The "Isms" of Historiography…the Intellectual Orgy of the Day

04 July 2008. A day that Americans celebrate. But for me, its a day of so many isms.Isms isms isms isms, hay abaw daw mabu-ang ko di bala!

Our professor in historiography discussed so many “isms” tonight…these schools of thought in history that I just stumbled recently. The last time I heard of these was 3 years ago but I thank my profs in UP for giving me lasting memory of their teachings in local history. Our class had a fun intelectual orgy because of the clashing interests between these isms. I thought history was boring, just wait and see till you have a glimpse of its naughty naughty side!

Anyway, these schools of thought in historiography just gave me a glimpse of how broad my chosen field is, and some say one or several schools of thought might be your mantra in your academe lifetime. My professor said, by the time we finish this semester, we should have at least one school of thought or “isms” that would influence on how we view our history and our world.

Hmm, let me give the isms here: God-centric, Human-centric, ideal-centric then of course, reconstructionalism, constructionalism, deconstructionalism, revisionism, humanism, romanticism, empiricism, positivism, materialism, idealism, rationalism, structuralism, modernism, orientalism and some have post as their prefix. Waaahhh!!! But the amazing thing here is that these “isms” are so inter-related to each other despite some opposing and the others complement.

Oops…stop it. I won’t divulge in the topic too much. At baka ma-bulilyaso ang research journal ko para sa araw na ito. Hehe!!

Oh the beauty of being human! This is humanity, and I believe that the “isms” I mentioned are just partial in understanding human nature not just only in the past, but also for today and tomorrow. I know that these things that I was reintroduced and learned will be used for the greater good of the society I hope that I can help. Di ko ito pagmamaramot, at di ko gustong lumaki ang ulo ko dahil dito.

Oist, humanist ang approach ko dito sa post na to…Good night to all!