You can’t hate someone whose story you know ~Margaret J. Wheatley

_mentors:
Dr. Joëlle Bitton, Verena Ziegler
_thanks to:
joëlle and verena, ursulina, markus, yuri, lucia, elena, seraina, ladina, vera, hannah, elias, judith, ray, caspar, daniel, andrea, noé, janis, cinzia, djamir, carmen, nouki, edith, nick, anouk, bruno, luka, jessica, max, julia, gierom, lars, nico, zoë; the people who challenge me, the people who show me their vulnerable side(s), the people who get angry at me and the people who are impressed by me
the rituals that shape me and us and give me hope.
_exhibited at:
diplomausstellung ZHdK 2025 @ ZHdK

This thesis was written without the help of ChatGPT. Large language models (primarily deepL) were used for some translations – its use is declared directly in the text.

abstract

conversations and discussions, both private and public, are cha- racterized by polarization. it is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with content and opinions that do not correspond to one›s own. this is reinforced by algo- rithms that favour polarizing con- tent and by the tendency to rate statements that correspond to one›s own world view as more li- kely to be true.
zusammen.kommen explores how collaborative design proces- ses can create rituals in which ex- change about different attitudes and realities of life can bring about cohesion instead of isolation.

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i glossary

extremism

One of the distinguishing factors for recognizing extremism is that members of an extremist group accept or endorse the use of violence to reach their ideological goals. The underlying ideologies are categorized as hostile to democracy and democratic principles. (Baier, 2023; Manzoni et al., 2018)

in- and outgroup

An ingroup is a group that an individual identifies with, the out- group are groups that the individual does not identify with (Tajfel, 1970). These groups can often be arbitrarily chosen and are formed within a few minutes of meeting. An ingroup might be one’s family, co-workers or sports team.

left-wing

Left-wing describes many (political) ideologies and world-views that tend to value a well-working social-state and pluralism, rather than individualism and range from progressive to socialist, com- munist and (social) anarchist.

life realities

“Life realities” describes the sum of external factors that influ- ence a person’s or group’s experiences (socio-economic, education, social relationships, …) which have a big influence on their needs as well as values and world-views. “Life realities” is a direct translation of the German word “Leben- srealitäten”, as I could not find a term that is used to talk about this concept in English.

nation-building rituals (NBR)

Nation-building rituals are rituals that embody/imagine, uphold and change (self-)images of national identity. NBR are performa- tive acts of getting together and sharing experiences that happen regularly, i.e. national sporting events, national holiday celebrations.

“Neue Rechte”

“Neue Rechte” is a self-denomination used by extreme right-wing groups to describe themselves. This term was coined program- matically by the groups to conceal continuities, both in ideology and personnel, from National Socialism and Nazi history (Degeling et al., 2021, p. 7).

pluralism/pluralistic

Pluralism describes a set of values that people can and want to live together in diversity and differences and that this enriches society as a whole. In pluralistic societies, all people have equal rights, access and choices, no matter what socio-demographic or ideological group they might belong to. It is one of the most important elements of functioning democracies.

polarization

(Political) polarization describes the distribution of political po- sitions and is not per se negative nor harmful for pluralistic, dem- ocratic societies (Scherrer et al., 2025, p. 21). It can be understood as a manifestation of diversity. Polarization starts to become a problem, when the different groups stop discussing and trying to find a compromise and in- stead start isolating themselves.

radicalization

Radicalization describes complex processes of people finding identity in radical or extremist groups and becoming evermore accepting towards using violence to reach the group’s goals (po- litical, ideological, religious, …). Radicalization is not always bad for pluralistic societies. It can capture people and give them hope, which sets free huge amounts of energy in groups and brings about important societal changes (Baier, 2023).

right-wing

Right-wing is a big umbrella term for many different (political) ideologies and world-views ranging from liberal to conservative and even fascist ones. There is of course nuance; someone can have right-wing opinions in one topic and lean more left-wing in others. Generally speaking though, people with right-wing (political) ideo- logies and world views will be more conservative and deem natural, inevitable, even desirable that social orders and hierarchies exist. This can be because of economic status (”there will always be poor people”), property, gender, religion, and many others.

ritual of convergence

I propose the term “ritual of convergence” to talk about rituals that bring together people with different life realities and back- grounds with the explicit goal to foster connection between peo- ple of eachothers outgroups.

the many

In their project “the art of being many”, geheimagentur used “the many” for talking about people aware of how assembling and being in community is stronger than thinking and deciding as individuals. “The many are those who collectively produce the commons. The many are those who organize themselves horizontally, rather than vertically” (geheimagentur, 2014, p. 4). For this thesis, the many are all people affecting and being affec- ted by Zurich and Switzerland as units of identity and organization.

table of contents

1. introduction
   research and methodology
   research positioning
   what to be weary of
   why this is important
2. rituals, identities and radicalization
   rituals
3. [pluralizing the “us”]

