COLONISATION AND IMPERIALISM
Get Out (2017), a film by Jordan Peele
An Australian example:
“We were slaves to white families,” she said.
Aunty Lorraine worked as a servant in rural New South Wales, from age 15.
“The final part of your training was how to serve high tea to white families that you going to work,” she recalled.
“To pass the test, you had to learn how to cook a sponge cake from scratch and present it to the matron with fine china.”
Aunty Lorraine passed the test and worked for two families.
Although she said they were “really nice people”, she was never once invited to sit down with her so-called employers to enjoy a slice of cake and tea.
Lorraine Peeters was stolen and trained to be a servant in NSW, now she trains others to heal
CIVILISATION
“Tea at the House”, a short story by Meg Wolitzer (subverted)
FEMININITY
Tea parties, chatting and sitting together in a tidy room is a feminized activity, sometimes subverted, for example by Shirley Jackson’s young protagonist in “Afternoon in Linen“.
INDIVIDUALITY
Mainly evinced by the idiom “not my cup of tea”
SIMPLE PLEASURES
A Cup of Tea by Katherine Mansfield
SEE ALSO
The Art of Tea, episode 74 of the Then Again Podcast: How did tea become such a popular and culturally significant beverage over the centuries? Amanda Vermillion, a.k.a. The Tea Mistress, takes us on the journey of tea from the process of producing it to tea ceremonies and more.
