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Community chameleons
Stellen-Buzz with SMF
March 28, 2025
Dear reader,
I personally felt quite irked with my community psychology module during my undergraduate studies. I admit that psychology was never my favourite module, so my assessment is possibly a bit skewed. But the need to define everything irritated me to no end – it felt like a constant academic limitation on real human experiences.
Community, according to my textbooks, should be defined as one of four structures: community as a location, as a network of social relationships, as a construction of a way of life, and as a sociopolitical organisation.
During the limited time that I spent studying for psychology, I felt a distinct insecurity about my apparent lack of community. What I considered to be my community suddenly didn’t fit into the available parameters. Community is a concept that I understood to be an intrinsic condition of human existence. It is not something to be measured according to a list of requirements.
We are at the end of our first term of Journalism Honours, and my understanding of community was not only correct, but has also grown immeasurably.
Anneli, our course convenor, has a tendency of making poignant observations about journalism that inspire a certain kind of awe in her students. This week, she said that “journalism is about connecting to the space you write about”, and that expertly sums up the significance of community – we cannot write in a vacuum.
Our honours class of 2025 has settled into its own little community, and it has also enabled us to connect with communities that we haven’t had access to, or even known about before. Community has become a word that changes meaning daily; morphing and flowing to welcome us into different spaces and connect us to new people. It becomes impossible to conceptualise “community” as only a location, or a network of social relationships, when you are enveloped by different ideas every week.
Our little SMF News community will be scattered during the upcoming week as some of us return to our communities of origin, while others choose distance by staying comfortably, voluntarily bedridden.
Fret not: I will dutifully pester my classmates to send regular updates on their comings and goings, and our extended SMF News community will be receiving their weekly newsletter as scheduled.
In the meantime, we have an entire term to reflect on.
Anke Spies, newsletter editor.
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The weekly rundown:
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Residents from Kayamandi are currently more concerned about crime in the area than about fire safety. This was according to many residents from Kayamandi attending a recent community awareness session on fire safety. |  By Anja van Zyl |
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 By Buhle Bam | More people should be aware of academic xenophobia, a term crystallised in a new book on the topic. This is according to Jonathan Jansen, distinguished professor of education at Stellenbosch University (SU), at the launch of the book Academic Xenophobia: African Scholars in South African Universities on 12 March. |
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Three people were shot and injured in a shooting incident that occurred in Cloetesville’s White City on 11 March. This is according to warrant officer Zenobia Sedeman from the Cloetesville South African Police Service (SAPS). |  Photo by Jared Moorgas |
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Visual of the week:
Training for 2026
Tendani Tshauambea, a BAHons (English) student at Stellenbosch University, participated in his second Cape Town Cycle Tour with Move4Maties on 9 March and has started training for his third race in 2026. “It’s not necessarily about your money as an alumni,” said Tshauambea. “It’s more about what time and skills [you can] share to better the lives of people who are coming after you.”
By Danielle Schaafsma
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Get to know me!
What is your favourite song and who is your favourite artist?
Currently caught between Eternal Sunshine and Supernatural by Ariana Grande, but my all-time favourite song is Endlessly by Omar Apollo.
My favourite artist is probably Sam Smith.
What is your favourite film?
The Thing About Harry.
What is your favourite book, and what are you currently reading?
Favourite Book: Life of Pi
Does spot-checking the SMF News articles count as what I am currently reading?
What is your favourite place you’ve ever visited and why?
Valley of Waves. It was the first “fancy” thing I ever got to do, thanks to a top-achievers camp in high school. Why don’t they do top-achiever camps in university?
If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
My late brother who I never got to meet.
If you weren’t studying journalism, what would you be doing?
Pro-wrestling.
What is something most people don’t know about you?
I technically have 4 names (two legal [but one is silent], two nicknames).
What is your favourite spot in the department or on campus?
The Journalism department’s lounge couches, aka my bed-away-from-home.
What do you do if you’re not busy working?
Watching series and [trying] wrestling [at home].
What do you want to achieve this year?
Take more photos.
SMF News’s top 5
free things to do during recess
Go see the Spier Light Art, running from 21 March to 21 April.
Take out a library book - be honest, when was the last time you visited the library?
Visit an art exhibition at Oude Leeskamer in town.
Have a picnic next to the Eerste Rivier.
Take a walk in Jan Marais park.
What we’re watching: | What we’re listening to: |
 | Miss Atomic Bomb The Killers  |
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A brief look back on our first term as BAHons (Journalism) students…
