Knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation
History is the study of the past of a person or a group of people through written documents and historical evidences
History also focused on writing about wars, revolutions, and other important breakthroughs
Valid historical documents
Government Records
Chronicle's Accounts
Personal Letters
Receipts
Restricting historical evidence as exclusively written is a discrimination against other social classes who were not recorded in paper
Historiography
The history of history and it covers how historians have studied and developed history including its sources, techniques, and theoretical approaches
Historiography
Focuses on how a certain historical text was written, who wrote it, what was the context of its publication, what historicalmethod was employed, what sources were used
Positivism
The school of thought that emerged between the 18th and 19th century which requires empirical and observable evidence before one can claim that a particular knowledge is true
Post-colonialism
The school of thought that emerged in the early 20th century when formerly colonized nations grappled with the idea of creating their identities and understanding their societies against the shadows of their colonial past
Two things in writing history
Tell the history of their nation that will highlight their identity free from that colonial discourse and knowledge
To criticize the methods, effects, and idea of colonialism
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 the historian's job to givemeaning to these facts and organize them into timeline, establish causes, and write history
Historical methodology
Comprises certain techniques and rules that historians follow in order to properly utilize sources and historical evidences in writing history
Historical sources: classifications
Primary sources
Secondary sources
Primary sources
Sources produced at the same time as the event, period, or subject being studied
Secondary sources
Sources produced by an author who used primary sources to produce the material
Secondary sources
Teodoro Agoncillo's Revolt of the Masses 1956
External criticism
The practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence by examining the physicalcharacteristics; consistency with the historical characteristic of the time when it was produced, and the materials used for the evidence
Internal criticism
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
Contextanalysis considers
Historicalcontext of the source (time and place it was written and the situation at the time)
Author's background, intent (to the extent discernable, and authority on the subject)
The source's relevance and meaning today
Content analysis
Identify the author's main argument or thesis
Compare points of view
Identify biases
Evaluate the author's claim based on the evidences presented or other available evidence at the time