Heredograms and kinship in Cariri Paraibano

from biomedical tools to family experiences with Mucopolysaccharidosis

Abstract

To problematize how the presence of Mucopolysaccharidoses and the heredogram mobilize reflections about the kinship among couples, in which categories of consanguinity and common ancestry establish different arrangements for the understanding of the illness. The ethnography, observation, and interviews carried out in Cariri (state of Paraiba/Brazil) with the families that have cases of the genetic disease, sought to understand the relationships engendered between families and genetics, when the heredogram establishes the diagnosis of the disease and the kinship relationship. Initially, the interlocutors point out that the heredogram was presented to them to “prove” that there is a kinship relationship and the causal link of the disease. However, this instrument does not coincide with the sociocultural perspective of the notion of kinship used by the families and the causal link of the disease. Our reading is that the heredogram used by genetics does not correspond to local issues of kinship, when other values, such as “knowledge” among families and/or having origin in the same locality, are relevant for the constitution of new families and kinship.