Abstract
Dobra Tea Downtown offers a different experience compared to most tea or coffee shops. This is evident through the decorations, teas, tea utensils, and overall environment. Their teas, tea utensils, and decorations are meant to exemplify cultures and places from around the world, most commonly Eastern cultures and religions. An ethnographic exploration of Dobra Tea over the course of a year through participant observations, informal and formal interviews, and online research indicates that Dobra’s decorations from various religious and cultural groups have been adopted as something for consumer satisfaction rather than the advertised respectful portrayal of different cultures. This shows up in the space through “slight Orientalism.”1 However, findings have also indicated that Dobra is not attempting to mimic authentic religious or cultural custom, but rather aiming to appreciate and illuminate traditional tea customs from around the world. Through Dobra’s advertisement of a “voyage of discovery,” Dobra creates an experience unlike anywhere else in Asheville.2 This paper explores Dobra’s space, how Dobra portrays these cultures, and the gaps in appreciating these cultures honestly and respectfully.
How to Cite
Baron, H., (2019) “An Ethnographic Voyage through the Cultural World of Dobra Tea”, Capstone, The UNC Asheville Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship 32(1), 5/1/2019.
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