REAHIS Module 2 Notes

COURSE TITLE : Reading History
SCHOOL YEAR : 2022 - 2023

TERM/SEMESTER : 1ST Semester
PREREQUISITES : N/A
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course analyzes Philippine history from multiple perspectives through the lens of selected primary sources
from various disciplines and genres. Students are given opportunities to analyze the author’s background and
main arguments, compare different points of view, identify biases and examine the evidence presented in the
document. The discussions will tackle traditional topics in history and other interdisciplinary themes that will
deepen and broaden their understanding of Philippine political, economic, cultural, social scientific, and religious
history. Priority is given to primary materials that could help students develop their analytical and communication
skills. The end goal is to develop the historical and critical consciousness of the students so that they will become
versatile, articulate, broad-minded, morally upright, and responsible citizens. This course includes mandatory topics
on the Philippine Constitution, agrarian reform, and taxation.
Topic Outline
Week Topic
1-2 Meaning and Relevance of History. Distinction of primary and secondary sources;
external and internal criticism; repositories
of primary sources, and different kinds of primary sources
3-6 Content and Contextual Analysis of selected primary sources, identification of
historical importance of the text, and
examination of the author’s main argument and point of view.
7-10 “One past but many histories”. Controversies and conflictingviews in Philippine
History
a. Site of the First Mass
b. Cavite Mutiny
c. Retraction of Rizal
d. Cry of Balintawak or Pugadlawin
11-14 Social, political, economi c, and cultural issues in the PhilippineHistory
Mandated topics:
1. Agrarian Reform Policies
2. The Philippine Constitution 1899(Malolos) Constitution,1935
Constitution, 1973 Constitution
3. Taxation
15-18 Critical Evaluation and promotion of local and oral history,
museums, historical shrines, cultural performances, indigenousrites, rituals, etc.
Prepared by:
Junwil O. Torreon
MODULE 2 MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF HISTORY, PRIMARY
AND SECONDARY SOURCES
WEEK 2
LEARNING GOALS:
• Analyze the context, content, and perspective of different kinds of primary sources and determine how they
affected the history of the Filipino people;
• Develop critical and analytical skills as they are exposed to primary sources.
Activating Prior Knowledge

In this activity, you will learn the difference between primary sources and secondary sources.
Understand the YouTube video about the Battle in Mactan. Encode your answers in google docs and
submit them in the Google classroom. Click the video for your reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EztDOXF8-4o
Questions to ponder:
1. What learnings did you get from the video?
2. Using the Venn diagram compare and contrast the primary source (A brief summary of the First voyage
around the world by Magellan, written by Antonio Pigafetta) and the secondary source (YouTube video:
LapuLapu vs. Ferdinand Magellan)
Topic Discussion / Module Content

Sources of Historical Data
Historical information is derived from objects that the past has left behind. These items may be relics,
remains, or eyewitness accounts of historical events. Thus, the materials from which historians derive
meaning are considered historical sources. The historian deals with both the dynamic (the becoming)
and the static (the being) and strives to be both interpretive (explaining why and how things occurred
and were connected) and descriptive (telling what happened, when and where, and who took part).
Additionally, the descriptive information that can be quickly and directly deduced from surviving artifacts
is only a small portion of the eras to which they belong.
There are written and non-written sources of history. Let us explain each. First, written sources of history
are usually categorized in three ways:
(1) narrative or literary,
(2) diplomatic or juridical, and
(3) social documents.
Narrative or literature
• are chronicles or tracts presented in narrative form

• written to impart a message whose motives for his or her compositions vary widely.
Examples: biography, novel or film, and hagiography
Prepared by:
Junwil O. Torreon
Diplomatic Sources
• are understood to be those which document/ record an existing legal situation or create a
replacement one, and it's these sorts of sources that professional historians once treated as the
purest, the “best” source. Example: Charter
Social documents
• is information concerning economic, social, political, or judicial significance.

