Tea Service: Queering Time and Creating Community

This thesis explores the concept of queer temporality and the importance of community in a person’s quality of life. Contrast between traditional English tea service and unconventional, queered tea service is used in dualistic metaphor to explore the contrast of community with people who seek to uphold cisheteronormativity and with people who disrupt it. Further, tea can be seen in various contexts as a site of social resistance. Queer temporality can be defined as the nonlinear and unconventional uses of time which are experienced in opposition to cisheteronormative temporalities. The importance of community amongst queer individuals is emphasized through shared experiences of concealment. This metaphor is dualistic because it connects tea as a temporal event to both cisheteronormative and queer temporality and it connects the social environment of a tea service to both cisheteronormative and queer environments. As an example, I recount how my own experiences of having tea with family and friends reflect this metaphor as they lead to my exploration of these concepts. Tea with my family is representative of a cisheteronormative environment, where my queer identity is concealed; it reflects ideals of traditional English tea and cisheteronormative societal conventions. Tea with my friends is representative of a queer environment where my queer identity is not only accepted but celebrated and shared; it reflects found family and queer community. I also show my process in making several sculptural teacups to be used in a queer tea party of my own.