builds experience in

dealing with and assessing various types of evidence, that is, the kind of
evidence historians use in shaping the most accurate pictures of the past that
they can. Learning how to interpret past political leaders' statements helps form
the capacity to distinguish between the objective and the self-serving among
statements made by present-day political leaders. Learning how to combine
different kinds of evidence, such as public statements, private records, numerical
data, and visual materials, develops the ability to make coherent arguments
based on various data. This skill can also be applied to information that is
encountered in our everyday life.

Ability to Assess Conflicting Interpretations. Learning history means

gaining skill in sorting through diverse, often conflicting interpretations.
Understanding how societies work, which is the central goal of studying history,
is inherently imprecise. The same is also correct for understanding what is going
on in the present day. Learning how to identify and evaluate conflicting
interpretations is an essential citizenship skill for which history, as an often-
contested laboratory of human experience, provides training. Studying different
historical interpretations is one area in which the full benefits of historical study
occasionally clash with the simplistic analysis of the past to construct identity.
Experience in examining past situations provides a constructively critical sense
applicable to partisan claims about the glories of national or group identity. The
study of history for no reason undermines loyalty or commitment, but it teaches
the need for assessing arguments and provides opportunities to engage in
debate and achieve perspective.

Experience in Assessing Past Examples of Change. Experience in

assessing past examples of change is vital to understand the difference in
society today; it is an essential skill in our "ever-changing world." The analysis of
change means developing some capacity for determining the magnitude and
significance of change because some changes are more fundamental than
others. Comparing specific changes to relevant examples from the past helps
history students develop this capacity. The ability to identify the continuities that
always accompany even the most dramatic changes also comes from studying
history, similar to the skill to determine the probable causes of change. Learning
history helps one determine if one main factor, such as a technological
innovation or a deliberate new policy, accounts for a change or whether because
generally, several factors combine to generate the actual change that occurs.

Hence, the study of history is crucial to developing a well-informed citizen. It

provides necessary factual information about our political institutions' background
and about the values and problems that affect our social well-being. It also
contributes to our capacity to use evidence, assess interpretations, and analyze
change and continuities. No one can ever deal with the present as the historian
deals with the past—we lack the perspective for this feat, but we can move in this
direction by applying historical habits, and we will function as good citizens in the
process.

History Is Useful in the World of Work

History is useful for work. Its study helps create exemplary businesspeople,
professionals, and political leaders. The number of explicit professional jobs for
historians is considerable, but most people who study history do not become
professional historians. Professional historians teach at various levels, work in
museums and media centers, do historical research for businesses or public
agencies, or participate in the growing number of historical consultancies. These
categories are essential to keep the necessary enterprise of history going, but
most people who study history use their training for various professional
purposes. History students find their experience directly relevant to jobs in
multiple careers and studying law and public administration. Employers often
deliberately seek students with the kinds of capacities historical study promotes.
The reasons are not hard to identify; history students acquire a broad perspective

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

 READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

that gives them the range and flexibility required in many work situations by
studying different phases of the past and various societies in the past. These
students develop research skills, the ability to find and evaluate sources of
information, and the means to identify and evaluate diverse interpretations. Work
in history also improves basic writing and speaking skills. It is directly relevant to
many analytical requirements in public and private sectors, where the capacity to
identify, assess, and explain trends is essential. Historical study is an asset for
various work and professional situations.
Still, historical study generally does not directly lead to a particular job slot as
the students of some technical fields do. However, history particularly prepares
students for the long haul in their careers, its qualities helping adaptation and
advancement beyond entry-level employment. In our society, many people who
are drawn to historical study worry about its relevance. In our changing economy,
people are concerned about future job opportunities in most fields. However,
historical training is not an indulgence; it applies directly to many careers and can
help us in our working lives.

Why study history? The answer is because we must gain access to the
laboratory of human experience. When we study history reasonably well and
acquire some usable habits of mind and some necessary data about the forces
that affect our lives, we emerge as people with relevant skills and an enhanced
capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness. The
uses of history are varied. Studying history can develop several "salable" skills
but must not be pinned down to the narrowest utilitarianism. Some history that is
confined to personal recollections about changes and continuities in the
immediate environment is essential to function beyond childhood. Some history
depends on personal taste, where one finds beauty, the joy of discovery, or
intellectual challenge.

