Readings In Philippine History PDF

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY HISTORICAL SOURCES BY: ALVIN O. HOLOYOHOY Writing history involves several key guidelines: Purpose: The goal is not just to share facts but to help people grow in their knowledge, skills, attitudes, interests, and values. Appropriateness: The content...

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY HISTORICAL SOURCES BY: ALVIN O. HOLOYOHOY Writing history involves several key guidelines: Purpose: The goal is not just to share facts but to help people grow in their knowledge, skills, attitudes, interests, and values. Appropriateness: The content should be suitable for the learner’s age and ability, aligning with their intellectual and psychological levels. Organization: The information must be well-structured, ensuring accurate and clear connections between people, dates, and events. Connection: While focusing on a specific aspect of history, it is essential to draw connections between historical events and other fields like literature, science, and art. History should also be relevant to the learner’s daily life, with local history given due importance. Historiography is the study of how history is written. It involves: Who: Understanding who recorded historical events. How: Exploring how history was documented. Why: Examining the reasons behind the way history is written and how interpretations change over time Historiography is crucial because it helps us understand the processes that shape how history is recorded, interpreted, and communicated. It provides a critical lens to evaluate the methodologies, biases, and contexts that influence historical narratives. Historiography is all about understanding how history is written and why different historians might tell different stories about the same events. It helps us understand why historians may have varying views and how those views shape the way we think about the past. Studying historiography encourages us to think critically about history by examining the biases, perspectives, and methods used in recording events. Political history focuses on leaders, governments, and policies, while social history zooms in on the lives of ordinary people and their experiences. Economic history explores the role of trade, resources, and labor in shaping historical events. Cultural history shows how art, religion, and ideas influence societies. Verisimilitude- a term from Latin meaning “similar to truth, ” refers to the quality of appearing to be true or real.  SOURCES OF HISTORICAL DATA Historical Data – are sourced from the artifacts that have been left by the past. A. Relics or “remains” – it offers a clue about the past. Example: potsherd, coin, ruin, manuscript, book, portrait, stamp, wreckage strand of hair, other archeological and anthropological remains. B. Testimonies of witness- whether oral or written Example: property exchange, speeches and commentaries. Non-Written Sources of History 1. Material Evidence – Archeological evidence as one of the most important unwritten evidences. Example: pottery, jewelry, dwellings, graves, churches, roads. 2. Oral Evidence- tales of sagas, folk songs, popular rituals and interview.  Tertiary sources are indexed, organized, and compiled sources. They usually do not attribute to a specific author and provide Tertiary condensed information about a historical topic where all evidence Source and discussion related to the topic are grouped together. An example of a tertiary source is an encyclopedia.  HISTORICAL CRITICISM The historical method is the process historians use to study and understand the past. It is like a set of steps that helps them investigate history and tell its story. USEFULNESS OF THE HISTORICAL METHOD: It can help solve the problems people face today. It helps to make sense of things that keep on happening. It provides an understanding of why different cultures do certain things and what happens because of it. It makes people check old facts and information to make sure that these are correct.  THE FOUR GOALS OF HISTORICAL CRITICISM 1. Discover the meaning of the text 2. Establish historical situation of the author and the recipient of the text. 3. Determined authenticity of the text. 4. Weigh testimony to truth  HISTORICAL CRITICISM Also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". Historical criticism began in the 17th century and gained popular recognition in the 19th and 20th centuries. The perspective of the early historical critic was rooted in Protestant Reformation ideology since its approach to biblical studies was free from the influence of traditional interpretation. Where historical investigation was unavailable, historical criticism rested on philosophical and theological interpretation. With each passing century, historical criticism became refined into various methodologies used today: source criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism, tradition criticism, canonical criticism, and related methodologies.  EXTERNAL CRITICISM External criticism is a process by which historians determine whether a source is authentic by checking the validity of the source.  EXTERNAL CRITICISM We can ask the following questions: 1. When was it written? 2. Where was it written? 3. Who was the real author? 4. Why did it survive? 5. What where the materials used? 6. Where the language and words used in the document consisted with the language and words being used during those times? 7. Is it authentic?  EXAMPLES 15th century – paper was rare in Europe 16 century- pencil is invented 19 century- typewriter invented. th  INTERNAL CRITICISM Internal criticism, aka positive criticism, is the attempt of the researcher to restore the meaning of the text. This is the phase of hermeneutics in which the researcher engages with the meaning of the text rather than the external elements of the document. Looks at the reliability of source  INTERNAL CRITICISM Looks at the truthfulness and factuality of the evidence by looking at the author of the source, its context, the agenda behind its creation, the knowledge which informed it, and its intended purpose. We can ask the following questions? 1. Was it written by eyewitness or secondhand account (Author)? 2. Why was it written? 3. Is there consistency? 4. What are the connotations? 5. What is the literal meaning?  INTERNAL CRITICISM INVOLVES TWO ACTIONS: Positive Criticism: The goal of positive criticism is to determine whether the source used words in their literal meaning or as a “sense of the word”. It is about trying to understand what the source is saying both on the surface (structure) and beneath the surface (spirit). Negative Criticism: Historical sources often contradict each other; thus, it is very important to de_x0002_termine the element of truth contained in the source and eliminate the false, forged, and/or fabricated claims. Errors could be deliberate or unintentional; as such, negative criticism looks both into the accura_x0002_cy and intention of the source. HOWELL AND PREVENIER PUBLISH THE BOOK FROM RELIABLE SOURCES : AN INTRODUCTION TO HISTORICAL METHODS To introduce beginning researchers to the techniques that historians deploy on the task. HOW DO YOU INTERPRET THE SOURCE? 