Philippine History Essay

2. On Historiography

a. How did Zeus Salazar differentiate the Western definition of history and our “indigenous” perception of what history or kasaysayan is?

Answer: We had, at the arrival of the Spaniards an indigenous sense of history, but scarce regard for the past as history. Unlike the French histoire (which derives from the Greek word for “inquiry” whose Indo-European root, wid, had given Gothic witan (German wissen, English wit) or “knowledge” and Sanskrit Veda or “knowledge par excellence, mystical knowledge”); or unlike even the German Geschichte (from geschehen “to happen,” as in a story of history, which are the meanings of the substantive), our word for “history” in Tagalog does not refer to knowledge, to the search for information

The pre-colonial refers to the condition of the Philippines before the Spanish occupation, condition during the occupation, and after Spanish occupation. Tripartite approach to Philippine history is what the propagandist used. This tells us that we have civilization before the Spaniards came. Tripartite view of our history says that it was Spain who just brought the problems and impede the growth of our country. It emphasizes that Philippines was already having social organization and system. That we are involved in business between our neighboring countries. While the bipartite view of our history is that we were pagans and barbaric in nature. Bipartite view of our history is the biased perception of the Spaniards. It says that we were uncivilized and knows no system. It tells us that the Spaniards brought light to our dark world. Bipartite view of our history says that Spain brought the knowledge in our heads and civilized us.

c. In the Bipartite view of our history, how did the colonizers view the Philippines ' current situation upon their arrival and how did they see themselves and their contrIbution to the