READING IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY REVIEWER

• History


  Knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation
• History as a discipline existed for around 2,400 years and is as old as mathematics and philosophy
• Historia


  Account of the past of a person or of a group through written documents and historical evidences
• History has always been known as the study of the past
• The popular definition of history as the study of the past is not wrong, but it does not give justice to the complexity of the subject and its importance to human civilization
• What is history?


  • Derived from Greek word historia which means "knowledge through acquired inquiry or investigation"
  • Account of the past
  • Focus on writing about wars, revolutions, and other important breakthroughs
• Traditional Historian lived with the mantra of "no document, no history." (unless a written document can prove a certain Historical event, then it cannot be considered as historical fact)
• Historian started to realize the loophole and started using other kinds of historical sources, which may not be written form but were just as valid
• Other historical sources


  • Oral traditions in forms of epic, songs, artifacts, architecture, and memory
• Historians started collaborating with other disciplines such as linguistics, biologist, or biochemist (for DNA) and even archaeologist
• Questions and issues in history

  • What is history?
  • Why study history?
  • History from whom?
• Historiography


  The history of history. How was certain historical text written? Who wrote it? What was the context of its publication? What particular historical method was employed? What were the sources used?
• Historiography lets the students have a better understanding of history. They do not only get to learn historical facts, but they are also provided with the understanding of the facts' and the historian's context
• Positivism


  School of thought that emerged between the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Requires empirical and observable evidence before one can claim that a particular knowledge is true. Entails an objective means of arriving at a conclusion
• Postcolonialism


  School of thought that emerged in the early twentieth century when formerly colonized nations grappled with the idea of creating their identities and understanding their societies against the shadows of their colonial past. Looks at telling the history of their nation that will highlight their identity free from that of colonial discourse and knowledge, and criticizing the methods, effects, and idea of colonialism
• Historian's job not just to seek historical evidences and facts but also to interpret these facts. It is the job of the historian to give meaning to these facts and organize them into a timeline, establish causes, and write history
• Historian's interpretation of the historical facts is affected by his context and circumstances. His subjectivity will inevitably influence the process of his historical research
• Primary Sources


  Sources produced at the same time as the event, period, or subject being studied. Provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art
• Secondary Sources


  Sources produced by an author who used primary sources to produce the material. Usually created by historians and scholastic writers based on their interpretation of the primary sources
• Both primary and secondary sources are useful in writing and learning history. However, historians and students of history need to thoroughly scrutinize these historical sources to avoid deception and to come up with the historical truth
• External Criticism


  The practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence by examining its physical characteristics; consistency with the historical characteristics of the time when it was produced; and the materials used for the evidence
• Internal Criticism


  Examination of the truthfulness of the evidence. Looks at the content of the source and examines the circumstance of its production. Looks at the author of the source, its context, the agenda behind its creation, the knowledge which informed it, and its intended purpose
• Internal and external criticisms are both critical in studying history for it is society's collective memory. Every historian scrutinizes the evidence of the past to describe past events with accuracy
• Historians play a significant role in our society in the sense that they are the keepers of the most critical events in the history of his generation and the previous generation