ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine the ways in which individuals and families use tools of inspection and surveillance in order to visualize the future trajectory of the conditions within their kindred. The increasing relevance of the concept of risk in the realm of health-related behaviour has further activated such self-surveillance, in that both individuals and others are increasingly subject to a surveying gaze that is both reflexive and objectifying. Surveillance of the family and the search for patterns of inheritance often led to a belief that a genetic condition or family trait was transmitted through only male or only female members of the family. The process of surveillance has profound implications for the disclosure of genetic information. Within all these kindred, beliefs about the origin of the condition and the mechanisms of transmission exert a powerful influence over who is informed.
