Filipino Historians Perspective PDF

FILIPINO HISTORIANS PERSPECTIVE Jericho M. Beltran CLSU Department of Social Sciences  2 FILIPINO HISTORIANS NATIONALIST HISTORIANS...

FILIPINO HISTORIANS PERSPECTIVE Jericho M. Beltran CLSU Department of Social Sciences  2 FILIPINO HISTORIANS NATIONALIST HISTORIANS Renato Constatino Teodoro Agoncillo Ambeth Ocampo Zeus Salazar  FILIPINO HISTORIANS Most histories are bounded on Spanish and American historiography both of which inevitably viewed Philippine history through the prism of their own prejudices. Some of the historians tried to transcend beyond the trainings.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS RENATO CONSTANTINO Scholar, Nationalist, writer UP Diliman (BA), New York University (MA) Known for his promotion of a left-leaning historiography  FILIPINO HISTORIANS CONSTANTINO’s WORKS The Philippines: A Past Revisited (1975) Veneration Without Understanding (1969) The Miseducation of the Filipino (1959) Philippines: A Continuing Past (with Letizia R. Constantino; 1978)  FILIPINO HISTORIANS According to Constantino it is important for us to write a true history, a History of the Filipino people. Nationalistic writing was a theme of his method of writing which is looking beyond the “objectivity” of colonial sources.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS For history, though it is commonly defined as the story of man, is not the story of man the individual, but man, the collective, that is, associated man. Without society, there can be no history and there are no societies without men.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS “An individual has no history apart from society, and society is the historical product of people in struggle.”  FILIPINO HISTORIANS History is not merely a chronology of events; it is not the story of heroes and great men. Essentially, history consists of the people’s efforts to attain a better life. In fact, the historic initiative of the masses has time and again produced social cataclysms that have changed the world.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS The individuals who made history colorful could not have made history without the people. In people’s history particularities will be seen in their proper perspective within the generality of a historical process and only then will these particularities be fully understood.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS The ultimate goal is to liberate the people to a true people’s history by demythologizing Philippine history in which can be accomplished when a historical account can be a fuller, more balanced picture of reality.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS According to Constantino, there is a unifying thread in studying history, Filipino resistance to colonial oppression. The only way a history of the Philippines can be Filipino is to write on the basis of the struggles of the people, for in these struggles the Filipino emerged.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS TEODORO AGONCILLO Scholar, essayist and poet UP Diliman (BA in Philosophy, MA in History) National Scientist for History  FILIPINO HISTORIANS AGONCILLO’s WORKS History of the Filipino People (1960) The Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan (1956) Malolos: The Crisis of the Republic (1960) The Fateful Years: Japan's Adventure in the Philippines (1965)  FILIPINO HISTORIANS According to Agoncillo, if history will be delivered with bare historical facts, people will not be exposed learning but instead to be nothing more than a gross misunderstanding. It is a recreation of the past in such a manner as to provide not only the bones, but also the flesh and blood of those moments which once were here but are now only memories.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS “history requires a disciplined imagination and the ability to write with lucidity and with literary freshness.”  FILIPINO HISTORIANS Facts are conditioned by the historian’s imagination, and the imagination is conditioned by the facts. Interpretation, which is an aspect of historical imagination, bears upon the facts in such way that the latter becomes the tool, not the matter, of the historian.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS imagination not based on facts, or on fringes of facts - is wild and does not legitimately form any aspect of the historical imagination.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS Different points of historical imagination: Without imaginative understanding, it would be impossible for any historian to communicate with his subjects and, ultimately, to re-live the past. “History cannot be written unless the historian can achieve some kind of contact with the mind of those about whom he is writing.” – EH Carr  FILIPINO HISTORIANS Different points of historical imagination: The historical understanding establishes contact between the historian and his subject has its basis in logical imperative, which is to say, that the imagination is anchored not upon some personal fantasy or whim, but upon a reasoning that issues from the nature of the subject under study.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS Different points of historical imagination: Interpolation is an insertion of statements between those made by a historian’s authorities or sources. It is in the use of this aspect of historical imagination that the historian inserts his own statements which are merely implied in the authorities or sources.