Reclaiming indigenous seascapes. Sami place names in Norwegian sea charts

Abstract

Abstract This paper documents the presence of marine toponyms in the indigenous Sami language, which powerfully counters the Norwegian names inscribed in official sea charts. However, during the process of analysing the place name material for fishing grounds in the Porsanger fjord, place names in the majority language as well as modified versions of the original Sami names proved to be just as valuable for the study of seascape use in Porsanger. From conceiving of the seascape in terms of a ‘colonial’ or ‘contested’ landscape with two opposing user groups, other relations than the Sami-Norwegian dichotomist categories emerged. As this paper shows, the main lines of conflict and cooperation changed over time to run between subsistence fishers and the fishers who were connected to the larger state fisheries management system. The paper therefore argues that indigenous place name research has to pay more attention not only to ‘silenced’ names, but also to the hybrid products of ethnic relations and colonization processes than what is currently the case.