Readings in Philippine History

HISTORY period. This definition of historiography

focuses on the specific historians who
It is derived from the Greek word historia have contributed scholarship on a
which means “knowledge acquired particular topic, highlighting their
through inquiry or investigation.” History differing approaches and arguments.
as a discipline existed for around 2, 400
POSITIVISM
years and is as old as mathematics and
philosophy. Positivism is the school of thought that
emerged between the 18th and 19th
Traditional historians lived with the mantra
centuries. This thought requires empirical
of “no document, no history.” It means
and observable evidence before one can
that unless a written document can prove a
claim that a particular knowledge is true.
certain historical event, then it cannot be
Positivism also entails an objective means
considered a historical fact.
of arriving at a conclusion.
Does the absence of written documents
In the discipline of history, the mantra, “no
about them mean they were people of no
document, no history” stems from this
history or past? Did they even exist?
very same truth, where historians were
This loophole was recognized by required to show written primary
historians who started using other kinds of documents in order to write a particular
historical sources, which may not be in historical narrative. Positivist historians
written form but were just as valid. A few are also expected to be objective and
of these examples are oral traditions in the impartial not just in their arguments but
form of epics and songs, artifacts, also on their conduct of historical research.
architecture, and memory.
POSTCOLONIALISM
HISTORIOGRAPHY
Postcolonialism is a school of thought that
 The history of history emerged in the early 20th century when
 The historical writing on a particular formerly colonized nations grappled with the
topic idea of creating their identities and
understanding their societies against the
 Tells about how historians approach, shadows of their colonial past.
comprehend, and express the past.
 The study of the history and Post colonial history looks at two things in
methodology of history as a writing history: first is to tell the history of
discipline. their nation that will highlight their identity
It refers to the history of the discipline free from the colonial discourse and
itself, narrating how it originated and knowledge, and the second is to criticize the
developed over time. This narrative methods, effects, and ideas of colonialism.
highlights the individuals who have Post-colonial history is therefore a reaction
shaped the study of history and reveals the and an alternative to colonial history that
complexity of the discipline, with different colonial powers created and taught to their
approaches and purposes. Historiography subjects.
also refers to the historical writing on
specific topics. Each topic, from the HISTORY AND HISTORIAN
French Revolution to the Punic Wars, has
its own historiography, which consists of If history is written with agenda or is
various historical interpretations by heavily influenced by the historian, is it
different historians over an extended possible to come up with an absolute historical

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Readings in Philippine History

truth? Is history an objective discipline? It is can still be validated by using reliable

not, is it still worthwhile to study history? evidences and employing correct and
These questions have haunted historians for meticulous historical methodology.
many generations. Indeed, an exact and
accurate account of the past is impossible for ANNAHALES SCHOOL OF HISTORY
the very simple reason that we cannot go back
The Annahales School of History is a school of
to the past. We cannot access the past directly
history born in France that challenged the
as our subject matter. Historians can only get
canons of history. Thus school of thought did
to access representation of the past through
away with the common historical subjects that
historical sources and evidences.
were almost always related to the conduct of
Therefore, it is the historian’s job not just the states and monarchs. Annahales scholars
to seek historical evidences and facts nut also like Lucien Febvre, Marc Bloch, Fernand
to interpret these facts. “Facts cannot speak for Braudel, and Jacques Le Goff studied other
themselves.” It is the job of the historian to subjects in a historical manner. They were
give meanings to these facts and organize them concerned with social history and studied
into timeline, establish causes, and write longer historical periods. Annahales scholar
history. Meanwhile, the historian is not a blank studied the history of peasantry, the history of
paper who mechanically interprets and medicine, or even the history of environment.
analyzes present historical fact. He is a person The history from below is pioneered by the
of his own who is influenced by his own same scholars.
context, environment, ideology, education, and
influences, among others. In that sense, his HISTORICAL SOURCES
interpretation of the historical fact is affected
Primary sources are those produced at the
by his context and circumstances. His
same time as the event, period, or subject
subjectivity will inevitably influence the
being studied. For Example, if a historian
process of his historical research: the
wishes to study the Commonwealth
methodology that he will use, the facts that he
Constitution Convention 1935, his primary
will select and deem relevant, his
sources can include the minutes of the
interpretation, and even the form of his
convention, newspaper clippings, Philippine
writings. Thus, in one way or another, history
Commission reports of the US Commissioners,
is always subjective. If that is so, can history
records of the convention, the draft of the
still be considered as an academic and
Constitution, and even the pictures of the
scientific inquiry?
event. Eyewitness accounts of convention
Historical research require rigor. Despite delegates and their memoirs can also be used
the fact that the historians cannot ascertain as primary sources. The same goes other
absolute objectivity, the study of history subjects of historical study. Archival
remains scientific because of the rigor research documents, artifacts, memorabilia, letters,
and the methodology that historians employ. census, and government records, among others
Historical methodology comprises certain are the most common examples of primary
techniques and rules that historians follow in sources.
order to properly utilize sources and historical
Secondary sources are those sources, which
evidences in writing history. Certain rules
were produced by an author who used primary
apply in cases conflicting accounts in different
sources to produce the material. In other
sources, and how to properly treat eyewitness
words, secondary, secondary sources are
accounts and oral sources as valid historical
historical sources, which studied a certain
evidence. In doing so, historical claims done
historical subject. For example on the subject
by the historians and the arguments that they
of Philippine Revolution of 1896, students can
forward in their historical writings, while ma read Teodoro Agoncillo’s Revolt of the
be influenced by the historian’s inclinations, Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the

