'The stumbling disease': a case study of stigma among Azorean-Portuguese

There exists among Azorean-Portuguese a biological malady that is inherited. First recognized by biomedicine in 1972 as a distinct disease entity, it has been in existence in the United States and the Azores Islands since at least the mid-1800s. The malady is generally known as the 'stumbling disease' among the Azorean-Portuguese; the current biomedical literature refer to it as Machado-Joseph disease. Historically an aura of stigma has surrounded affected individuals, their families, and primary ethnic group in which the malady is currently found. Drawing heavily on the work of Erving Goffman Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963) and labelling theory, this paper explores the nature of this stigma. The cultural contexts of a small, face-to-face, homogeneous island setting is contrasted with that of the heterogeneous, anonymous setting of the United States to illuminate various aspects of the stigma configuration. The cultural context has important implications for stigma definitions, modes of social control, and management strategies of the stigmatized.