INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY - Definition, Issues, and Sources.pptx

Introduction to History:
Definition, Issues, Sources, and
Methodology
CHAPTER 1

• History is known as the study of the past.
• History was derived from the Greek word
historia which means “knowledge
acquired through inquiry or
investigation.”
• Historia became known as the account of
the past of a person or a group of people
through written documents and
historical evidences.
Definition and Subject
Matter

• History was also focused on writing
about wars, revolutions, and other
important breakthroughs.
• Historians duty is to write about the
lives of important individuals like
monarchs, heroes, saints, and
nobilities.
Matter

• Traditional historians lived with the mantra of “no
document, no history.”
• It means that unless a written document can
prove a certain historical event, then it cannot be
considered as a historical fact.
• History progressed and opened up to the
possibility of valid historical sources, which were
not limited to written documents, like government
records, chronicler’s accounts, or personal letter.
Matter

• Giving premium to written documents
essentially invalidates the history of
other civilizations that do not keep
written records.
• Historical sources – may not be in
written form but were just as valid.
Examples: oral traditions in forms of
epics and songs, artifacts, architecture,
and memory.
Matter

• History as a discipline has already
turned into a complex and dynamic
inquiry.
• Historiography can answered the
following questions: What is history?
Why study history? And history for
whom?
• Historiography is the history of
history.
Questions and Issues
in History

• The object study of History is the
past. While, the object of study of
Historiography is the history itself
(i.e., How was a 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?)
in History

• Historiography is important for
someone who studies history because
it teaches the student to be critical in
the lessons of history presented to
him.
in History

• History has played various roles in the
past.
• States use history to unite a nation.
• It can be used as a tool to legitimize
regimes and forge a sense of
collective identity through collective
memory.
• Lessons from the past can be used to
make sense of the present.
in History

• As a narrative, any history that has
been taught and written is always
intended for a certain group of
audiences.
• One of the problems confronted by
history is the acquisition that the
history is always written by victors.
in History

• Positivism – thought requires empirical
and observable evidence before one can
claim that a particular knowledge is
true.
• Postcolonialism
– looks at two things in
writing history: (a) to tell the history of
their nation that will highlight their
identity free from that colonial discourse
and knowledge, (b) to criticize the
in History

• The job of historian is to give meaning to
these facts and organize them into timeline,
establish causes, and write history.
• Historian is a person of his own who is
influenced by his own context, environment,
ideology, education, and influences, among
others.
• In that sense, his interpretation of the
historical fact is affected by his context and
circumstances.
History and the
Historian

• Historian subjectivity will inevitably
influence the process of his historical
research.
• Thus, history is always subjective.
• Historical methodology – comprises
certain techniques and rules that
historian follow in order to properly
utilize sources and historical
evidences in writing history.
History and the
Historian

• Annales School of History – school of
history born in France that challenged
the canons of history.
• They were concerned with the social
history and studied longer historical
periods.
• Annales scholors studied the history
of peasantry, the history of medicine,
or even the history of environment.
History and the
Historian

• Historical sources – the most important
research tool of historians.
• Most basic level, something that tells us
about history. It may be document, a
picture, a sound recording, a book, a
cinema film, a television program or
object. Source: historyonthenet.com
• Historical sources can be classified
between primary and secondary sources.
Historical
Sources

• Primary sources – sources produced at the
same time as the event, period, or subject being
studied.
Examples: Archival documents, artifacts,
memorabilia, letters, census, and other
government records.
• Secondary sources – sources which were
produced by an author who used primary
sources to produce the material. In other words,
secondary sources are historical sources, which
studied a certain historical subject.
Examples: textbook
Historical Sources – Two Main Types of
Historical Sources

• 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 – the examination of the
truthfulness of the evidence. It looks at the
content of the source and examines the
circumstances of tis production.
Historical
Sources

• Code of Kalantiaw – one of the most
scandalous cases of deception in
Philippine History. The code was a set of
rules contained in an epic, Maragtas,
which was allegedly written by a certain
Datu Kalantiaw.
• William Henry Scott – debunked the
authenticity of the code due to
anachronism and lack of evidence to
prove that the code existed in the
precolonial Philippine society.
Historical
Sources

INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY - Definition, Issues, and Sources.pptx

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