1 introduction

Polarization in private and public discussions has become more prevalent in the last few years. Ever more people feel that fruitful discussions are getting harder and harder to have and feel like they don’t know how to talk to eachother anymore. Social media changes how we perceive the world around us through algorithms favoring polarizing content and grouping users into echo-chambers (Garimella et al., 2018; Kuncoro & Hasanah, n.d.; Stroud, 2010; Whittaker, 2022). Right-wing (extremist) groups and parties have long known ab- out the power of disseminating their world-views through effective, emotional storytelling on the internet and are profiting from the (perceived) divide in societies. They have been able to use mo- ments of insecurity about the future, i.e. the Covid-pandemic, to their advantage and have gained support, votes and power across Europe and Switzerland (Degeling et al., 2021; Manzoni et al., 2018; Skenderovic, 2010). The images and understanding that right-wing extremists have of their group identity are founded in (ethno-)national identities. They are upheld and reproduced, in part, in nation-building rituals. Contact between groups with different life realities has shown to diminish prejudice and help foster connection (Dollase, 2001; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006; Turner et al., 2007). And research suggests that most people value exchange with others that hold world views and have life realities different to theirs (Scherrer et al., 2025). In this context of rising right-wing extremism in the global North, and the shift of focus on it and its threat to pluralistic societies and democracy in recent years, zusammen.kommen combines an understanding of rituals and their design, and contact hypothe- sis to facilitate co-design workshops. It explores possibilities of co-designing and performing rituals of convergence.

What role do rituals play in our society and (how) can we, as people who affect and are affected by Switzerland, create our own? Can rituals frame discussions about polarizing topics, that are potentially exhausting and triggering, in such a way that they create group cohesion instead of isolation? Can rituals with low commitment thresholds help peo- ple of different lived realities to come together? How far can I design for participation as a single designer? How do I design with, instead of for the many? What might pluralistic societies in Switzerland look like?

In the scope of this Bachelor’s thesis, even though I will not be able to answer the questions definitively, I want to sketch my process and thoughts and show possible ways of struggling with them. Throughout my process, I talked to many people and realized that many already had somewhat of an own mental concept of rituals, radicalization and extremism. The topics and questions this thesis tackles hold ambivalences, being neither in their totality good or bad, this or that, or always the same. While trying to remain as objective and mindful as pos- sible, I will simplify and there will be statements that do not live up to the nuance they could and should have. If there is something you have more or different expertise on or feel unsure, resistant, or just disagree with something, please reach out to me! I understand this thesis as a first exploration of the topics and am motivated to keep dealing with pluralism, extremism and democracy and want to learn continually.

1.1 research aims and methodology

Employing qualitative design-research approaches, focusing on forms of collecting and contextualizing, such as auto-ethnogra- phy, interviews and literature review, I aim to explore the strong emotional response that rituals can trigger. A focus will be laid on the Emotional Energy rituals create as a place of potentiality. Emotional Energy describes “a feeling of confidence, elation, strength, enthusiasm, and initiative in taking action” (Collins, 2005, p. 49).

1.2 research positioning

I write this thesis as a white, Swiss, gender-queer, peer-reviewed as non-neuro-typical (non-clinically-tested), person, who mostly grew up as a conventionally attractive boy/man, in rural Switzer- land, in a wealthy family, with Christian and scientific-liberal in- fluence, and access to schooling, healthcare, costly hobbies, and emotional care at home. This combination of identities, roles and experiences (my life realities) gives me the privilege of being accepted and respected in many groups, be they groups of the majority society or not. I am affected in parts by hate and violence against queer identities but know that I am extremely lucky, because I can pass as a white man in many situations that are potentially dangerous to others who can’t. This allows me, in many contexts, to not be faced with conse- quences as high as others when not adhering to norms. It also leaves me with enough energy to go into situations that might be uncomfortable for others. I have the choice to stay away from rituals if they do not fit me and people will not attribute it to me belonging to a minority group. I do not have to “fit in” in order to be accepted, I have the privilege to rebel without many repercussions. This gives me a position of responsibility towards others who can’t and motivates me to tackle the topics I do. I am rather sensitive to how my peers are feeling and am quick to recognise patterns (in behaviour). Although this was and is, in parts, a strategy to fit in and recognise how to act, so as not to get isolated socially, it now serves me well as a designer and researcher in making observations. When sitting together as a group I often tend to be the person taking on a leading or moderating role. I quickly recognize people not saying much and try to invite them in, bring up the need for a break when recognizing frustration or fatigue in others or myself. The awareness of social patterns and them often feeling arbitra- ry to me, also feeds my interest in rituals and their power to create and break values and communities, as well as how they influence people in their behavior, choices and actions.

what to be weary of 1.3

As stated in the introduction, I want to be careful and mindful of how I approach the ambivalent topics throughout my thesis. Rituals can be a sensitive topic and demand mindfulness when dealing with them. In the online spirituality world, I learned about the notion of open and closed practices. There are many “closed practice rituals” that have been appropriated into white, neo-pa- ganist, mainstream culture, such as burning white sage, or palo santo. I want to be mindful to not appropriate ritual elements that are connected to a cultural context that is not mine or open. I will continually hold myself accountable by engaging in conversations about this topic with different people: mentors, fellow students, friends and, as often as possible, strangers and experts. I want to refrain from changing existing rituals and rather create “new” ones – the elements included will be taken from personal experiences of me and the co-design workshop participants. This, I hope, will give me a framework where I speak with people instead of for them and holds me accountable, in order not to appropriate rituals or ritual-like activities. I will encounter diverse forms of hate and hate speech in my research of right-wing extremism and will try to deal with this as neutrally and openly as possible. There will be moments where I might decide not to engage, or take a step back, in order not to put myself in stressful or potentially dangerous situations.

