DEFINITION OF HISTORY

◾Derived from the Greek word

“historia” which means
“knowledge acquired through
inquiry or investigation”
◾Also known as the study of
the past
DEFINITION OF HISTORY
◾Is the account of the
past of a person or a
group of people through
written documents and
historical evidences
DEFINITION OF HISTORY
◾History also focused on
writing about wars,
revolutions, and other
important breakthroughs
NO DOCUMENT, NO HISTORY
◾It means that unless a
written document can
prove a certain historical
event, then it cannot be
considered as a
historical fact.
 SOME VALID HISTORICAL
DOCUMENTS
◾Government Records
◾Chronicle’s Accounts
◾Personal Letters
◾Receipts, etc.
How do you assess the validity
of a historical source?

A good acronym to
remember when
assessing sources is
DAMIT. 
 DATE

• When was the source produced?

• Did any major historical events take
place around this date?
• Is the source typical of the time?
• How long after the event was this
source produced?
• Does the author have hindsight?
 AUTHOR & AUDIENCE

• Who produced this source?

• What is the background of the person
who produced this source? - i.e. were
they educated?
• Is the source primary or secondary? –
• Was the individual there?
• Who was the source produced for?
 MOTIVE

• Why was this source produced? - i.e.

to inform or entertain?
• Could these motives effect how
reliable the source is? - i.e. is it
biased?
 INFORMATION

• What information is included in the

source? - Why?
• Is there any information missing from
the source? - Could you suggest why?
• What type of source is it? - i.e. Church
records - are they typical of this type
of document?
 INFORMATION

• Would there be any reason to believe

the information had been tampered
with? Is the information included
supported by evidence?
 TONE

• Is the source positive or negative?

• Does its' tone match this?
• Is the tone of the source typical, given
its' author?
• Does the tone of the source give
reason to raise concerns surrounding
it?
HOW DO YOU ASSESS THE VALIDITY
OF A HISTORICAL SOURCE?

D=DATE
A=AUTHOR & AUDIENCE
M= MOTIVE
I= INFORMATION
T=TONE
 DISCRIMINATION IN THE
VALIDITY OF HISTORY
◾Restricting historical
evidence as exclusively
written is a discrimination
against other social
classes who were not
recorded in paper.
 DISCRIMINATION IN THE
VALIDITY OF HISTORY
◾Others got their
historical documents
burned or destroyed in
the events of war or
colonization.
 QUESTIONS
AND ISSUES
IN
HISTORY
 QUESTIONS ON HISTORY

◾What is history?
◾Why study history?
◾And history for whom?
HISTORIOGRAPHY
 HISTORIOGRAPHY
◾Is the history of history
◾It covers how historians
have studied and
developed history
including its sources,
techniques, and
theoretical approaches
 HISTORIOGRAPHY
◾It should not be
confused with History
because history is the
study of the past, the
events that happened in
the past.
 HISTORIOGRAPHY
◾It focuses on how a certain
historical text was written,
who wrote it, what was the
context of its publication,
what historical method was
employed, what sources
were used
 POSITIVISM
◾Is the school of thought
that emerged between the
18th and 19th century. This
thought requires
empirical and observable
evidence before one can
claim that a particular
knowledge is true.
 POSITIVISM
◾Historians were
required to show
written primary
documents in order to
write a particular
historical narrative.
 POST-COLONIALISM
◾Is the school of thought that
emerged in the early 20 th
century when formerly
colonized nations grappled
with the idea of creating their
identities and understanding
their societies against the
shadows of their colonial past.
 POST-COLONIALISM
◾Two Things in Writing History:
1. Tell the history of their
nation that will highlight
their identity free from that
colonial discourse and
knowledge
 POST-COLONIALISM
◾Two Things in Writing History:
2. To criticize the
methods, effects, and
idea of colonialism
 HISTORY AND
THE
HISTORIAN
 HISTORY AND THE HISTORIAN
◾Facts cannot speak for
themselves. It is the
historian’s job not just to seek
historical evidences and facts
but also to interpret them. It
is their job to give meaning to
these facts and organize
them into timeline, establish
causes, and write history.
 HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY

◾It comprises certain

techniques and rules that
historians follow in order
to properly utilize
sources and historical
evidences in writing
HISTORICAL

SOURCES
 HISTORICAL SOURCES
Two Classification:
1. Primary Sources
2. Secondary Sources
 PRIMARY SOURCES
◾Are those sources
produced at the same
time as the event,
period, or subject being
studied
 PRIMARY SOURCES
◾Ex: (Commonwealth 1935)
- Minutes
- Newspaper clippings
- Records
- Photographs
- Eyewitness(es)
 SECONDARY SOURCES
◾Are those sources
produced by an author
who used primary
sources to produce the
material
 SECONDARY SOURCES
◾Ex: (Phil. Revolution 1935)
- Teodoro Agoncillo’s Revolt
of the Masses 1956
 HISTORICAL SOURCES
◾When examining a
source, the historian must
conduct:
(a). External Criticism
(b). Internal
 EXTERNAL CRITICISM
- the practice of verifying the
authenticity of evidence by
examining the physical
characteristics; consistency with
the historical characteristic of the
time when it was produced, and
the materials used for the
evidence
 INTERNAL CRITICISM
- Is the examination of the
truthfulness and factuality of the
evidence. It looks at the content
of the source and examines the
circumstance of its production. It
could be done by looking at the
author, its context, agenda, the
purpose behind its creation
 DECEPTION CASES IN
PHILIPPINE
HISTORY
-Hoax Code of
Kalantiaw
-Ferdinand Marcos as
WWII Soldier
 HOAX CODE OF KALANTIAW
- The code was a set of rules
contained in an epic Maragtas
which was allegedly written by
Datu Kalantiaw. The document
was sold to National Library and
was regarded as an important
precolonial document
 HOAX CODE OF KALANTIAW
- In 1968, an American
historian William Henry Scott
debunked the authenticity of
the code due to lack of
evidence to prove that the
code existed in precolonial
Philippine society.
 FERDINAND MARCOS AS
WORLD WAR II
SOLDIER
- This was widely believed by
students of history and Marcos
had war medals to show. This
claim was disproven when
historian counterchecked
Marcos’s claims with the war
FIRST TASK
 WEBINAR SERIES
One past but many histories: Controversies and
Conflicting Views in Philippine History

GROUP 1: Site of First Mass

GROUP 2: Cavite Mutiny
GROUP 3: Retraction of Rizal
GROUP 4: Cry of Balintawak or Pugad Lawin