The annual BA Week organised by the BA Student Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences will be hosted again from 24 to 28 April and promises to provide students with a taste of what the social sciences have to offer through a range of fun, interesting and informative activities.
According to Masixole Ndamandama, the BA Student Committee (BASC) member responsible for Marketing and Recruitment, the aim of BA Week is to engage with students in the faculty and the greater Stellenbosch University (SU) about the curricular offering within the arts and social sciences. This will be done through talks and events that focus on relevant topics that impact on society and by showcasing the talents of BA students from the music, visual arts and drama environments while exposing other students to these fields too.
The theme for this year's BA Week is Breaking Barriers.
BASC will host a range of events including a discussion on The Coloured Identity panelled by Dr Riaan Oppelt, a lecturer from the English Department at SU teaching English and Cultural Studies; Ms Diana Ferrus, an administrator from the University of the Western Cape who is also a poet and writer and well-known for her poem on the Khoisan woman Saartjie Baartman whose remains were on display in Paris up to 1986; as well as Ms Leza Soldaat, a Masters student in Sociology from the Sociology and Social Anthropology Department at SU. The discussion will take place the SU Museum in Ryneveld Street on 25 April at 18:30 and will be followed by a screening of The Coloured Mentality, a locally produced web series focusing on what it means to be coloured in South Africa.
The week will however kick off with some nice goodies on Monday morning, 24 April, at 10:00 with BASC distributing cupcakes and a copy of the week's programme to students as they enter the BA building through the front door leading to the second floor of the building.
Other events and activities happening during the course of the week, include:
- A screening of the The Dead Poets Society movie at Pulp Cinema in the Neelsie Student Centre on Monday, 24 April at 18:30.
- On Tuesday, 25 April, at 13:00 a Contemporary Dance Showcase will be held in the Endler Hall of the Conservatorium.
- The new BA hoodie will be revealed on Wednesday at 10:00 at the BASC offices on the 2nd floor of the BA building, allowing students to order their hoodie just in time for winter.
- On Friday, 28 April, a Market Day will be held at the entrance to the BA building at 10:00. Students will sell savoury eats to the rest of campus and the general public at this market. On the same day, students can also watch a free lunch time jazz concert between 13:00 and 14:00 in the Endler Hall of the Conservatorium.
While BASC offers BA students a range of exciting activities to participate in throughout the year, the Committee is primarily responsible, amongst others, for assisting students with academic matters that has not been resolved through the usual procedural channels within the faculty, language issues that may arise during the course of the students' studies, or problems with obtaining the correct pass rate during the course of the year to write exams. Students in need of help can either visit BASC's offices at the entrance to the BA building on the 2nd floor (at the top of the first flight of stairs upon entrance to the building) between 08:00 and 13:00 or mail BASC at bask@sun.ac.za.
According to Ndamandama, while previous interactive weeks of this type culminated in a Gala Event, the current BASC has decided to postpone the ball event to find a less formalised and cheaper option to the traditional event that has been offered to students for years.
Marketing materials for the BA Week was designed and produced by Alec Poole.
All the events are free and are open to all students including interested members of the public. For further details contact BASC at bask@sun.ac.za or via Facebook. You can also engage with BASC via the @bask_su Twitter handle.
