A Course Module for
Readings in
Philippine History
John Lee Candelaria, Veronica C. Alporha, Ayshia F.
Kunting
2021
Lesson 4:
Philippine
Historiography
Week No. 2
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, the students will be able to:
• describe and trace the development of history as a discipline in
the Philippines;
• relate how historical context influences the way history is
written and interpreted; and
• differentiate the way colonizers and Filipinos perceive history at
different periods.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
Lesson Outline
1. History of Philippine History
a. Kasaysayan in Ancient Philippine Society
b. Spanish Historiography in the Philippines
c. The History of the Ilustrados and the Katipunan
d. American Historiography in the Philippines
e. Philippine Nationalist Historiography
f. Pantayong Pananaw and Bagong Kasaysayan
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
Lesson Introduction
• Historiography is both philosophical and scientific.
• Historiography is philosophical because we think about historical thinking,
i.e., how historians think and how and why they write what they write.
• Historiography is also scientific because scholars who engage in this topic
proceed with writing the history of history through systemic inventory and
empirical analyses of historical works.
• Historiography turned into a more serious subdiscipline of history because
historians started recognizing that there are several pasts to explore. In
learning about historiography, students then will learn to understand
history beyond the details that it recounts.
• Philippine history can be an illustrative case. The way our history has been
defined, viewed, and written transformed from one period to another.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
History of Philippine History: Discussion Points
• Kasaysayan in Ancient Philippine Society
• Kasaysayan is not just the Filipino term for history. It refers to stories that were
deemed significant to the community. These stories were transmitted orally in
the forms of epics, songs, and rituals.
• Kasaysayan does not only refer to records of past experiences but also to
broader stories significant to the communities, such as their experiences,
legends, and epics that reflect certain communal values, spiritualities, beliefs,
and worldview.
• The oral character of kasaysayan also rendered it with a sense of dynamism. To
keep abreast of the communal life and retain collective significance,
kasaysayan should be easily adaptable to the experiences of the community. Its
oral character enabled it with fluidity and flexibility in content and narrative.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
History of Philippine History: Discussion Points
• Spanish Historiography in the Philippines
• The Spanish historia replaced the narrative of our civilization. Consequently, the
central role was shifted from the community to the colonizers.
• Historia was a narrative of the foreign colonizers regarding their observation,
life, and experiences in the islands. It served as articulation and justification of
their policies, decisions, and overall attitude toward the natives. The language
used is Spanish.
• Spanish chroniclers, scholars, and historians writing about the Philippines also
became guided with positivist writing and studying history.
• They employed the bipartite view which divided the archipelago’s history into
two general periods: darkness and light. The period before the arrival of the
Spaniards was a period of “darkness” because the natives were uncivilized. The
“light” came when the Spaniards arrived, carving a civilization out of this
wilderness and introducing the people to the one true Christian God.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
History of Philippine History: Discussion Points
• The History of the Ilustrados and the Katipunan
• The ilustrados subscribed to the Western notion of knowledge and history. They
spoke and wrote in the foreign language, but they were critical of what the
colonizers passed off as historical truths.
• The ilustrados viewed our history as tripartite or divided into three parts: a
period of prosperity, a period of darkness, and a period of enlightenment.
• The period before the arrival of the Spaniards was perceived as a period of
prosperity because the native population enjoyed freedom in trading, equality
among people, and dignity in their day-to-day lives.
• The period of darkness commenced when the colonization began because the
people who used to enjoy freedom and prosperity were subjected to unjust
taxation, slave labor, repression, and discrimination in their land.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
• The third period was the future envisioned by the ilustrados once Spain gave
the Filipino people equality and freedom.
• The Katipuneros, like the ilustrados, also regarded the history of the Philippines
with the tripartite view. The third period, for them, was only achievable through
an armed revolution.
• The ilustrados had written exclusively in Spanish. Their intended audience was
the sympathetic Spaniards, who they believed would help them with their cause
by lobbying it to the Spanish government. On the other hand, the Katipunan
wrote almost exclusively in Filipino because they were rallying for the support of
their countrymen for the revolution.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
History of Philippine History: Discussion Points
• American Historiography in the Philippines
• The American colonial period was an introduction to a new tradition of
scholarship and historical writing primarily caused by the concept of benevolent
assimilation.
• American colonial period made public instruction available to nearly every
Filipino. They believed that public education would speed up the process of
assimilation.
• The implication to historiography was most apparent in the shift of language
from Spanish to English.