1.4 why this is important

Right-wing extremism and its recent rise to ever more power and visibility are very scary and a threat not only to our pluralistic society but also to many of my peers and me. The quote on the next page is from the pastor Martin Niemöller, who had been an early supporter of the Nazi party and later be- came an outspoken critic of it (Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, n.d.). Pluralism is at the very base of our living together peacefully. People and organizations that work against a pluralistic society should not be left alone in deciding where we will go (as any size of group, no matter if family, neighbourhood, state or humanity).

First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me ~ Martin Niemöller

2 rituals, identities and radicalization

There is, and there have been, a multitude of studies on rituals, the elements that shape them and the effects they have on par- ticipants, viewers and outsiders. In this chapter, I intend to give a brief overview of research done in the fields of anthropology, religious studies and cultural sociology as well as sketch connections of rituals and interaction design. Seeing as there not being one universal understanding of ritual and what constitutes one, it will lay a theoretical base for looking at nation-building rituals (s. glossary). Focussing on one of the possible outcomes of rituals to legiti- mate anger and even violence towards people that violate group standards, I will then go into radicalization and extremism and models on how these processes work, both online and offline. This will lay a base for looking at how nation-building rituals both have the potential to uphold existing power structures and values, or change them. There will be a focus on right-wing radicalization and its values that hinder democratic, pluralistic societies. Combining the ambivalences of both rituals and radicalization, each holding the power to create and uphold or divide and de- stroy shared values and pluralistic views of society, I suggest rit- ual practices as a tool for preventing and dealing with right-wing radicalization and violent extremism in the chapters following.

2.1 rituals

Rituals shape our personal and communal lives. They shape iden- tities and values, both of individuals and groups. By forming a frame of contrast to daily life (Collins, Randall 1941, p. 108ff) they give us context of the people and values around us as well as time passing. Through rituals, groups form and uphold identities and shared stories. Through rituals and the emotional energy they create, peo- ple get a sense of belonging and one of entitlement in othering and/or punishing people who do not adhere to the shared values of the group (Collins, 2005). This sub-chapter aims to tackle the following questions:

What elements constitute a ritual? How does it differ from everyday actions? How do rituals work? And why do us humans (poten- tially) have such big emotional responses to them? How have rituals and their design been used in (inter- action) design?
The texts on rituals discussed are rather recent and were writ- ten and published in a very western context, which, in the scope of this thesis and Swiss academia being dominated by white re- searchers and institutions, I chose to accept.

rituals and the power they hold

what makes something a ritual? When talking about rituals, people have hugely different asso- ciations and feelings. Where it used to be reserved to describ- ing religious practices, there is now an understanding of rituals as being part of every-day life, sometimes bridging into routines (i.e. Currey, 2020). This can make it hard to distinguish between what is considered a ritual and what is not. There are different ways of distinguishing or understanding what constitutes a ritual. Randall Collins (2005) defines rituals as activities that contrast every-day activities and routine through intentionality. Catherine Bell, a highly influential researcher in ritual theory, of- fers an understanding of scales, along which all activities get ritualized to higher and lesser degrees (C. Bell, 1997; C. M. Bell & Aslan, 2009). She gives us the following six, “neither exclusive nor definitive” (Bell, 1997, p. 138), characteristics of how people ritual- ize, “that is, create, deploy, and reproduce rites” (Bell, 1997, p. 152). The six characteristics: performance, sacral symbolism, rule-gov- ernance, invariance, traditionalism, and formalism give me a frame- work to look at rituals and illustrate, on different levels, why rituals hold the power they hold to immerse people into an experience. It also shows how they differ from everyday activities.
how do rituals work? and why do they affect us so much? Building on the understanding of how activities are ritualized and why they might be considered rituals or not, it’s important to look at the power rituals hold. A valuable approach for making sense of rituals is through a micro-sociological lens. When understanding rituals and ritualized actions as chains of (micro-)interactions, we can understand how they influence individuals and the groups they are in. Randall Collins in “interaction ritual chains” (2005) proposes to focus on situations rather than individuals when analyzing rituals and the power they hold. He sees this as a key to (micro-)socio- logical explanations of social entrainment (how people get trained to adhere to social rules, cues and norms), structures, as well as conscious and unconscious levels of human interaction and being together.