CHIROPRACTIC RESEARCH SEMINARS – ALL WELCOME!
Human biological variation in anatomy textbooks: the role of ancestry
by A/Prof Goran Štrkalj, BA, MA (Belgrade), PhD (Witwatersrand)
on Thursday, 15 September, 1-2pm, in E8A room 280 (Biology tearoom)
A/Professor Goran Štrkalj from the Department of Chiropractic at Macquarie University will discuss a study which
focuses on human biological variation due to differences in ancestry and the way it is dealt with in anatomy textbooks.
Humans vary biologically at different levels: individually, and according to sex, age and ancestry. While the first three
levels are usually competently accounted for in medical curriculum, this does not seem to be the case with ancestry.
This study examines the treatment of human biological variation (ancestry) in current English anatomy textbooks,
through content analysis. Results suggest that this type of human variation is not accounted for. The current debate
on the validity of “race” in medical discourse indicates that more adequate and up to date accounts on human
variation should be introduced into anatomy textbooks.
Goran Štrkalj is a biological anthropologist and anatomist. His research interests are in human biological variation and evolution, ‘race’,
history of biological anthropology and science education. Previously, Goran has worked in the School of Anatomical Sciences, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. As a Research Associate he has been affiliated with the Wellcome Trust for the History of Medicine at the
University College London, Institute for Human Evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Institute of Ethnography at the
Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences.