Understanding History

Definition of History
 derived from the Greek noun ἱστορία
ἱστορία (historia) = learning; inquiry

 “the past of mankind”

- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

History - chronological record of significant
events, the study of past events.

-Webster’s Vest Pocket Dictionary(Springfield: Merriam

Webster, Inc., Publishers), p. 149
KASAYSAYAN IN THE LANGUAGE
AND PERSPECTIVE OF FILIPINO

KASAYSAYAN
• saysay (narrative or salaysay)
• saysay (relevance, importance)
• If relevant, for whom?
• Zeus Salazar definition: Salaysay na may
saysay para sa sinasalaysayang grupo ng tao
(Relevant stories/narrative of the people).
“If you talk to a man in a language
he understands, that goes to his
head. If you talk to him in his
language, that goes to his heart.”

-Nelson Mandela
History as Reconstruction
 the historian is many times removed from
the events under investigation

 historians rely on surviving records

History Defined by E.H. Carr
 is the continuous process of interaction
between the historian and his facts, an
unending dialogue between the present
and the past
 History means interpretation
 History is what the historian makes
 “Only a part of what was observed in the
past was remembered by those who
observed it; only a part of what was
remembered was recorded; only a part of
what was recorded has survived; only a
part of what has survived has come to the
historian’s attention; only a part of what
has come to their attention is credible;
only a part of what is credible has been
grasped, and only a part of what has been
grasped can be expounded or narrated by
the historian.”
- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
Historians have to verify sources, to
date them, locate their place of
origin and identify their intended
functions

Historical Method
 The process of critically
examining and analyzing
the records and survivals
of the past

Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

Historiography
 The imaginative reconstruction of the
past from the data derived by that
historical method.
Historical analysis
 An important element of historical
method.
 1. select the subject to investigate
 2. collect probable sources of information
on the subject
 3. examine the genuineness, in part or in
whole.
 4. extract credible particulars from the
sources.
“Each generation of historians
develops its own perspectives, and
that our understanding of the past
is constantly reshaped by the
historian and the world he or she
inhabits”
-Howell & Prevenier
 Historical Sources
 These are objects from the past or
testimonies concerning the past on
which historians depend in order to
create their own depiction of that past.
- Howell and Prevenier, From Reliable Sources
an Introduction to Historical Method

 Tangible remains of the past

- Anthony Brundage, Going to Sources
Historical Sources
 materials used for the writing of
history.
They are classified into two:
1. Primary Sources
2. Secondary Sources
Another type of classification are:
1. written and non-written,
2. published or unpublished,
3. textual, oral or visual sources
Written Sources
Categorized in three ways.

1. Narrative or literature- are chronicles or

tracts presented in narrative form. Written
to impart a message whose motives for
their composition vary widely.
2. Diplomatic sources – are understood to be
those which document/ record an existing
legal situation
3. Social Documents – are information
pertaining to economic, social, political, or
judicial significance
1. Published materials
 Books, magazines, journals,
 Travelogue
 transcription of speech

2. Manuscript [any handwritten or

typed record that has not been
printed]
 Archival materials
 Memoirs, diary
Non- written Sources

1. Material evidence – also known as

archaeological evidence

2. Oral evidence – told by the tales

or sagas of ancient people.
Non- written Sources
Oral history
Artifact
Ruins
Fossils
Art works
Videorecordings
Audiorecordings
Non- written Sources
Oral history
Artifact
Ruins
Fossils
Art works
Videorecordings
Audiorecordings
What are Primary Sources?
Testimony of an eyewitness

A primary source must have

been produced by a
contemporary of the event it
narrates
-Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
 materials produced by people or
groups directly involved in the event
or topic being studied.
they are either participants or
witnesses.
these sources range from
eyewitness accounts, diaries, letters,
legal documents, and official
documents (government or private)
and even photographs
Four Main Categories of Primary
Sources

1. Written sources
2. Images
3. Artifacts
4. Oral testimony
What are Secondary Sources?

A secondary source interprets

and analyzes primary sources.
These sources are one or more
steps removed from the event.

Secondary sources may have

pictures, quotes or graphics of
primary sources in them.
- http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html
Examples of secondary sources:

History textbook

Printed materials (serials,

periodicals which interprets
previous research)
“ The historian without his fact
is rootless and futile; the facts
without their historian are
dead and meaningless”

- E. H. Carr
What is Historical Criticism?
What is Historical Criticism?
 In order for a source to be used as
evidence in history, basic matters about
its form and content must be settled

1. External Criticism
2. Internal Criticism
What is External Criticism?

The problem of authenticity

To spot fabricated, forged, faked

documents

To distinguish a hoax or

misrepresentation
 Tests of Authenticity

1. Determine the date of the document to

see whether they are anachronistic
e.g. pencils did not exist before the 16th
Century

2. Determine the author

e.g. handwriting, signature, seal

- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

Tests of Authenticity
3. Anachronistic style
e.g. idiom, ortography, punctuation

4. Anachronistic reference to events

e.g. too early, too late, too remote

5. Provenance or custody
- determines its genuineness
- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
6. Semantics – determining the meaning of a
text or word

7. Hermeneutics – determining ambiguities

-Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

What is Internal Criticism

The Problem of Credibility

Relevant particulars in the document – is
it credible?
Verisimilar – as close as what really
happened from a critical examination of
best available sources
- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding
History
Tests of Credibility

1. Identification of the author

e.g. to determine his reliability; mental
processes, personal attitudes

2. Determination of the approximate date

3. Ability to tell the truth
- nearness to the event, competence
of witness, degree of attention
4. Willingness to tell the truth
- to determine if the author
consciously or unconsciously tells
falsehoods
5. Corroboration
i.e. historical facts – particulars which rest
upon the independent testimony of two or
more reliable witnesses

- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

Three Major Components to
Effective Historical Thinking

1. Sensitivity to Multiple Causation

2. Sensitivity to Context

3. Awareness of the interplay of continuity

and change in human affairs
“All historians, whatever their professional
status, have ethical obligations to be
humane, accurate, selfaware and judicious.”

- Ludmilla Jordanova
Acknowledgment/References:
 Ma. Florina Orillos-Juan, Ph.D. Department of History, De la Salle
University Manila

 Gottschalk, L.(1969). Understanding History: A Primer of Historical

Method. New York: A.A. Knopf.
 Howell, M. & Walter, P.(2001).From Reliable Sources:An Introduction to
Historical Methods.Ithaca, New York:Cornell University Press.
History has been used to control minds. If
not by absolute suppression or
fabrication of events, at least by their
slight distortion.

The catastrophic result

of this is that the
colonizers became the
unselfish, humane and
selfless partners.

This “invented history” by the colonizers

became an important component in the
progression of colonial consciousness
or mentality.
 This “fictional history” hides the fact
of the insensitive motivations of the
colonizers and their native collaborators
towards making colonization easier to
accept.

This mental conditioning has made

it easy for the colonizers to make the
colonized believe that the policies
implemented by the former is for their
own welfare and benefit.
“The history perpetrated by the Americans
who in their desire to present
themselves as altruistic benefactors
rather than conquerors minimized or
concealed from succeeding generations
of Filipinos the cruelties committed by
their army as well as the fierce
resistance of the people.”

-Renato Constantino
Maraming salamat po!