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS Different points of historical imagination: Interpolation is an insertion of statements between those made by a historian’s authorities or sources. It is in the use of this aspect of historical imagination that the historian inserts his own statements which are merely implied in the authorities or sources.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS History, to be worthy of its name, must be written with imagination, with verve and color as primary sources would allow.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS AMBETH OCAMPO Public historian, curator and writer De La Salle University (BA in and MA in History) Most known historian today.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS OCAMPO’s WORKS Rizal Without the Overcoat (1990) Meaning and History: The Rizal Lectures (2001) Talking History: Conversations with Teodoro A. Agoncillo (1995) Looking Back series: 1-15  FILIPINO HISTORIANS According to Ocampo, some of his contemporaries are questioning his style of writing as some would ask “Saan mo ba napupulot ang mga isinusulat mo?” Ocampo has offered a new way of learning history for the people, especially those who are not in the field – to give meaning in history  FILIPINO HISTORIANS “These two components of kasaysayan --- salaysay and saysay are inseperable. Without both, you cannot have true history.”  FILIPINO HISTORIANS History can be a mere narrative of past events while kasaysayan is not just a narrative or salaysay --- it MUST have saysay or meaning. If we find meaning in history, then it will gain the power to change our lives. Saysay gives us a way of looking at the world, a Filipino viewpoint that influences the way we see the past, the present, and hopefully, the future.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS Without memory we cannot form relationships, we cannot know who we are, we cannot forge our identities. Ocampo has offered a new way of learning history for the people, especially those who are not in the field – to give meaning in history  FILIPINO HISTORIANS It is memory that has made the person I am today. Without memory we cannot form relationships, we cannot know who we are, we cannot forge our identities. The same is true for history. If memory gives us our individual identities, then history will contribute to a national memory and eventually that elusive thing we call national identity.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS History is not just memorizing unforgettable dates, unpronounceable names and strange places. History is not just telling our students funny stories. History is making people see their past, thereby giving them a sense of being Filipinos.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS History is a dangerous – some would say subversive – undertaking because by giving meaning to our lives, it has the power to change and mold it. The point to remember is that history does not repeat itself. We repeat history.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS ZEUS SALAZAR Nationalist historian, anthropologist, writer UP Diliman (BA in and MA in History) Univ. of Paris (PhD) Father of “Bagong Kasaysayan”  FILIPINO HISTORIANS SALAZAR’s WORKS Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas: Isang Balangkas (1993) Kabihasnang Asyano: Isang pangkasaysayang introduksyon (1990) Sikolohiyang Panlipunan at Pangkalinangan (2005)  FILIPINO HISTORIANS The core of the pantayo perspective resides in the internal interrelationships and the inter-relating of the characteristics, values, knowledges, aims, customs, behaviours and experiences of a cultural whole — a totality that is enveloped and expressed language; that is to say, within a sovereign discourse of the kalinangan or kabihasnan.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS Pantayong pananaw aims to create a historical narrative, writing and studying style of history that is coming from the perspectives of the Filipino and to make it sense to the people by utilizing the language of the people, for the people.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS How to explain Pantayo perspective: If the explanation is directed outwards or to the foreigner, the point of view being employed is "pangkami", should be utilized. The explanation here concerns one's own society and culture.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS How to explain Pantayo perspective: If the explanation is from outsiders to insider point of view, what being employed is "pangkayo". If the explanation is from inside to outside point of view, what being employed is “pansila”.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS How to explain Pantayo perspective: If the explanation is created from the point of view of the people for that particular group of people, we imply the “pantayo”.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS Contemporary progressive historians utilize a nationalist Filipino perspective. This entails an active and critical viewpoint which expresses pride in our collective identity.  FILIPINO HISTORIANS In studying and documenting history, one question entails, If not now, when? If not us, who? 41