A Term Paper in GEC 2

Readings in Philippine History

Angelo Dizon Cabreros

Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration

November, 2019
 Chapter 5, Lesson 1

Local History
ABSTRACT

This paper discusses that Local History is the key to understanding the different cultures
and perspectives of small communities. It presents the past events and experiences of single
communities that live equally unique among the others. It may be the history of a municipality,
countryside, a residential area, or a metropolis neighborhood.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Objectives
III. Discussion
IV. Synthesis
V. Conclusion
VI. References
 I. Introduction

Local History is possibly the way for the students to gain a better insight upon others and
ourselves. The national history can be completely read and realized when there are collective
recordings of the local history, which reflects vivid illustrations of the general course of the
national history” (Healey, 2008).

Local History tends to enable the students to gain a greater interest in history. His mind is
not only filled with the historical events and dates but helps him in analyzing the small details
that made his local history unique from the others. The study of local history gives the student a
better sense of truthfulness on the surrounding that he lives with. Whatever is taught in the
classroom should be based on the realities of life. Because many students know about their
national history but they don’t even have enough knowledge about the history of their local
community which makes them alienated on the history of their local communities. It is simply
because it is not taught and discussed in the classroom. Appreciation of the national history
beings from the national history which means that we should always remind ourselves that
history is not just all about the past, but it also has a connection to our day to day lives.
 II. Objectives

The goal or the objectives of Local History is to allow the students to be directly engaged
in doing it. When the students participate in the gathering of data, they should bear in mind that
this will bring them the higher sense of community involvement. The students will learn to
analyze data with a careful and critical eye for the most intricate details and to enable them to
question the foreseen data. So when the students are directly engaged, they learn the sense of
involvement collaboration and commitment. In order to achieve this goal, there is a need to think
outside the box and introduce new ways in processing the data as well the expertise in choosing
of words to be used in their research and writing.

In doing local history, an eyewitness to the event will have to take note and consider
examining it with someone else. Or you could just interpret it, interpretation is the conclusion
formed in the outcome from examining historical evidence. In the case of history various aspects
should be manifested. Like in the case of Fort Pillar in Zamboanga where its preservation is
backed by historical evidences. Thanks to its preservation for historians get to analyze different
sources may it be from magazines, diaries, letters, journals, to something as folklores can be used
as the original sources of information are in tacked, in other words, the primary sources. A
primary source insinuates a direct link from a person or event that the one is studying it. The
primary source represents an eyewitness account, allowing the historians to establish their own
interpretations that can be referred to as secondary accounts. History is a collection of small
fragments of data planted down and organized by the observers, which interpreted the different
facts on what happened on that certain event.

The first thing a student must do to use primary sources effectively is to see what sources
are available and how it must be used. The ways of using it is by knowing the nature and
background of these sources. Students must see to it that the documents will answer the problems
presented in the study that is being conducted. There are several questions that are to be
conducted by the students in using their documents, like the reasons of its preservation, the one
who had written the document, and the motive of its writing. These will enable the students a
better examination of the documents to be used in the study. When students learn to use the
primary sources, they would come to know that history is not about heroes or great people alone.
Students would have insights that history can be written by those who are inarticulated in the
national history, like the ordinary masses. These can be supported by conducting history from the
local places. Like reading the diaries and letters pertinent to local history shows that history is
made and recorded by average people writing about events in their lives, and how the events
affected them (Beckett, 2007)

The usefulness and quality of sources that are needed in the study must follow the
expected standard criteria. Time element and place where the event took place should be
included in the study. There must be truthfulness and aquedacy from the eyewitness. In proper
understanding of the history, students must have to consider the standpoint of the author
particularly his biases and their own biases as well. It is also expected that the students must
master the art of questioning and inquiry to find out the answer to their questions.
 III. Discussion

About local History, and why it matters. Local History gives us a whole new perspective
towards crucial events that took place in our communities. In the past, the writing of history was
concentrated in the general events that transpired in a country. It is unfortunate that there were
very limited writings that were done to include the local histories. For most of us, history would
mean to understand the rise and fall of civilizations, the historical development of politics and
economy and all events that said about the national history of the country. Looking at the major
moments in history is undoubtedly important, but it is also just as beneficial to see history in the
small unrecognizable events of your family, friends, and locality. They also help play part in
making and shaping the history today. So, by understanding more of local history creates
historical patterns that transform into detailed stories that tell the beginning of huge events and
the lives of ordinary individuals.

Local History also teaches us some things about our community. Like general locations
and common objects in your community can follow the extensive ancestry of previous
generations on the places you live. Only few individuals of a certain community know their own
regions’ lineage behind their communities. That is why in Local History, you will gain a better
grasp of understanding the past and perceiving the present by learning more of your own
community’s origin.

The Local History of our country is very important. The Philippine History should be
recognized like all other histories should be. But it is sad to think that only few Filipinos know or
even recognize their own history, while others have little to none recollection of their own
heritage. This is due to the feeling of incompetence and how their mindset is focused more on
others history than themselves, This creates limited backgrounds of their own history, especially
local history, which has a stronger approach to the people’s identity, their ancestry, who they
really are. These could also be attributed to the teachings of history that are done inside the
classrooms since teachers have also limited understanding and background of the approach of
teaching the subject.
 The utmost significance in the writing of the local history in relations to the creation of a
national history cannot be scorned upon. The understanding and writing of the great events that
happened cannot just be set aside. The need to come up with local history is the awareness of the
divergent and insufficient nature of Philippine History. The general history of the Filipinos is
considered fundamentally focused in the history of the Northern part of the country where the
concentrations of development can also be seen. Though, there are other essential events and
developments happening in Visayas and Mindanao are quoted in, but they are still forgotten and
left out. The rare characteristics of the cultural and historical numerous ethnic groups all across
the country are also ignored. These led to the distortion and misinterpretation of the writing of
events of Philippine History.

