Explanatory principles in the social sciences may be denved from diverse sources. Here, from West Africa, a Yoruba oral poetry, Ayajo Asuwada, usually recited at the consecration of a new human settlement, is interpreted as saying that the universal principle of asuwa is the source of all things, which continue in being as communities. From community stems goodness and aisuwa, self-alienation, occurs when the common good is ignored. Nine related propositions are derived from these interpretations which are statements of relationship between basic elements in human society and may be applied to understanding people and society in Africa, past and present.
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