ABSTRACT
Historians are significant participants in the production and reconstruction of knowledge. In postcolonial Philippines, Filipino historians established different traditions and created their schools of thought. One commonality among these historians was the aim to write Philippine history with a nationalist orientation. This chapter analyzes the concept of Marcos's New Society (Bagong Lipunan) and its relationship with the development of history-making during the Martial Law period. It examines how Marcos, martial law, and the “new society” affected select historians in the 1970s and 1980s and how their works navigated the regime's vision. This chapter reexamines Philippine historiography while adding nuance to our understanding of how the state's attempts to reinvent Philippine society impacted the intellectual history of the period.