The way how the Philippine History is being written down should not solely be put on the
historians alone. The problem is that for a time being, criteria in writing was tied up to the
restrain of western standards. There is a call that all forms of historical writings have to be
established upon written origin. It should be that only those written documents and primary
sources are the ones to be considered dependable. It can be seen in the writing of Philippine
History that there is the absence of written sources done by individuals and historians from the
perspective of local backgrounds. This hindered the tasks of national historians from the
perspective of local backgrounds. This had hindered the tasks of national historians to write a
complete history of the country. It is also observed that the data gathered in the Philippine
History is borrowed from foreign sources which manifest biases. This also restricted the national
historians for coming up with a real history of the country. It also gives them a harder time for it
opens up a small window of information and effort for individuals whose endeavors and origin is
located in their spoken literature.

History is just all around us. The historical knowledge that we all wish to learn is all
around us. So instead of going to far places such as Egypt, Brazil, etc. You can instead learn the
history of your own community’s history. By reading your many side and records, you can see
the historical richness of your community. You will feel proud and enlightened after
understanding so much about the past history of your local place and how it managed to become
the community that it is right now.
IV. Synthesis

What I’ve mostly learned about Local history is that it is the study of history in a
local context, often concentrating on events that affected a local community: people or places
of a particular village of town. These events could be anything from movements, wars, births,
or deaths. Think of the Heroes’ Cemetery on within Fort Bonifacio in Western Bicutan,
Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines that remembers those lives of the heroes that died and will
be well known from the local community where they lived before they died during war.
These people gave up their lives so what our ancestors could enjoy their lives and the lives
we have today. No matter how different you are, you have a shared history in the city that
you live in. Local History also depicts shared experiences. As we learn about people or
places that were important years ago in our city, we realize that those residents reared
children, worked hard to make a living, immigrated to an unfamiliar place, or had an
entrepreneurial spirit that they used to build a business. As we learn about these shared
experiences, one can often visit preserved historic landmarks within a city. These preserved
landmarks serve as sources for first-hand accounts of the people who experienced life in the
community. Decades or centuries earlier. Local History also teaches us about the human
condition. Local history museums hold records of families and people who settled in the city
centuries ago. These records also depict personal letters, papers, and photographs of families,
business, and events that shaped the city’s history. These records show us, personally and
accurately, about how people lived live decades or centuries earlier. Museum exhibits show
us these records and help visitors cultivate empathy – a deeper understanding of the
circumstances and concepts surrounding and event or live in a certain time period. Local
History museums are also centers of learning. Local history comes alive in museums and
historical societies. When a guest is able to read, visit a historic place, look at an artifact,
appreciate images or study real documents, we create learned connections. The information
and objects found in museums offers supplemental information not found in classrooms and
may also include object-based learning that includes touchable glimpses into the past beyond
that a textbook offers.
 V. Conclusion

Based on my studies and analysis regarding Local History. I therefore conclude that
the nation’s history must be the epidome of every single histories of its component. No town
or province exists independently of the country, and so on. The crucial importance is the
realization that interest in the study and understanding of Philippine History mainly depends
of an individual’s understanding of local origin. Local History should be taken seriously and
be taken as the primary concern of many of us for it brings us closer to our hometown or
province. Because of this, we become conscious of own uniqueness, practices, and desires.

One may never achieve a fuller understanding of the Filipinos and the Philippines if
he failed to study the history of his/her hometown, city, province or region. One may achieve
this by knowing the historical contributions of his own local place to regional advancement
that also led to national development. It is through recreating the past about our locality,
embracing its political, social, economic, and cultural life that would enable us to achieve
real progress for the country. This includes the development of the institutions in the
geographical unit and the successes and failures of its people. From there, we may be able to
understand and consequently, appreciate Philippine History.

The solution to the incomplete national history, is to come up with a more accurate
writing of the Philippine History by allowing the collections and participation of the local
historians. The commitment will not only be an obligation of the national historians. It is also the
duty of the local individuals to administer an adequate and accurate account of the historical
experiences and interpretations of its own people. If this is achieved, the desired result will lead
to the improvement of the national history with focused not only in Manila but to the
surrounding places in the country far from fostering regionalism, local history will make the
people understand better and appreciate more their total national experience as Filipinos.

This is why as a college student I strongly that studying the Local History of a country or
our country is really significant to our lives as citizens of our countries.
VI. References

Beckett, J. (2007). Writing Local History. N.Y., USA: Manchester University Press.

Funtecha, H. (2008). Bridging the Gap. The News Online Edition Today. Ilo-Ilo,
Philippines

Healey, J. (2008). Why History Matters. Oxford University, England.

Campell Historical Museum and Ainsley House (2017). 3 Reasons Why Local History Matters
https://www.campbellmuseums.com/single-post/2017/06/29/3-Reasons-Why-Local-
History-Matters