Speaking with Beads: Zulu Arts from Southern Africa [Paperback]

Eleanor Preston-Whyte (Author), Jean Morris (Author, Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1994

The beadwork designs of the Zulu-speaking peoples of Southern Africa have evolved from a tradition of craft skills developed over the generations. But the products of this tradition are now fashionable worldwide. This volume presents jewellery, ornamental headdresses, capes, aprons, beaded panels and other decorative forms. The items frequently convey coded messages in a symbolic language, speaking of love, the origins of their makers or simply the influence of local styles. They also "speak" of ethnic identity and of religion, especially in the beadwork named after the Black Messiah, Isaiah Shembe, which uses white beads as a ground for ornate and exquisitely coloured geometrical patterns. And they speak a modern idiom of revitalized skills, whether as the contemporary art form of bead sculpture or as costume jewellery for global markets. The photographs, taken over a period of 20 years, offer a documentation of evolving traditions.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Anthropologist Preston-Whyte and photographer Jean Morris combine talents to create one of the first mass-audience books on the beauty and meaning of South African beadwork. Morris, having traveled twice to the eastern seaboard of southern Africa, shows via color photographs how much of the art has changed; whereas Preston-Whyte writes in lay language of the mystical powers, religious ceremonies, and fashion significance of these unique body decorations. Documented here are both new and old styles of bead adornment as well as the accompanying traditions and rites in which they play a part. A nontechnical, elegant glimpse into South African ways and means. Barbara Jacobs

Product Details

• Paperback: 2 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; 1st ed edition (August 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500277575
• ISBN-13: 978-0500277577
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,289,060 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, March 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Speaking with Beads: Zulu Arts from Southern Africa (Paperback)

Beautiful, clear color photographs of extraordinary beadwork. I cannot close the book. Makes me want to run to Africa and learn to bead from the Zulu people.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Language You Wear!, June 4, 2009

By 

K. Varraso (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Speaking with Beads: Zulu Arts from Southern Africa (Paperback)

Imagine that your clothing and jewelry said almost everything a stranger would need to know about you: not only your marital status, but whether you had children, where you were from, what your religion might be and how traditional your world view was. And that your beads changed as your life did, from infancy to old age, and with the places you have lived. That's the journey that Jean Morris and Eleanor Preston-Whyte takes us along with them as they met hundreds of people in the Zulu tribes of Southern Africa. As the title says, a person is speaking with beads to tell a viewer everything they might want to know at first glance.

The authors begin with a little historical data, talking about the bead trade between Africa and Europe, and how it developed, with the King demanding first pick of any beads that came into his country, and amazing formal functions, with thousands of dancing girls wearing nothing but beads. The affairs still existed at the time the book was written, having developed into a huge national conference for young women, with stirring speeches and an enormous dance, with each girl wearing her finest beadwork. The beadwork is different for each tribe and each area, and the girls like to personalize her own work, which means that there is incredible diversity and much beauty in all of the different costumes.

Beadwork continues to serve an important function throughout these people's lives, more so for women than men, although men always wear beadwork on formal occasions, as well as some smaller bits for everyday wear. Women wear "aprons" of beadwork that show if she is single, married and a new bride, a new mother, the mother of many children, a grandmother, etc. Her beads might only have the five colors that are traditional to her tribe, but they can be arranged endlessly. Younger women, in the universal desire to be fashionable, are using things I never thought of as beads: pull tabs to soda cans, for instance.

The pictures in the book are a feast for the beader's eye: I found myself mentally taking apart elaborate capes so I could stitch something like them myself (where I'd get the skin of a bull might pose a problem). I wondered what it would be like for my jewelry to tell my life's story to strangers and then I realized I do exactly that, although I didn't make the items myself: my wedding band, engagement ring and mother's ring tell an awful lot about me, and my clothing says a lot about my social status and where I'm from. Maybe we're all "speaking with beads" and don't even realize it!