Intercultural communication in bureaucratic and institutional contexts. Proceedings of the final Conference of the european project SPICES

Events occurring in daily life show that we do not possess enough communication tools in order to interact adequately and constructively in European contexts which are becoming increasingly multicultural. Furthermore, through these situations one also gains awareness of the fact that the tools that we do possess may not necessarily be adequate. This is particuraly evident – sometimes in a dramatic fashion – in bureaucratic-institutional situations in which foreigners, i.e. 'adults-in-mobility', interact with service providers, i.e. ‘adults-professionally-in-contact-with-mobility'. The European Project called SPICES – Social Promotion of Intercultural Communication Expertise and Skills dealt with these issues. It was held between 2005 and 2007 and the contributions that are presented in this volume are, directly or indirectly, the result of this project.