Focuses on the importance of beadwork in the lives of Africa's Ndebele people. Includes instructions for making a Ndebele doll.

Traces a boy's journey across India as he searches for a sacred buffalo bell stolen from his tribe.

Traditional bead work is fascinating and a great craft to learn. Many ethnic groups in Africa and all over the world are proud of their beading crafts. It’s a wonderful way of keeping the stories of the past alive. As time goes on the younger generations lose interest in their traditions and crafts, which is sad as one wonders if these crafts will eventually become something of the past – lost and forgotten.

A former professor and museum director offers a fascinating, in-depth look at the culture and history of beaded objects around the world. From a beaded dress found in an ancient Egyptian tomb to the beaded fringe on a 1920s Parisian flapper’s hem, humans throughout history have used beading as a way to express, adorn, and tell a story. Bol explores beadwork across the world and through the ages, showing how beading has taken on many different styles, forms, and purposes for different cultures. She looks at children’s clothing, puberty ceremonies, burials, emblems of social status and leadership, festivals, and many other cultural occasions that involve the use of beadwork. Images of artifacts and heirlooms as well as photography of people and their beadwork enhance the scholarship of this book for a beautiful, enlightening addition to art, history, multicultural collections everywhere.

Ndebele - A People & Their Art is a beautifully illustrated study of the Ndebele and their distinctive art culture. Exceptional photography and insightful text have combined to make this a fascinating and visually exciting work that will have great appeal for all those with an interest in the tribal cultures of southern Africa and of the Ndebele in particular. Endowed with a rich creativity, Ndebele women have developed an art culture of remarkable ingenuity and vitality which has established their tribal grouping as Africa's artist nation. In their beadwork and in the large murals that cover the walls of their traditional mud dwellings - many of which are unusually innovative in their planning and construction - the Ndebele women have created bold, often symbolic, designs and images that are at one ancient and modern in their simplicity, colour and mode of representation. The traditional dress of Ndebele women is equally striking and dramatic, as are their beadwork and adornments. But the artistic achievements of the Ndebele are not the sole focus of the work. Equal emphasis is placed on an understanding of the historical, social and political background against which Ndebele art emerged and has flourished.

Presenting the glories and sophisticated artistry of African beadwork, this study focuses on the beadwork of Zulu communities.