While studying abroad in London, an Illinois Wesleyan professor served as the director and taught a course called The Bloody History of Afternoon Tea. This connected Asian studies and English history, history and Asian studies being Professor Lutze’s area of study. We had the option to take the course at a 200 or 300 level, and to aid in starting to complete my three 300 level history course requirements for graduation, I took the 300 level course. This meant writing a fifteen page independent research paper on tea history and anything that related to the course to have completed at the end of the semester.

In class and on tea related trips it was mentioned that Catherine of Braganza, the queen consort of King Charles II (who is also known as “The Merry Monarch” and ruled over Restoration England), was the person who introduced tea drinking to court and thus started the popularization of the drink in England. If it were not for her, England may have been known for drinking coffee or hot chocolate and would not have the automatic mockery from other nations for the obsession and essential part of British culture. However, in class and on our museum visits and tours, those who said Catherine of Braganza started tea-drinking could not historically back it up. This all lead to my research question: is there any truth in the credit historians give Catherine of Braganza for the popularization of tea drinking in Great Britain?

Below you will find a PDF version of my thirteen page research paper and the PowerPoint I used to present my research for my final in the Bloody History of Afternoon course while I studied abroad in London.

Catherine of Braganza Research Paper

Catherine of Braganza PowerPoint Presentation

My first semester sophomore year I studied abroad in London, England. I took a full course load like I would have at Illinois Wesleyan; Shakespeare and Others, The Bloody History of Afternoon Tea, Art History, and London Global City. London Global City was a course that rarely met in the classroom, every week we were in a new borough, exploring the culture, economics, sustainability, and history in every area we visited. Attached at the bottom of this post are the essays I wrote for this class.

While focusing on the diversity, economics and sustainability in every area of London was a huge part of the course, one of the biggest personal takeaways was seeing away from the typical London tourist lens. Seeing London and its struggles, protests, disagreements, poorer areas, while also seeing the beautiful areas that tourists flock to gave me a full picture of what London is truly like; it made me feel like a Londoner getting to love and simultaneously complain about some of the things that could be better.

In my Politics and Protest essay, I go over the first hand account of protesting going on in Westminster Square before we visited Parliament on a school trip. After taking down some accounts from protesters, forming my own opinion, and doing some historical research in Ireland, Northern Ireland and UK relations, I wrote an essay on Bloody Sunday protests going on almost 50 years after the fact. Straying from historical events leading to protests of today, two other girls and I also did a research project on a specific area inside the borough of Camden called Somers Town. We split the essay into different topics and did individual research on the topics and wrapped it all together in our presentation to the class. I focused on food as a culturally diverse tool that added to the community and the environmental issues going on pertaining to public transportation and the poor air quality it is providing to the residents of the area. For my final essay I chose to compare and contrast the Barbican and the recent regeneration going on in the King’s Cross area, and how they represent London’s evolving ideals as time goes on.

By writing these papers, researching different aspects of what makes a global city, and touring London for class, I was able to expand my mind in culture, economics, sustainability, history, and London.

Politics and Protest – Bloody Sunday

Camden Borough Paper

What Do Social Projects Say About the Contemporary Values of London