African philosophy of utu

The Dogon people of Mali in West Africa practice one of the most complex and complete forms of human co-existential philosophies.

A peace loving people--believe, the DOGON believe in the famed African co-ex9stential philosophy of Utu (Kiswahili term for, love and respect for fellow humans) An excerpt of their culture in the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, states as follows:

The Dogon are strongly oriented toward harmony, which is reflected in many of their rituals. For instance, in one of their most important rituals, the women praise the men, the men thank the women, the young express appreciation for the old, and the old recognize the contributions of the young. Another example is the custom of elaborate greetings whenever one Dogon meets another. This custom is repeated over and over, throughout a Dogon village, all day. During a greeting ritual, the person who has entered the contact answers a series of questions about his or her whole family, from the person who was already there. Invariably, the answer is sewa, which means that everything is fine. Then the Dogon who has entered the contact repeats the ritual, asking the resident how his or her whole family is. Because of the word sewa is so commonly repeated throughout a Dogon village, neighboring peoples have dubbed the Dogon the sewa people.