Simon Ruybalid
History and Anthropology
Mentor: Kimberly Gauderman, Ph.D.
Project: Song of the Colibrí: Legal Chisme in Colonial Latin American
About Simon Ruybalid
I am honored to receive the ASSURE scholarship, which will support my research on chisme (gossip, hearsay). I will examine the construction of gossip by looking at records of correspondence between 1848-1940, held at the Center for Southwest and Special Collections. My research aims to demonstrate the cultural and historical specificity of chisme, while also providing a clearer understanding of its context, configuration, and articulation. This research is epistemic and historiographic. Located at the site of gossip's illicit construction in the contemporary American states, I position my research at the intersection of the relationship between historians and history, reflecting on how historians engage with and think about chisme. 
