HIST 01. MODULE ONE.

Lesson 1.1. The Definition of History

Our very first module for Hist 1 is entitled Meaning and Relevance of History, and
because of that we have the following goals: first, for you to be able to differentiate
history from the past, which is why our first topic, the topic for this video, is the definition
of history. Second, for you to differentiate primary from secondary sources. Third, for you
to identify the perspectives used in various historical materials. And fourth, for you to be
able to differentiate content analysis from context analysis.

2
HIST 01. MODULE ONE.
Lesson 1.1. The Definition of History

Let’s begin with a quick brain exercise. Close your eyes, clear your head. Now I want you
to picture, as clearly as possible in your head, these two people: José Rizal, and Andres
Bonifacio. Can you do that? Can you picture the clothes they’re wearing, the items
they’re holding? Yes? I’m gonna pretend you said yes.

Now, open your eyes. In your head, did Rizal and Bonifacio look anything like this?
Chances are, more than half of you watching this video imagined our two most popular
Filipino figures this way. But why do you think that is?

3
HIST 01. MODULE ONE.
Lesson 1.1. The Definition of History

I know history teachers who have been doing that exercise for years, and they tell me
that most Filipinos think of our heroes the same way. Rizal is always with a quill pen, a
lamp, his two books, Bonifacio is always with a bolo, a red neckerchief, the KKK flag
waving behind him.

Because of books, films, and other media, we tend to have uniform images of our heroes
in our heads. But this becomes a problem when we do some fact-checking and find out
that actually, Rizal did not use a feather quill because fountain pens and pencils had
already been invented by the time he was born. He probably did not use an oil lamp that
much either, because there was already electricity in Europe by the time of his first trip in
1882, and there was electricity in Manila by 1892.

As for Bonifacio, we tend to think of him as the poor muscle while Rizal was the serious
one with brains, but Bonifacio was also quite educated, and he even has a surviving
photograph wearing a formal suit.

4
HIST 01. MODULE ONE.
Lesson 1.1. The Definition of History

So why are there discrepancies like these? The main explanation is that history is
different from the past. They’re not the same thing, even though we sometimes use the
terms interchangeably.

I found these very good definitions online, and the past is defined as everything; every
event, thought, belief, vibrating atom, and tree falling in the forest while no one was
there. This means that even though nobody was around to bear witness, even though no
evidence survives for us to study, if an event took place before this very second, it is part
of the past.

Meanwhile, history is defined as a necessarily selective interpretation of what remains

Going back to the examples of our heroes, the way we remember them is not 100%
what they were really like when they were still alive, because these images are just
interpretations of the things they left behind. And here, our biases have to be factored
in. Our upbringings, our places of origin, even the languages we speak help determine
how we interpret the past in our own different ways.

5
HIST 01. MODULE ONE.
Lesson 1.1. The Definition of History

But remember Bonifacio in a suit? And check out this photo of José Rizal with his friends.
One day, they were bored and decided to play dress up and take wacky group pictures.
I'm not making this up, the picture exists. You might ask, if we have evidences that there
was more to our heroes when they were alive, why do we Filipinos keep imagining
Bonifacio with the bolo and Rizal with the books?

The answer lies in a second definition of history. History is not just a selective
interpretation of the past. It is also an argument. And by argument, we mean that people
have different interpretations of a single event, of a single evidence, and history is
created when at least two sides try to convince the audience and each other that their
version of what happened is the correct one.

6
HIST 01. MODULE ONE.
Lesson 1.1. The Definition of History

Is this making sense so far? I hope it is. Again, history is an argument, but now who
decides which interpretation is correct? As we know, in any argument or fight we have a
winning side and a losing side. What usually happens is that whoever wins the argument
ends up with a lot of power, usually political power, they are given a voice, and they get
to dictate how the story is told and passed on. Then the winner’s voice becomes
stronger than the other.

Sometimes it reaches the point that the voice of the losing side is erased completely. If
you’ve ever heard of the expression, history is written by the winners, that phrase
perfectly summarizes the idea of history being an argument.

7
HIST 01. MODULE ONE.
Lesson 1.1. The Definition of History

And that, guys, is why we have stagnant images of our heroes. For the longest time,
Tagalogs have always had the stronger voice, so naturally, we have Tagalog heroes
whose images have stayed the same for the past 100 years or so. If you ask your parents
to imagine Rizal and Bonifacio the way I asked you earlier, there’s a big chance they will
think of them this way too. Now, why should that be a problem?

Think of it like this: if the winners of an argument get to dictate how the history textbook
is written, if they get to decide how things will be learned and remembered, what if they
decide to teach inaccurate lessons? Or worse, what if they teach false lessons, or spread
fake ideas about how an event happened?

This brings us to our third and most crucial definition of history. It is not just an
interpretation. It is not just an argument. History is an instrument. An instrument is a tool
that you use when you want to achieve a certain goal. Hammers and wrenches are
instruments for building and repairing. Microsoft PowerPoint is an instrument for
delivering this lesson. And history is an instrument with different purposes, depending
on who is using it.

8
HIST 01. MODULE ONE.
Lesson 1.1. The Definition of History

Over the years, history in the Philippines has been this way, an instrument for different
motives. The American colonial government, for example, supposedly encouraged
Filipinos to learn more about Rizal than Bonifacio in school because they wanted us to
follow Rizal’s example: he did not physically fight for independence, but preferred the
peaceful approach. So history here was used to prevent uprisings.

Another example is the Code of Datu Kalantiaw, which I learned when I was in grade
school. It was supposedly a precolonial document that proved that natives in Negros had
a sophisticated legal system even before the Spaniards arrived, but it turned out to be a
fake document by a guy named José E. Marco. In his case, history (according to him) was
used to boost nationalism. What was a better source of Pinoy Pride than knowing that
we had that kind of precolonial culture? Marco actually had good intentions, even if he
did fake a document that fooled a few generations of Filipino students.

9
HIST 01. MODULE ONE.
Lesson 1.1. The Definition of History

To sum things up, here are our 3 definitions of history: first, that it is an interpretation of
the past, and for this one we rely on evidences or things that remain from the past. But
we know that because of different biases, people do not interpret evidences in the same
way, so second, history is an argument, where different sides argue that their
interpretation is correct. Third, history is an instrument, because it can be used for all
sorts of motives, depending on whoever has the power to decide what the history will be
used for.

10