• The historia of the preceding period was thus translated to English and included
in the curriculum of public education. It somehow ceased to be an affair of the
privileged few, as was the case during the Spanish period, because most
Filipinos were given access to it in schools.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
• The institutionalized history in public universities and educational institutions
carried an American perspective since the Americans strictly controlled the
education system.
• Similar to the Spanish historia, American history in the Philippines was also
written for foreigners. Like their Spanish predecessors, American historians and
scholars needed to justify the U.S. occupation of the islands. They did this by
depicting the native population, particularly the non-Christian peoples in
Northern Luzon and Mindanao, as savages who needed civilizing.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
History of Philippine History: Discussion Points
• Philippine Nationalist Historiography
• An increase in interest in history prompted a diverse and energetic
understanding and interpretation of the field.
• Homegrown Filipino historians, including Teodoro Agoncillo, Renato
Constantino, and Reynaldo Ileto, pioneered an intellectual movement in history
that articulated views that are pro-Filipino, nationalist, progressive, and hence,
pro-people, pro-masses, and pro-poor.
• The same period also coincided with the rise of activism and the anti-
authoritarian movement in Manila, especially in U.P., because of the Marcos
dictatorship. The period of lively discussion on nationalism, imperialism, and
capitalism prompted progressive and Marxist historiography.
• Reynaldo Ileto used a different approach. For him, the desire to truly reflect and
place the masses at the center of the country’s history will be fulfilled by looking
at sources that genuinely reflect their consciousness and aspiration.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
History of Philippine History: Discussion Points
• Pantayong Pananaw and Bagong Kasaysayan
• Zeus Salazar introduced a new philosophy that would guide a new historical
and social scientific scholarship tradition. For Salazar, to truly reclaim our
history, a fundamental change in perspective is necessary. History should be
processed, written, and taught in the Filipino language for the Filipino people.
• Pantayong Pananaw or P.P. is a departure from the views employed by the
colonial and nationalist historians, which are pansilang pananaw or from-them-
for-them perspective and pangkaming pananaw or from-us-for-them
perspective, respectively.
• Pantayong Pananaw wanted to replace the dominant historia philosophy, which
remained even after the rise of nationalist history and to reclaim the ancient
kasaysayan in scientific terms.
• Bagong Kasaysayan should make sense and be understandable to the masses
and the communities because they should always be included in the
conversation. It should be written and taught in Filipino.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
History of Philippine History: Discussion Questions
• What is Kasaysayan?
• How did the Spanish and American colonizers change the way that history
is written in the Philippines?
• How did the ilustrados and Katipuneros change the perspective in writing
history?
• What was the perspective employed by nationalist historians?
• What is Pantayong Pananaw and Bagong Kasaysayan?
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
History of Philippine History: Answers
• Kasaysayan refers to stories that are relevant and significant to a given
community.
• The Spanish and American colonizers centered themselves in the writing
of Philippine history. They turned it into an account of their observation of
the islands and used it to justify their respective colonial pursuits. They
also used their language, and their intended audience was their fellow
outsiders.
• The ilustrados and the Katipuneros tried to correct the prejudiced view of
the foreigners and provided their own perspective on our history—tripartite
view where Philippine history is divided into periods of light-darkness-light.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
• Nationalist historians started emphasizing the Filipino in history what was
erstwhile dominated by colonial narratives. They also provided criticisms
to colonization.
• Pantayong Pananaw is a perspective offered by Zeus Salazar that
entailed an internal conversation among the people using their language in
the writing of their history. It is the philosophical foundation of Bagong
Kasaysayan that aims to reclaim the ancient concept of Kasaysayan in
scientific terms.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
Summary
• Philippine historiography transformed from one historical period to another.
These changes reflect the dominant discourse of the time.
• The Spanish colonizers viewed Philippine history as divided into two parts:
the period of darkness and the period of light. They considered the period
before their arrival as dark because of the lack of civilization, while
marking their appearance as the dawn of light because they brought in the
Christian faith and culture. The Americans also used history to justify what
they called their “benevolent assimilation.”
• The propagandistas and the Katipuneros held a tripartite view of history.
The first period was a period of prosperity, the second period brought
about by colonization was a period of darkness, and the period after
colonization will be a period of freedom and redemption.
Lesson 4: Philippine Historiography
• Nationalist historiography emerged as a reaction to the colonial
interpretation of history. Nationalist historians aimed at placing the masses
at the center of history.
• Pantayong Pananaw is the philosophical guide of Bagong Kasaysayan. It
underscores the importance of fostering internal dialogue among the
people in writing and teaching history. P.P. adheres to the use of Filipino to
reach wider audiences among the non-English-speaking people.
