Assignment 3 – Garbology

After carefully reviewing the PDF of garbage items from 8 different households in London Ontario, answer the questions provided below and upload your worksheet to the Assignments tab in OWL. Remember to upload this template as a Word document (do not convert to Pages or PDF).

Question 1

· Select 4 of the 8 households and delete the other four from the box below.

· What do the items from each of these four residences suggest about the people who live there? Think in terms of the following characteristics: age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, dietary choices, how many people live in the house, and anything else you think is relevant.

· How does the evidence support these interpretations? Provide specific examples of how certain items support particular interpretations. Also indicate if there are things from the list of characteristics above that the available evidence does not allow you to interpret.

Note: 150 word limit = range 135-165 words (for all 4 households, not each household)

Household 1: age of these people is from 1-20 years, major gender is female, the dietary choice is majorly the practice of eating unhealthy foods , especially those ones which are easy to prepare

Household 2: The major ethnicity is Italian, age group is between 25 and 50 years, these are people who love eating healthy foods especially the organic food products, and their social economic status is that they belong to the middle class. Their ethnicity suggests that they could be Asian Americans.

Household 3: in household 3 the specific foods that these people eat indicate that they could be vegetarians and also a combination of meat eaters; they are aged between 30 and 50 years. At least four people live in the house. These are multiple ethnicities

Household 4: These are majorly vegetarians who sometimes eat grain related foods. They are middle aged and want to remain healthy.

150 word

Question 2

· What are some of the challenges when making such interpretations?

· What assumptions did you have to make in formulating your interpretations above?

Note: 100 word limit = range 90-110 words.

It is hard to determine the age of the people since some people majorly eat the foods that are described as children foods.

It is a challenge getting to know the specific type of food that could cause illness like diabetes in the people.

It is assumed that the younger people are the ones who are likely to eat foods which are unhealthy.

Rice, and chilli foods are assumed to be consumed by the people from the Middle East and India although it is hard to scientifically prove this and give evidence.

The word count of my response is: 92

Question 3

· What other kinds of material evidence (besides garbage) could you use to evaluate (provide additional support for or contradict) the interpretations you made based on the garbage presented in the PDF file?

Note: 100 word limit = range 90-110 words.

Some of the additional materials include the research articles such as, “ The Qualitative Study of Black Men and Hispanic people’s diets,’’ as published in the United States library of evidence. Other evidence that is used for this study is the resources found in the nutrition sections of major hospitals and also material results that are obtained from the interviewing the growing number of foods that are eaten by people from all ages. Some material evidence can be obtained by studying the social media posts of the youths and other groups of people plus what they eat as people often post what they eat on social media.

The word count of my response is: 107

Question 4

Now put yourself in the shoes of archaeologists 2000 years in the future.

· How would material bias affect the garbage items from each of the four households you selected? Be specific about how particular kinds of objects would be impacted.

· In the absence of other kinds of evidence, how would these changes impact your interpretations?

Note: 150 word limit = range 135-165 words.

It would affect the bias regarding the type of foods eaten by certain ethnic groups thus affecting existing traditional bias against people eating certain type of foods.

Considering household 4, people who are used to eating food such as sweet kale, carrots and organic oat flakes, they will not have beef related garbage items thus bringing in the concept of material bias.

On the other hand Hispanic people’s diets will have different garbage items as they have different traditional food and different food preferences such as indicated in household 2, it will be different from people enjoying meals from household 1.

With the absence of other kind of evidence, people tend to recommend to others only those food they enjoy. Thus people will tend to advice others to take food they like, it affects the interpretations as the information provided is biased and no consideration of all other type of food items available.

The word count of my response is: 153

Grading Rubric

• Please do not delete this rubric. The TAs will use this rubric to grade your assignment.

• The Assignment will be graded out of 20 marks.

Exemplary Response

Meets Expectations

Needs Improvement

Total

Q1

-Provides logical interpretations of 3 or more household characteristics (e.g. composition/income/dietary restrictions/ethnicity) for every chosen household

-Clearly explains: links between evidence and interpretation and/or lack of evidence for certain characteristics

-Provides logical interpretations of at least two household characteristics for all 4 households

-Most links between evidence and interpretation and/or lack of evidence for certain characteristics are well explained

- Limited number of interpretations

AND/OR

- Links between evidence and interpretation poorly explained

6

4-5

1-3

Q2

-Correctly identifies at least two challenges to interpretation

-Clearly explains 2 or more relevant assumptions

-Illustrates discussion of all challenges and assumptions with examples from Q1

- Ideas are logical and clearly communicated.

- Correctly identifies at least 1 challenge and 1 assumption

-Illustrates most points with examples from Q1.

- Assumptions and challenges are poorly explained, and/or not relevant.

4

3

1-2

Q3

-Identifies at least 3 types of material evidence and explains how each could provide information about several household characteristics (e.g. household composition/income/ethnicity) -Consistently uses effective examples to illustrate explanation

-Identifies 1-2 types of material evidence

-Explains how they could provide information about several household characteristics

-Usually illustrates explanations with examples

Links between other types of material evidence and household characteristics are poorly explained and/or unfounded

4

3

1-2

Q4

- Clearly explains how garbage items made of different materials would be affected by material bias, making reference to specific items from the selected households.

-Outlines multiple ways this would impact interpretation of the households and always illustrates with examples.

- Clearly explains impacts of material bias on the household garbage.

- Outlines at least two ways this would impact interpretation of the selected households.

-Provides some examples to illustrate.

-Material bias poorly explained

AND/OR

-Few or no impacts

AND/OR

-Poorly explains and/or illustrates its effects on interpretation

6

4-5

1-3

Total /20:

Note: -1 point for over/under word count; -1 for >10 spelling/grammar/punctuation errors; -1 for submitting PDF/Pages rather than Word document