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Readings in Philippine History

Katipunan published originally in 1956. The evidence. It looks at the content of the source
Philippine Revolution happened in the last and examines the circumstances of its
years of the 19th century while Agoncillo production. Internal criticism looks at the
published his work in 1956, which makes the truthfulness and the factuality of the evidence
Revolt of the Masses a secondary source. by looking at the author of the source, its
More than this, in writing the book, Agoncillo context the behind its creation, the knowledge
used primary sources with his research like which informed it, and its intended purpose,
documents of the Katipunan, interviews with among others. For example, Japanese reports
the veterans of the Revolution, and and declarations during the period of the war
correspondence between and among the should not be taken as a historical fact hastily.
Katipuneros. Internal criticism entails that the historian
acknowledges and analyzes how such reports
CLASSIFICATION OF SOURCES can be manipulated to be used as war
propaganda. Validating historical sources can
Primary and Secondary depend on the period
lead to equally false conclusions. Without
when the source was produced or the type of
thorough criticisms of historical evidence,
the source but on the subject of the historical
historical deceptions, and lies will be highly
research. For example, a textbook is usually
probable.
classified as a secondary source, a tertiary
source even. However, this classification is
usual but not automatic. If a historian chooses
to write the history of education in the 1980’s, One of the most scandalous cases of
he can utilize textbooks used in that period as deception in Philippine history is the hoax
a primary source. If a historian wishes to study Code of Kalantiaw. The code was a set of rules
the historiography of the Filipino-American contained in the epic, Maragtas, which was
War, for example, he can use works of allegedly written by a certain Datu Kalantiaw.
different authors on the topic as his primary The document was sold to the National
source as well. Library and was regarded as an important
precolonial document until in 1968, when
Note: Historians and students of history need American historian William Henry Scott
to thoroughly scrutinize the historical sources debunked the authenticity of the code due to
to avoid deception and to come up with the anachronism and lack of evidence to prove
historical truth. The historian should be able to that the code existed in the precolonial
conduct an external and internal criticism of Philippine society. Ferdinand Marcos also
the source, especially primary sources which claimed that he was a decorated World War II
can age in centuries. soldier who led a guerilla unit Ang Maharlika.
This was widely believed by students of
EXTERNAL CRITICISM history and Marcos had war medals to show.
This claim, however, was disproven when
External criticism is the practice of verifying
historian counterchecked Marco’s claims with
the authenticity of evidence by examining its
the war records of the United States. These
physical characteristics of the time when it
cases prove how deceptions can propagate
was produced; and the materials used for the
without rigorous historical research.
evidence. Examples of the things that will be
examined when conducting external criticism The task of the historian is to look at the
of a document include the quality of the paper, available historical sources and select the most
the type of the ink, and the language and relevant and meaningful for history and the
words used in the material among others. subject matter that he is studying. History, like
other academic discipline, has come a long
INTERNAL CRITICISM way but still has a lot of remaining tasks to do.
It does not claim to render absolute and exact
Internal criticism, on the other hand, is the
judgment because as long as questions are
examination of the truthfulness of the

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Readings in Philippine History

continuously asked, and as long as time

unfolds, the study of history can never be
complete. The task of the historian is to the
past that is being created so that it can offer
lessons for nations, societies and civilization.
It is the historian’s job to seek for the meaning
of recovering the past to let the people see the
continuing relevance of provenance, memory,
remembering and historical understanding for
both the present and the future

PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY
Philippine historiography underwent several
changes since the precolonial period until the
present. Ancient Filipinos narrated their
history through communal songs and epics that
may be passed orally from a generation to
another. When the Spaniards came, their
chroniclers stared recording their observations
through written accounts. The perspectives of
historical writing and inquiry also shifted. The
Spanish colonizers narrated the history of their
colony in a bipartite view. They saw the age
before the colonization as a dark period in the
history of the islands, until they brought light
through Western thought and Christianity.
Early nationalist refuted this perspective and
argued the tripartite view. They saw the
precolonial society as a luminous age that
ended with darkness when the colonizers
captured their freedom. They believed that the
light would come again once the colonizers
were evicted from the Philippines. Filipino
historian Zeus Salazar introduced the new
guiding philosophy for writing and teaching
history: pantayong pananaw ( for us- from us
perspective). This perspective highlights the
importance of facilitating an internal
conversation and discourse among Filipinos
about our own history, using the language that
is understood by everyone.

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