This article represents a South African contribution to the growing international body of knowledge on histories of community psychology. We trace the early antecedents of social-community psychology interventions and describe the social forces and academic influences that provided the impetus for the emergence and development of community psychology in South Africa. We then draw on various sources, including undocumented small histories of organized groups and individuals, to present on account of the emergence, development, and focus of community psychology in South Africa. We also very briefly describe community-focused work in other selected African countries. In the penultimate section, we take a critical look at the notions of "community" embedded in community psychology practice in South Africa, and then by way of conclusion, we describe the trajectory of community psychology and speculate about its future in the country.Despite the increasing levels of plurality and diversity in the global manifestations of community psychology theory and practice, the African scholarly and academic voice remains marginal within international knowledge creation agencies and in publications that enjoy a global research reputation (Seedat & MacKenzie, 2008;Seedat, MacKenzie, & Stevens, 2004). It would be naïve to suggest that the gap is simply a mark of malicious intent or inadvertent omission on the part of the discipline's leadership, reviewers, and editors to exclude African and other-than-White voices from such publications and knowledge production. A more nuanced reading would locate and