Discredited Inheritance: Machado-Joseph Disease and Family Dynamics in the Azores

Machado-Joseph Disease is a dominantly inherited disorder that has been present among families of the Azores Islands since at least the mid-1800s. As a unique form of inheritance, it has influenced not only dynamics and identities within the nuclear family, but within the kinship networks in general, and in interactions with the larger island community. This paper, using Machado-Joseph Disease as a case study and drawing upon data collected during two field trips to the Azores, explores the cultural construction of genetic threat in the context of the family and in the context of the community in which families carry on their life activities.