Intercultural communication in institutional-bureaucratic settings : case studies from the SPICES Project

Abstract

The very fact that Europe is becoming increasingly multicultural, and consequently also multilingual, leads to communication problems. ‘Foreigners’ are considered to be so because they have a different cultural background and because they behave differently, if not strangely, when compared to natives or locals. They are often excluded from the general urban network, forming their own network through associations and neighbourhoods. Language, as well as communication habits and practices, are one of the main resources through which people are included or excluded from a community. In this paper we focus our attention on conversations between individuals with diverse cultural backgrounds in urban institutions and how certain conversation techniques and procedures become conversation strategies through which a person is constructed as being-a-foreigner. These conversations, recorded in Malta and in Italy, were collected during the SPICES (Social Promotion of Intercultural Communication Expertise and Skills) project 224945-CP-1- 2005-1-IT-GRUNDTVIG-G11. The data presented is useful to reveal aspects which are taken for granted during conversations and in order to discuss the relevance of intercultural education in today’s multicultural society.