Title: Beyond Local History: The Case of Sulu History in National Perspective
Abstract: As I see it, one of the enduring legacies of the Centennial celebration of the Declaration of Philippine Independence in 1998 was its significant influence on national consciousness and the integration of the series of oral, local and/or regional history conferences, seminar-workshops, exhibits and other historical and socio-cultural activities supported and funded by the Philippine Centennial Commission (PCC). The series was pursued through a Centennial project on the National Historical Institute (NHI) which received from the PCC P15-M for the reconstitution of its historical museum and its series of workshop-seminars and related activities as part of the Centennial celebration. In turn, the NHI tapped the expertise and services of two prominent national historical organizations to help conceptualize, plan, implement, coordinate and promote the rationale, goals, ideals, and outputs of the series throughout the country from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi. The Philippine National Historical Society (PNHS), which conducted 16 conferences and workshop-seminars in key cities, municipalities and centers throughout the Centennial year came out, among other outputs, with the impressive 16-volume History from the People in 1998 and 1999. The Philippine Historical Association (PHA), for its part, opted to show, through local museum exhibits and related cultural activities in chosen local areas, the importance of the Centennial celebration. In bringing out the foregoing results of the 1998 Centennial series of national conferences on oral and local history, I wish not only to underline the historical legacy of the Centennial, but also to highlight in the keynote paper what lies beyond this legacy and has remained the unfulfilled objective and ideas of oral, local and/or regional history throughout the nation. Thus far, what has been done through the years has only been to identify and project an imperative of nation-building through historical consciousness and integration. In substance and in effect, I refer to the fundamental need of Philippine historiography to deal not just rhetorically with bridging the ambiguous gap between national and local-regional history, but also, realistically, with the ideological and theoretical framework that tends to unite not divide, and to differentiate not separate, the various localities, regions, tribes and sectors that constitute the Filipino national community. In this keynote message, I hope to identify and elaborate, at least, three ways of achieving a modest but meaningful realization of this basic aim: first the multi-or-interdisciplinary approach to local-regional history; second, the oral historical reconstruction of eye-witness accounts (primary sources) though the chain of historical transmission; and third, the publication of a series of periodic historical literature featuring a new editorial framework that pursues and promotes a paradigm shift of historical study towards the desired ideological thrust of national integration. Only through an integrative or integrational local-regional historiography can the national unity of the Filipino people be achieved.
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 14
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot