Nova Jones

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Vesperi, Maria

Keywords

Sarasota, Florida, Ethnography, Tea

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

This ethnographic study of Elixir Tea House in Sarasota, Florida, is based on four months of participant observation. I conducted interviews with customers and the staff to examine the language and ideas people used to relate to different kinds of teas. I learned about different plants that are used to make teas, as well as their physical effects on the consumer. I also explored themes of tea, health, gender, and hospitality in the context of my findings at Elixir to understand the tea house owner’s relation to the rest of Sarasota, and Elixir’s relation to other kinds of historic tea houses in the United States and Japan.

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