READINGS IN PHILIPPINE

HISTORY
GED103 Q4 2019-20
WHO LIKES HISTORY
ANYWAY?
THE SOURCE: THE BASIS OF OUR
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE PAST
 Sources are artifacts that have been left by the past.
 In the field of History, we value two kinds of sources
 Relics or remains which offer clues about the past simply by its existence
 By comparing relics to those from other places, experts can further learn something about the way
of lives of people or other organisms
 Testimonies are oral or written reports that describe an event, whether simple or complex.
 Speeches and commentaries can also serve as testimonies
 Few sources yield valuable testimonies --- it’s the historian’s role to supplement raw material from
the source
 Relics and Testimonies may be intentionally or unintentionally made for documenting
history, but it doesn’t devalue the source if it is unintentionally crafted.
 Conversely, intentionally crafted artifacts are may have lives beyond the intention of its
creation.
SOURCES

 Sources are materials from which historians construct meanings

 It is an object from the past or testimony concerning the past on
which historians depend in order to create a depiction of the
past
 It becomes the basis of a historical work or historical
interpretation.
 A source provides us evidence about the existence of an event,
while a historical interpretation is an argument about the event.
LAPU LAPU
BATTLE OF
MACTAN
TYPOLOGY OF SOURCES

 Sources are usually categorized according to a tripartite

scheme
 As narrative or “literary”
 As diplomatic/juridical
 As social documents
  Sources that are usually chronicles or tracts presented in
narrative form
 Written in order to impact a particular message
 The motives usually vary
AS NARRATIVE  Scientific articles are meant to inform the future
generation
OR “LITERARY”  Newspaper articles are meant to shape opinion
 A novel or film might be necessary to deliver a moral
teaching
 Ego documents like diaries
AS DIPLOMATIC SOURCES

 Are sources which document an existing legal situation

or create a new one
 It is the purest kind of source and the best
 It is a document, usually sealed and authenticated in
some way, intended to provide evidence of a
completion of a transaction, or proof of existence of a
juristic fact
AS SOCIAL DOCUMENTS

 These are sources that are products of document-keeping of

bureaucracies.
 It contains information about particular charges or agencies,
minutes of meetings, bureaucratic documents, survey of
administrations or of social structures.
THINGS TO PONDER

 Where do you source your historical truths?

 What kind of specific sources have shaped your ideas about history?
 Which among these are you not sure if it’s true or not?

https://youtu.be/4SSRXcP5fSw