The implementation of the Swedish minority policy has resulted in the national minority languages having been visualized. But what minority language place-names should be put on road signs together with the Swedish names?

This article is focused on the establishment of the Sami toponym for Dorotea in southern Swedish Lapland. The question is which of the following Sami names should be adopted as the official name: Birjevahne (< Sw. Bergvattnet), Döörte (< Sw. Dorotea), or the original South Sami Kraapohke.  

This practice-oriented study illustrates the problems involved in finding out how Sami names are used in living language. Such problems generally arise when place-names are handed down by small language communities.

The establishment of the Sami name Kraapohke illustrates the complicated questions that arise when working with minority language place-names and the identity processes associated with such names.

The point of departure for this essay is a map drawn in 1963 by the writer’s maternal grandfather. It represents the village of Berg, located in northern Sweden, and depicts his activities as a farmer and hunter. But it is also based on grandfather’s collective knowledge of the village. In what follows I will examine mental maps of microspaces that reflect what is important to an individual or to the members of a community. One shows how Aivilik Inuits perceive their local environment; another set of urban maps from Los Angeles, California, are based on the views of residents in different areas. The social divides become strikingly apparent on these mental maps. Among the conspicuous features of my grandfather’s map are the images he drew to supplement the various geographical locations he laid out. In this respect one might compare medieval mappae mundi that is, maps of the world representing compendiums of all things worth knowing. I also consider the appearance of mysterious gaps on grandfather’s map, that is, “the silences”. Many general perspectives on mental mapping are suggested by a consideration of the map my grandfather drew.