1. Must be understood by everyone (especially average readers). Using basic language, vocabulary and handwriting. 2. The source must carefully be located in place and time. (in what city/country? In what social setting? When was it composed? What are the dates indicating?) 3. Sources must be checked for authenticity. (compare handwritings, the ink, the watermarks, quality of the paper, etc.) HOW DO HISTORIANS DECIDE WHICH EVIDENCE Comparing of sources Adding more sources Final Decision  HOW TO ANALYZE A SOURCE Origin Who created the information? What kind of information is this historical source?  HOW TO ANALYZE A SOURCE Context When was the information created? What important event happened at the time the information was created? What is the perspective of this information?  HOW TO ANALYZE A SOURCE Audience Who are the intended people the information was originally created for?  HOW TO ANALYZE A SOURCE Motive What is the purpose of creating the information?  HOW TO ANALYZE A SOURCE What information or message is directly Importance or stated or conveyed within the source itself? Relevance of What underlying or inferred message, ideas, or implications can be in_x0002_ferred or the Information deduced from the content of the source? How is this information related to other events that happened about the same time? How did this information corroborate or contradict related sources?  HOW TO ANALYZE A SOURCE What biases or perspectives might be Biases present in the source that can influence the content or interpretation of the information provided?  MARAGTAS OrHistory of Panay from the first inhabitants was published by the “Kadapig sang Banwa” at the El Tiempo Press, Iloilo in 1907 It was written in mixed Hiligaynon and Kin-iraya The author explains Maragtas as the equivalent of the Spanish historia and claims that Maragtas is an original work based on various data that he has collecte It contains 3 sorts of subject matter namely folk customs, idealized political confederation, and a Legend  CODE OF KALANTIAW Kalantiaw was never mentioned in a single document written before 1913, either in the Philippines or in any neighbouring country, until the amateur historian Jose E. Marco “discovered” Kalantiaw in a book he himself had faked. Kalantiaw Code had a few Spanish words in it, even though it was supposedly written before a single Spaniard had ever set foot in the Philippines. The NHI finally admitted that Kalantiaw was a hoax in 1998 Sources of precolonial history of the Philippines Archeological findings, records from contact with the Song Dynasty, the Bruneian Empire, Japan, and Muslim traders, the genealogical records of Muslim rulers, accounts written by Spanish chroniclers in the 16th and 17th century, and cultural patterns which at the time had not yet been replaced through European influence. LAGUNA COPPERPLATE INSCRIPTION The text was mostly written in Old Malay with influences of Sanskrit, Old Javanese and Old Tagalog using the Kawi script. Dutch anthropologist Antoon Postma deciphered the text. The date of the inscription is in the "Year of Saka 822, month of Vaisakha", corresponding to April–May in 900 AD. LAGUNA COPPERPLATE INSCRIPTION The text notes the acquittal of all descendants of a certain honourable Namwaran from a debt of 1 kati and 8 suwarna, equivalent to 926.4 grams of gold, granted by the Military Commander of Tundun (Tondo) and witnessed by the leaders of Pailah , Binwangan and Puliran, which are places likely also located in Luzon. The reference to the contemporaneous Medang Kingdom in modern-day Indonesia implies political connections with territories elsewhere in the Maritime Southeast Asia. LAGUNA COPPERPLATE INSCRIPTION This document is the earliest record of a Philippine language and the presence of writing in the islands. It is believed that around 3000 B.C. Malay people—or people that evolved into the Malay tribes that dominate Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines—arrived in the Philippines. About 2300 years ago Malay people from the Asian mainland or Indonesia arrived in the Philippines and brought a more advanced culture; iron melting and production of iron tools, pottery techniques and the system of sawah's (rice fields)  BANAUE RICE TERRACES For 2,000 years, the high rice fields of the Ifugao have followed the contours of the mountains. The fruit of knowledge handed down from one generation to the next, and the expression of sacred traditions and a delicate social balance, they have helped to create a landscape of great beauty that expresses the harmony between humankind and the environment.  Pottery and stone tools of southern Chinese origin dating back to 4000 B.C. have been found in Taiwan. The same artifacts have been found in archeological sites in the Philippines dating back to 3000 B.C.  The people in the Philippines had been trading with the Chinese over a long period of time long before the Spanish arrived. Phil Greco, a Los-Angeles-based entrepreneur, has salvaged more than 10,000 pieces of Chinese porcelain—some of them 2,000 years old and others from the Song and Ming dynasties— from 16 ship wreck sites off the Philippine islands of Panay, Mindanao and the Calamian Group.  “The Chinese became the first foreigners to do business with the islands they called MaI as early as the 2nd century AD, although the first recorded Chinese expedition to the Philippines was in AD 982. Within a few decades, Chinese traders were regular visitors to towns along the coasts of Luzon, Mindoro and Sulu, and by around AD 1100 travellers from India, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Siam (Thailand) and Japan were also including the islands on their trade runs. Gold was by then big business in Butuan (on the northern coast of Mindanao), Chinese settlements had sprung up in Manila and on Jolo, and Japanese merchants were buying shop space in Manila and North Luzon. REPOSITORIES OF PRIMARY SOURCES IN THE PHILIPPINES National Archives of the Philippines: This is home to about 60 million documents from the centuries of Spanish rule in the Philippines, the American and Japanese occupations, as well as the years of the Republic. National Library of the Philippines: This is the official national library of the Philippines. It neighbors other culturally significant buildings such as the Museum of Philippine Political History and the National Historical Commission. National Historical Commission of the Philippines: This government agency promotes Philippine history and cultural heritage through research, dissemination, conservation, sites management, and heraldry work. National Museum of the Philippines: This government institution preserves the various permanent national collections featuring the ethnographic, anthropological, archaeological, and visual artistry of the Philippines. THANK YOU