• They are records kept by bureaucracies.
Examples: government reports such as municipal accounts, research findings, and documents like these
parliamentary procedures, civil registry records, property registers, and records of census.
Unwritten sources
• these are as essentials as written sources. There are two types: fabric evidence and oral evidence.
• Material evidence, referred to as archaeological evidence is one of the foremost important unwritten evidence.
Examples: pottery, jewelry, dwellings, graves, churches, roads, and others that tell a story about the past.
Oral evidence
• is additionally a crucial source of data for historians.
Examples of this are tale sagas of ancient peoples and the folk songs or popular rituals from the pre-modern
period of Philippine history.
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources in History

Primary Sources Secondary Sources Tertiary Sources
• Original materials • accounts that were • An index or textual
• From the time period composed after the compilation of primary and
involved. incident and affected by secondary sources is
• Any tangible object, hindsight or a deeper level referred to as a tertiary
picture, or written text of comprehension of the source.
• Something dates back to circumstances
the past and has persisted, • Not evidence but rather a
and that tells us something discussion or commentary
regarding the past on evidence.
Examples Examples Examples
• Audio recordings • Commentaries or criticisms • Dictionaries
• Interviews • Magazine and newspaper • Wikipedia
• Letters articles that were written • Encyclopedias
• Newspapers that were after an event • Handbooks
written at the time of an • Biographies • Manuals
event • Histories
• Photographs and videos • Textbooks
• Speeches • Political analysis or
• Memos commentary
• Diaries •
• Autobiographies
Prepared by:
Junwil O. Torreon
Criticisms on Primary Sources
External Criticism:
• a less of intellectual type
• examinations of documents (manuscripts, books, pamphlets, maps, inscriptions
and monuments)
• The problem of the authenticity of the document arises more in examining manuscripts
than the printed documents
• Because the printed documents are already authenticated by the editor.
• Historian should conduct a number of tests to verify the authenticity of a particular

document in his proposed area of research.
Test to verify the Authenticity:

•
“Authorship” should be the first concern in examining the authenticity of the
document. (Identity of the Author)
• Date of Document-time, place of publication of the document.
• the historians deal with textual errors which can be due either unintentional or
deliberately committed. An unintentional error can be found in the copies of the
documents (originals are not available). Such errors are due to the scribe, typist or
printer.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Sciences Auxiliary to History- Help solve textual accuracy.

• Paleographists - have authenticated numerous documents of the medieval period by their
handwritings and have published easily legible printed versions.
• Archaeologists - provide rich information to the historians.
• Numismatists- by dating the coins, and metals and deciphering their inscriptions render valuable
assistance.
Internal Criticisms:
• A historian must analyze the contents of the documents in order to know the real meaning.
• A historian must be able to understand the literal and real meaning of the
document. This is termed as “Positive Criticism”
• A historian should assess the correctness of the fact by ascertaining whether the author had
the opportunity to know the facts as an eyewitness or not.
Primary Sources and the Historical Method

Primary sources must go through the so-called historical procedure, regardless of their format.
The historical technique consists of two parts. The first is referred to as external critique, and it is used
to verify the reliability of the main source. External critique seeks to determine the veracity of the source.
A document's paper and ink, for example, must match the time period being researched in order to be
verified as authentic. Additionally, one examines the handwriting to see if it matches the handwriting of
the time period they are researching. In this situation, the historian resembles a paleographer in certain
ways. In other instances, the historian is forced to examine the language and writing style used in a
document. The historian here turns into a philologist. If coins and medals are the main source, the
Prepared by:
Junwil O. Torreon
historian should be familiar with numismatics, and if monument inscriptions are the main source,
epigraphy.
The following are some questions that one may pose to check on the reliability of the source:
1. How close was the author to the event being studied?
2. When was the account made?
3. Is there bias to be accounted for?
4. Does informed common sense make the account probable?
5. Is the account corroborated by other accounts?
RESOURCES:
1. Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History, (pp. 41-61; 117-170).
2. Howell and Prevenier, From Reliable Sources, (pp. 17-68)
3. Santiago Alvarez, Katipunan and the Revolution: Memoirs of a General, (pp. 82-88).
4. Teodoro Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People, (pp. 184-187).
5. William Henry Scott, Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History, (pp. 90-
135).
6. https://library.madonna.edu/primarysources
7. http://www.kasaysayan-kkk.info/cavite-politics-in-a-time-of-revolution/artemio-ricarte-declaration-
march-24-1897
Prepared by:
Junwil O. Torreon
Prepared by:
Junwil O. Torreon

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COURSE TITLE : Reading History

SCHOOL YEAR : 2022 - 2023

Activating Prior Knowledge

Topic Discussion / Module Content

• are chronicles or tracts presented in narrative form

Examples: biography, novel or film, and hagiography

• is information concerning economic, social, political, or judicial significance.

• is additionally a crucial source of data for historians.

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources in History

• Historian should conduct a number of tests to verify the authenticity of a particular

Test to verify the Authenticity:

Sciences Auxiliary to History- Help solve textual accuracy.

Primary Sources and the Historical Method

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