Beadwork has been practiced in Africa and worldwide for centuries. In East Africa, different communities made beads
from a wide range of materials available to them. This materials range from black coral collected from the Indian
Ocean to the use of bone from their livestock. This study is an analysis of beadwork uses in the following East African
communities; Dinka of South Sudan, Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania, and the Samburu of Kenya. Conducted in Nairobi,