FOUNDATION OF DATA

A. Primary Source(s)

It is a document created during the time of your research subject about

your research subject. These documents are directly connected with the events
or people being researched (Concordia University Texas Library, 2020).
It contains original information that is not derived from interpretation,
summarizing, or analyzing someone else's work (Eastern Institute of Technology,
nd).

These are firsthand accounts created when a historical event occurred or

are records of original ideas. It consists of information that has not been analyzed,
commented on, or interpreted. It can be biased, depending on the viewpoint of
the author. These sources are valuable because they give an exact account of
historical events or new ideas (Westminster Giovale Library, nd)
These sources are original or new materials, such as an activist giving a
speech, a scientist conducting original research, a student drawing original
conclusions from others' works, an artist creating a piece of artwork, or your
grandmother writing an autobiography.

Primary sources are firsthand and not interpreted by anyone else; they
offer a personal point of view and are created by witnesses of, or participants in,
an event (except in cases of historical research written after the fact).
Researchers also create primary sources (Saint Mary's University of Minnesota,
2013).

Example of primary sources:

 Autobiographies and memoirs

 Books, articles, or news stories written at the time of the event
 Diaries and journals

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

 READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

 Data and original research

 Speeches and interviews
 Letters and memos
 Government documents from that period
 Census statistics
 Organizational records from that period
 Documentaries that rely on primary source materials
 Photographs
 Art (from a period)
 Maps (from a period)
 Personal narratives
 Internet communications (including listservs and emails)
 Any of the above reprinted in the original format and language

Questions to Ask When Determining If Something is a Primary Source:

1. Was the author the first to create this research?

2. Is the information uninterpreted data or statistics?
3. Is the source an original work?
4. Did the information come from personal experience?

Why Use Primary Sources?

Sources that present new research, original conclusions based on the data,
or an author's actual perspective are useful for your needs. The use of these
resources allows one to interpret the information instead of relying on the
interpretations of others, which s is why your instructors may require you to
find original research for your assignments.

Note: Given that primary sources reflect the true meanings and ideas introduced
by authors, the information itself may not be completely objective, well-reasoned,
or accurate.

B. Secondary Source(s)

It is a document created at a much later than the period of the event being
researched by someone who did not experience the said event. These
documents have no direct personal connection with the events or people being
studied, but they may benefit from being able to put the event "in context" or
perspective (Concordia University Texas Library, 2020).

These works have been based on primary or secondary sources. These

sources are generally an interpretation, a summary, an analysis, or a review
(Eastern Institute of Technology, nd).

It offers commentary, analysis, or interpretation of the primary sources.

These sources are written many years after an event or by people that are not
directly involved in the event. These sources are often written by people who
have expertise in the field and can be biased, depending on the author's
viewpoint (Westminster Giovale Library, nd).

These sources interpret, include, describe, or draw conclusions based on

works written by others. Authors use secondary sources to present evidence,
back up arguments and statements, or represent an opinion using and citing
multiple sources. Secondary sources are often referred to as "one step removed"
from the actual occurrence or fact (Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, 2013).

Example of secondary sources:

 Encyclopedias
 Chronologies
 Biographies

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

 READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1

 Monographs (a specialized book or article)

 Most journal articles (unless written at the time of the event)
 Most published books (unless written at the time of the event)
 Abstracts of articles
 Paraphrased quotations
 Dictionaries
 Textbooks
 Webpages
 Documentary movies
 Analysis of a clinical trial
 Commentaries
 Literature reviews and meta-analyses

Questions to Ask When Determining If Something Is a Secondary Source:

1. Did the author consult multiple sources to create this work?

2. Is this information an interpretation or paraphrasing of another author's work?
3. Did the information come from second-hand reporting?
4. Is the source a textbook, review, or commentary?

Why Use Secondary Sources?

Secondary sources are best for uncovering the background or historical
information about a topic and broadening your understanding of a subject by
exposing you to others' perspectives, interpretations, and conclusions.
However, critiquing an original information source (primary source) is a better
option if you plan to reference it in your work.

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY - WEEK 1